Industry Panel: The AI Debate — Kait Feldmann

Kait Feldmann is a children’s book agent at kt literary representing illustrators. She previously worked as an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. Kait is passionate about championing books by, about, and for BIPOC. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award. 

Moderator Martha Brockenbrough asks the panel if they are receiving AI generated submissions and if so, how are those handled?

KAIT: Most agencies and editors are now including official stances and clauses about not using AI.

Kait has started seeing more submissions with AI, and while some state their AI usage outright, Kait can still recognize AI-generated ones—most obviously from writers who think they need to include art to submit a picturebook manuscript. Kait reiterates that is NOT part of the submitting author's job. It's happened enough that Kait now has a form rejection for these AI submissions. While Kait is all for technology taking over dishes, laundry, and taxes she still prefers humans writing and making art.

KAIT: I don't want AI to touch any part of your creative process. 

The panel talks about how any content inputted into an AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT is no longer work under your copyright and is also used as training material by that LLM. Kait reminds us AI is technically a plagiarizing tool that has been scraping from published creators who have not been paid, credited, or given consent. 

She encourages people who want to use AI to write or illustrate to ask themselves why they don't feel like they are capable of creating it themselves? Kait says it's okay to not know answers and struggle with your creating, the real writing is in the revising. 

Kait adds there is an additional moral dilemma to using AI: The huge environmental strain of using LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude which run on the loud, water-guzzling data centers that are being built without appropriate environmental regulations (if any) overwhelmingly in poorer regions of countries where its residents have no political standing or funding to push back or stop the construction or pollution. Kait likens it to shopping on Amazon or Shein, it's up to you how comfortable you are contributing to known causes of the global climate crisis.

The Big Picture in Children's Publishing - Kait Feldmann / TeMika Grooms

 The Big Picture in Children's Publishing - An Industry Panel

Kait Feldmann / TeMika Grooms

Warmly introduced by Sarah Baker, TeMika Grooms, our moderator, is a "New York Times bestselling illustrator of picture books" who will lead us through thoughtful conversation about where the children's publishing industry is now, and where it's headed. TeMika, SCBWI's Manager of Illustration and Design, is "a creative force in our community, and is known for her teaching, her leadership, and a deep commitment to supporting fellow book creators."

TeMika Grooms: Tell us a little bit about what you do, as well as what inspires you in your business as a creative and as a person who publishes books.

Kait Lee Feldmann: Hi, my name's Kait Feldman, I'm an agent at kt Literary. I started as an editor and edited as an assistant. I worked on picture books through YA, and when I became an acquiring editor, I zeroed in on picture books. For 10 years I worked at Scholastic and HarperCollins as an editor of picture books and graphic novels and last year, I joined kt Literary. I only represent illustrators and author/illustrators. 

Kait is open to submissions and you can find more information on Kait's website, katefeldman.com.

TeMika: Thank you all for introducing yourselves and sharing what inspires you most. So, I have questions about relationships between agents, publishers, and clients. Some of our audience may already have agents, and some of them may be in different parts of their publishing career. What do you think is the mark of a great agent for those who have an agent, and for those who don't. 

Kait Lee: I think a great agent is someone who is your business partner and your creative partner. You want someone who understands your vision for the stories you've submitted, but also, where you want to go in your career. l've had people query me where there's something I really like about their work, but they're going in a different direction than me and as an agent, I would never want you to mold yourself to what I want.

Your agent's vision/ skill set should match what you want. Also, do you want an agent who's more editorial, who can collaborate on the creative process, or do you want someone who's going to be more of a business partner to get your work out there. Some agents are more editorial than others, so that's always a good thing to ask.

TeMika: How do you find new clients for people without agents?

Kait Lee: My advice is always to do a reverse search. Start with the books on your own bookshelf or the books that you check out from the library most often. Take note of the authors or the illustrators, and then look up who their agents are. Google it. Sometimes if it's a novel, you can look in the acknowledgements in the back. Look up the authors/illustrators of your comp titles and who represented them. Publishers Weekly has a twice-weekly newsletter called Children's Bookshelf. It's free to subscribe, and it drops on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It has great articles as well as deal announcements. You can look up recently published books to see what's out in the market and what's coming in the next few years.

TeMika: How often would you like to see a submission from someone who's querying? 

Kait Lee: As an editor, I think everyone can relate to "Inbox Avalanche" and the ongoing battle with our inboxes. When I respond to a submission and a new submission comes back immediately after that, it can be overwhelming so as an agent submitting to editors, I try to keep that in mind. I always appreciated the agents who weren't in my inbox constantly. As an agent, I think it's a little different. But if you submit to me and then wait to hear back, I will usually give you feedback because I'm working with artists. If I pass once, it's pretty much just a pass. But if it's about a particular story I'm interested in, I will let you know if I want to see a revision or see your other works.

