My Experience At The Conference: Stephen Macquignon

Thanks Stephen!

My Experience At The Conference: Mahtab Narsimhan

Thanks, Mahtab!

Rubin Pfeffer: EBooks and Apps

Rubin Pfeffer is famous for challenging children's book writers and illustrators to think of ourselves as "Children's Content Creators."

He is a veteran of the children’s and adult trade industry. He has served as President and Publisher of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, SVP and Chief Creative Officer of Pearson, and as SVP, Publisher of Children’s Books for Simon & Schuster. Pfeffer joined the East West Literary Agency in December 2009, as a partner and established the Boston base of the agency. He works with such luminary talents as Patricia MacLachlan, Marion Dane Bauer, Steven Kellogg, Susan Cooper, Judy Sierra, David Diaz, Richard Jesse Watson, Jesse Joshua Watson, Jeff Mack, Mike Austin, and a host of other published and new talents. In addition, he consults regularly on digital content for the Ruckus Media Group.

Rubin Pfeffer presenting his session on EBooks and Apps

Rubin starts off his breakout session by describing the spectrum of digital publishing, on one end: ebooks which are simply screen versions of the printed book.  In the middle: enhanced ebooks, where the story is enhanced with other medium: audio, animation, sound effects, things like that.  At the other end: Apps, that don't necessarily even look like a book anymore.  If the App is based on a book, they might leverage the world or characters of the story to include activities or games.

He's running down the current technology (ipad, kindle fire, nook, droid, kobo, and other proprietary devices) and sharing some eye-popping statistics on the growth of tablets.

There are six macro trends that he wants us to consider.  Here's one:  The demise of brick and mortar stores... Though he has a hunch that we will begin to see a Renaissance of niche Children's book stores!

We're learning about Zombie books (the ability to bring back old books that were considered "dead") and the impact on reluctant readers of being able to change the font size - which changes their experience of reading a book, and so much more!

Rubin challenges us to imagine the opportunities of this statement:

"New technology always creates new content."

He's sharing so much more, and answering questions from the floor, including a discussion of self-publishing and credentialed alternative publishers.

Overall, it's a very inspiring, thought-provoking session.

How Did It Go? Impressions from the Writers Roundtable Intensive

The agents and editors sitting at each table are a who's-who of Children's Literature...  and one of the most exciting aspects of this day is getting immediate feedback from them on your work.  No waiting for weeks, or months.  No pitch, or query letter, or assistant who needs to read it first.  Just your 500 words, and their honest (and kind) and helpful critique.

The faculty participating, including and of the caliber of Michelle Nagler, Samantha McFerrin, Nancy Conescu, Tina Wexler, Jordan Brown, Alexandra Penfold and Kate Sullivan!

Truly an amazing opportunity.  Here are some post-critique thoughts by some of the Writers Roundtable Intensive attendees:

"It makes you realize how every word counts."

-Cynthia Shannon

"The caliber of writing at the table was really impressive, and I was encouraged to be among such great writers."

-Kathy Higgs-Couthard

"I'm no longer scared to put myself out there.  The editor told me what I needed to know, which is what I came for."

-Yvonne Hagan

"Listening to the editor's critique to everyone else I learned so much.  And of course I learned a lot from her critique of my work, too."

- Cathy Elliott

"It's a much more safe place to put forth your work than I thought going into it.  Very constructive criticism and very helpful.  I think it's invaluable."

- Jay Apking

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Darcy Pattison

Team Blog's Martha Brockenbrough interviews Darcy Pattison about her keynote presentation in the upcoming Marketing For Professional Writers Intensive.

Darcy's a well-published author and teacher (the shrunken manuscript revision technique is hers), video book trailer enthusiast, and the mind behind the Random Acts of Publicity week.  It's a great interview, and poses a good question:  If we can't call them "book trailers" - which evidently has been trademarked - what should we call them?  Read the interview at Martha's blog here.

Thanks Martha and Darcy!

You can register to see Darcy's keynote, "Creating Book Trailers and Other Random Acts of Promotion," and to attend the whole Lucky 13th Annual Winter Conference here.

Hope to see you there.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee