Thank yous and conference wrap up!

Clockwise from top right: Lin Oliver, Laurie Miller, Julian Petri, Jill Corcoran, and sign language interpreter Brian Truitt.

Lin wraps things up, agreeing with Elizabeth Partridge, 

"We hold the future in our hands, because we hold the children in our hands." 

Jill Corcoran from the Smithsonian zooms back in for the finale, saying of Elizabeth's keynote, "I have chills..." And she invites all of us to come to si.edu as we research our future books. 

Lin shouts out to conference organizer Laurie Miller, conference zoom producer Julian Petri, and the entire SCBWI staff, the event's sign language interpreters, and all of us attendees for taking two days for this experience, telling us:

"We believe every single one of us has the capability to great work, we're a community, and we support each other."

Lin Oliver's welcome to the Nonfiction Workshop

SCBWI's Lin Oliver (top), and sign language interpreter Jennye Kamin

Lin (top) welcomes the audience of 757 attendees (plus 27 faculty)! 325 of we attendees are published, a total of 1,543 books to our credit - as Lin puts it, "that's a school library!" We come from 49 states in the US (including the District of Columbia) and 21 countries around the world.

Lin shares with us how this conference came about, with the help of nonfiction author Melissa Stewart, editor Melissa Manlove, and Jill Corcoran, Director of Licensed Publishing at the Smithsonian.

Jill (whose background includes being an author and a literary agent) introduces the first keynote speaker, Eduardo Díaz, Director, Smithsonian Latino Center.

Agents Panel: Jill Corcoran

Jill Corcoran is an agent at The Herman Agency. She represents everything: picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and YA novels.

A former marketer, she's a writer herself. A poetry anthology she edited, DARE TO DREAM ... CHANGE THE WORLD was just published by Kane Miller Books and includes work from Jane Yolen, Ellen Hopkins, and J. Patrick Lewis.

The Herman Agency was started 13 years ago by Ronnie Ann Herman, who had a 20-year career at Random House and Penguin. Ronnie is Jill's agent, and she asked Jill to become an agent three years ago. Jill was an English major at Stanford and got an MBA at University of Chicago, and ran her own marketing company before she took time off and had children.

"I'm one of those people who had a mid-life new career," she says.

Her clients include Robin Mellom, Ralph Fletcher, and Janet Gurtler.

Advice for pre-published writers: To sell a book to a publisher and to sell it in a store or online, you have to have a great concept and know your craft. Consider many different concepts before you choose which one you're working on. Look at comparable books and make sure yours is different.

"Do your research. When you go out and try to get an agent, you can say, 'These are the other books and this is why mine is different.'"

On the changing industry: She was disheartened that some writers are being asked to change their names because of low sales. It's also important not to just take jobs (such as ghostwriting), but to make career decisions that leave you time to write and illustrate books.

Don't make errors online: She would have signed three clients except for their online behavior. Don't badmouth people, don't be vicious. "Everyone's reading that. It stays there forever ... why do we all have to say everything we feel and put it online?"

Also: "Untag yourself when you're drunk at a party and someone tags the photo."

On self-publishing: If people keep putting books out there for $2.99, that's what people think books are worth. Think really hard before you do that.

Some of her clients' books:

Jill's website
Follow Jill on Twitter

Pre-#LA12SCBWI Interview with Jill Corcoran

Martha Brockenbrough chats with her agent, Jill Corcoran, about Jill's conference advice, search for romance, and stick-it-out inspiration.  They even share a SCBWI Success story (Robin Mellom) and it's all really sweet and you-can-do-it (You can!) wonderful.

Go check it out!

Jill will be giving a Friday morning workshop "Choosing Clients, Agenting their Work and the Evolving Market", will be on the Sunday morning Agents Panel "Realizing Your Creative Dreams:  What the Publishing World Can Offer You," and will speak at the Monday morning Writers Intensive Agents Panel, "A Morning With 9 Agents!"

You can hear and meet Jill in person and learn from her (and the rest of the amazing SCBWI Summer Conference faculty) ... and to do that you'll need to be there yourself.  You can still register for #LA12SCBWI here!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Have A Manuscript Critique At The Conference? Agent Jill Corcoran's Best Advice For You!

Herman Agency literary agent Jill Corcoran shares what not to do - and what you should do - during your manuscript consultation!

Great advice!