TeMika: Picture books are a little different, nowadays. Can you tell us if you are seeing anything that's unusual within the picture book space?

Kait Lee: One thing that l've been super excited to see in the last few years is the graphic novel format making its way over into picture books, creating a kind of hybrid with panels, and speech bubbles. I'd say we're not at a point where really long picture books that become graphic novels work but adapting the composition of graphic novels into that 32-page format is something that is fun to explore.

Also, editors are asking for two things that are kind of the polar opposites but one is horror/scary stories for kids, and also, whimsical/goofy books, especially with kids of color. Kids of color tend to be only in educational books about something traditional, or something where learning is a significant part of it. And though we do need those books, we also need the ones where it's just silly, magical stories about kids getting into trouble. Just adventure.

TeMika: Let's talk about Al now. All technology changes. It influences our creative process. What kinds of changes are you seeing in terms of Al?

Kait Lee:  Most publishers at this point, contractually, have a clause that says you cannot use Al to generate your content. There's no test, as far as I know, but that's not something you want to try to skirt around.

On the submission side, I do have a form letter specifically for Al submissions, because I'm getting a lot of them. A lot of the submissions I'm getting are authors who don't realize you don't need to pair yourself with an illustrator. It is not industry standard, but sometimes they will generate Al to help me visualize the book.

"I just tell them, you don't need to do that. In fact, don't do that. And then a gentle explanation of the reasons why Al is bad."

TeMika: l'm a person who loves technology, but I don't think there's anything that can replace human ingenuity, creativity, lived experience, relationships that you've had, and the things that you're actually trying to say. As much as we use it as a tool, I want to encourage everyone to keep creating, too because it's super important. So, I know that you all talked about what inspires you but now, I want to know a little bit about what you hope your legacy to be.

Kait Lee: I think I want to work on the books that would have brought me joy as a kid, which I think is how I operate now. I want to work on the books that make me feel something. I want to continue on things that make me happy, that refuel, and energize me. I want to feel hopeful, but really, I want books where characters eat each other, and get into trouble and mischief.

"I started off inspirational, but if I'm being honest, I want my legacy to be wreaking havoc in the world through a picture."

ROCK ON, KAIT LEE!

Don't forgot that you can access this panel and rewatch through your membership portal until September 14th, 2025!

Kait Lee Feldmann (Agent) is a children’s book agent at kt literary representing illustrators. She has been romping around as a children’s book publishing for the past decade, previously as an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. Her list as editor included award-winning books that received a Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Sibert Honor; the Ezra Jack Keats Award; and appearances on Best of lists for The New York Times, NPR, Kirkus, and more. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award. Kait resides in a hoarder’s paradise in Los Angeles, surrounded by books. You can review her client wishlist at her website: kaitfeldmann.com/mswl

TeMika Grooms (Manager of Design and Illustration) is a Georgia-based writer and illustrator creating stories with a belief that all children should be able to see themselves as the hero within the pages of a book. In 2021, she was selected as an Illustration Mentee in the We Need Diverse Books Program and was a member of the first cohort for the Highlights Foundation and The Brown Bookshelf Amplify Black Stories program.  She is the illustrator of several children's books, including Put Your Shoes On & Get Ready! by Senator Raphael G. Warnock, Getting Us to Grandma's by Nadia L. Hohn, and A Century for Caroline by Kaija Langley.

Breakout: Page by Page: Breaking Down Picture Book Pagination with Kait Feldman

Kait Lee Feldmann is a children’s book agent at kt literary representing illustrators. She was previously an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. You can review her wishlist at her website: kaitfeldmann.com/mswl

Kait plans to take a different approach in talking about picture books. She plans to show us how the picture book is produced so we can work backwards which can help us know how to better work on our manuscripts. 

Kait is building a book right before our eyes so we can see how all the parts work: cover, endpapers, self-ended pages, pages, etc. 

The printing process dictates how much space you have to tell your story. 

Kait found some of the best lessons she learned about picture book pacing came from understanding how the physical book is put together. 

This is very much a visual presentation, that’s incredibly helpful to see and understand. Those in attendance, I recommend watching the replay to see for yourself. Those not attending, you can still register. The replays will be available for 30 days. scbwi.org

Tips: 

-Type out an already published picture book to see how it looks in standard manuscript format. 

-Paginate your own picture book as your working on it, but then when you are ready to submit remove the pagination.

#SCBWIdigital workshop: Kait Feldmann presents “Page By Page: Breaking Down Picture Book Pagination”

Kait Feldmann, photo credit: Tess Thomas © 2018

Kait Feldmann is an Editor at Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, where she is building a list of picture books and graphic novels. Kait is also the VP/Director of Special Projects for People of Color in Publishing, the founder and chair of the Scholastic Diversity Committee, and a member of the Diverse BookFinder Advisory Council.

A screenshot of editor Kait Feldmann (above) and SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver.

Kait opens with a poll, getting a sense of how many of the SCBWI members attending are authors, illustrators, or both. (We are 70% writers, 4% illustrators, 26% both!)

She explains that she'll be starting discussing the mechanics and production elements of picture books, and how that impacts her decision process as an editor.

She covers hardcover picture book terminology - including
verso is a left page
recto is a right page

Kait's tip to remember which is which: Recto and Right both start with "R".

Why most picture books have a 32 page count, which goes up in sets (signatures) of 8
40
48

That's because of how they're printed. Kait gets crafty, showing us how one large sheet gets printed, folded, cut, and stitched.

Every 16 pages are all printed on one giant piece of paper

until it gets folded (and then cut and stitched.)

Then she shows us (with printed materials and even a chocolate bar wrapper) how endpapers work, and the case cover, and the difference between "separate ends" and "self ends". 'Self Ends' means that page 1 (and the final page 32) can no longer be seen- they are glued to the case cover!

Kait explains that she's sharing this because it informs how much space we have, as authors and illustrators, to tell our stories. For a 32 page picture book, it's the difference between 11 spreads to tell your story, versus 15 spreads plus two pages to tell your story!

She gives advice to illustrators (such as not putting anything vital under the jacket flap, as it gets fastened to the clear paper cover by libraries and can't be lifted up by those readers.)

Kait shares so much wisdom,

"In picture books, every spread has the power of a chapter in a novel."

And shows us examples of her process for figuring out the pagination. But she doesn't send that pagination to the illustrator - she tells them the page count, and lets them figure it out themselves.

Kait's advice: Read picture books we love, and study how many spreads have narrative content on them. Break down the pacing. "Don't stress too much about it," Kait tells us, saying that the more consciously we absorb it, the more it will subliminally influence our own writing.

She advises writers to paginate our own picture book stories, calling it "the best exercise I can recommend for pacing." (But remove the page numbers before you submit - tip: you can leave the line breaks!)

There's lots more covering pacing, examples of picture book first pages, and time for Q&A (with two bonus questions from Lin!)

It's an in-depth look into how an editor works on a picture book.

Thanks, Kait!

Stay safe, all.
Lee

p.s. - Did you miss it? The video is available for 30 days to SCBWI members here.

Kait Feldmann: Celebrating Diversity, Tradition, and Change

Kait Feldmann is an Associate Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic, where her focus is on picture books and international publishing. She joined Scholastic in May of 2014 and gained editorial experience assisting Executive Editors Tracy Mack, Michael di Capua, Cheryl Klein, and Andrea Davis Pinkney. A few of the titles she worked on include Newbery Honor-winner Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, and Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sís. Kait is a strong advocate for diverse representation and is always looking for meaningful, character-driven stories with humor and heart. Follow her on Twitter @kaitfeldmann.

Kait describes herself as "a Potter-head" (which resonates as Arthur published the Harry Potter books here in the U.S., and Kait grew up reading them!)

She speaks of an intersectional diversity picture book, The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Fraustino, illustrated by Benny Andrews, and how much she appreciates that it's not a story about the diversity, how it's a character driven-story, about the relationship between a child and their grandmother.

And the picture book "Frida" by Jonah Winter. Kait shares about Ana's distinct artistic style and how they wove in Frida's Mexican heritage within the illustrations, to not just illustrate her life, but her dreams.

She tells us that she is particularly interested in biography, wanting more nonfiction biographies about people who are being left out of curriculum.

She speaks of other books Arthur A. Levine books have published, including Sean Tan's "The Arrrival," a book about which she says, "If I could make everyone in the world read one book…"

And she talks about the duality of Dan Santat's distinctive work, and how "for all his silliness, there's an emotional depth" in the work, and an emotional resonance for readers.

It's a fascinating glimpse into what resonates for this new generation of Arthur A. Levine Books, and where they're going!

Arthur A. Levine 2.0 - The Keynote Celebrating Diversity, Tradition, and Change

Left to right: Publisher Arthur A. Levine, Editor Nick Thomas, Associate Editor Kait Feldmann, and Assistant Editor Weslie Turner.