The Writers Roundtable Intensive... Our Morning Panel on Voice and Critique Advice

Lin Oliver started things off by praising all of us Writers Roundtable Intensive attendees for being here, acknowledging how it's “a very brave thing” to put your work forward, and saying “today begins the hard work of writing.”

Sometimes the work you brought is ready… and sometimes it's not, and you need to be open and curious about where your path might take you.

Lin shared the inspiring story of Ruta Sepetys., who three years ago attended this Writers Roundtable Intensive, and received a very disappointing response to her YA.  One of her critiquers suggested that maybe that novel wasn’t really in Ruta’s voice.  Did she have anything else?  Well, she did, and Ruta started working on it. It has since been published, and this year "Between Shades of Gray" is an enormous critical and commercial success.  So for Ruta, the Writers Roundtable Intensive three years ago was a turning point, just not in the way she ever expected going into it.

And with that sage bit of advice and inspiration, Lin introduced the morning panelists on voice: 

Samantha McFerrin, Editor, Harcourt Children’s Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Nancy Conescu, Executive Editor, Dial Books for Young Readers

Michelle Nagler, Editorial Director, Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Lin Oliver (far left, standing) moderates the panel on Voice.  The panelists are Samantha McFerrin (left), Nancy Conescu (center) and Michelle Nager (right)

Each editor read an example of voice from a book they’d edited, and explained what it was about it that grabbed them. 

They discussed authorial voice vs. character voice, and covered a number of things to beware of when crafting your voice, including avoiding adult knowledge inserted in where it doesn’t belong, the issue of pop culture references, and knowing your details and getting them right.

A great tip for “writing in your groove” that came up: 

Read your manuscript out loud

The panelists and Lin shared their advice on participating in the critiques, including:

Don't defend yourself or talk during your critique - listening is so important.  

Take notes - something may resonate for you later

Stay open

Overall it was a fascinating panel and a great introduction to the morning's roundtable critiques.

Illustrators Intensive - Sophie Blackall - Crossing Over to New Audiences

Sophie Blackall is teasing us with a photo of her home country, a sunny beach on the blue waters of Australia.

Sophie has always been a bit of a multi-jobber, she describes herself as ILLUSTRATOR, ETC. She’s done fine art painting while moonlighting in scientific medical illustration. Taking design courses while playing with oil paints. Making editorial illustrations for business papers while also doing zodiac drawings for horoscopes.

And Sophie’s lack of job focus has made her the phenom we know and love. I had NO IDEA: that because of an illustration of Sophie’s that Meg Rosoff saw in an airline magazine, Meg eventually hired her for 9 animated detergent commercials in England, which resulted in a relationship with Meg and some of my favorite books were born—MEET WILD BOARS series!

With Sophie’s first picture book job, RUBY'S WISH, things started to get rolling in the book department, but Sophie still wanted to make and paint things that don't fit literally or figuratively in picture books.

It won the Ezra Jack Keats Award! Buy! Buy! Buy! http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780811834902

Besides making picture books, Sophie also loves to do all sorts of wild art and sculpture, painting on walls, on photographs, plates, making skeleton families, collaborating with mega-pop stars, holding collage-ish workshops in Spain, making art for the subway:

“Being an illustrator is a mostly wonderful thing... you get to choose to draw anything... set your own hours... atrophy in your basement while compulsively blogging.”

“To combat this, I leave Brooklyn once a week to go into Manhattan to see the world and meet with people.”

It was on one of these trips that Sophie learned about Missed Connections. If you don’t know about these, STOP reading this trifling blog and go see her site right now!

Sophie posted Missed Connections for free online, and when she wanted to try and get them published in a book together, many said no one would want to pay for something that was already available for free, but TWELVE PUBLISHERS wanted that book.

I love Sophie’s Golden Rule: IF YOU LIKE DOING SOMETHING, FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT YOUR WORK.

There's an opera singer singing in the conference room next to ours, which is kind of a fittingly unrelated way to end Sophie's session, just one more beautiful, unexpected note.

 

Highlights from the Writers' Marketing Intensive

It's hard to choose just one highlight per speaker--everyone has had remarkable insights and tips. But, alas, that's all we can reveal from this remarkable day.

From the social media panel: 

Deb Shapiro, founder of Deb Shapiro & Co. She advises patience. "It takes a long time to build and develop a fan base. More often than not, the authors you see who were quite successful, it did take them some time."

Susan Raab, president, Raab Associates: Ask yourself: Who is your market. Teens? Educational market? Go where your market is, and find out what they want by following them.

Sarah Dickman: “Facebook is a black hole. It’s taking everything. You have to be on there—really.”

From Darcy Pattison's book trailer presentation: 

Darcy Pattison talks about book trailers and what works.

In book trailers, the idea matters more than anything. Very specific, concrete details make things memorable. You are looking for things to add into your trailer that are specific and concrete. Also, "go for the emotional response." (And humor plays really well, if it's appropriate for your story.)

From Promote Yourself Via Curriculum & School Visits with Nick Glass and Deborah Hochman Turvey: 

Nick Glass: Prepare classes before school visits. It makes it better when they’ve prepared the way you want them to prepare. They can read the book, do activities beforehand. Other things, like reader's theater scripts can be effective if your contract allows it. Readers want to know how you work, where you get your ideas, etc.

Deborah Hochman Turvey: There are a lot of little things you can do to prepare for a school visit: Get directions to the school, be nice to the school secretary, be flexible, bring Sharpies, bring books--and prepare for nothing to work.

From Developing Effective Websites with Madee James owner of Xuni.com:

Among other things, Madee shared a bunch of handy website "don'ts." Does your site break any of her rules?

• Don't have an unprofessional design. 
• Don't have a cluttered, cutesy navigation. 
• Don't let your site's content or look get out of date. 
• Don't design it entirely in Flash--search engines can't find you. 
• Don't have your book trailer or music play automatically. 
• Don’t put book spoilers on your site. 
• Don’t include images that are too big in terms of file size.

Illustrators Intensive -Dan Santat -

Here's Dan eating a baked good and drawing in his sketchbook yesterday morning after signing a load of books at Books of Wonder. If you know Dan, you know he's always nanoseconds away from either completing final art for a project, doing a promotional something or other for one of his published books, or eating a baked good. Here he's doing two out of three (THAT WE CAN SEE.)

This morning, Dan's telling us how to market ourselves early on in our careers and on a limited budget.

#1 Utilize free image sites like Tumblr, or Flickr to get your work out there, including final art spreads that are sneak peeks at your soon-to-be-published picture books. Dan likens it to seeing a Cinnabon sign at the mall. The more you see the sign, the more you think you want to stuff your face with undercooked dough smothered in cream cheese icing... or a picture book. Also, art directors and editors like to look on Tumblr/Flickr, you're not only promoting your books, you're potentially reaching people who want to hire you.


#2 Build a network of peers Dan really enjoyed doing Illustration Friday and thinks commenting on other sites, and commenting on your own site's comments is a courteous and important thing to do every week.

#6 If you build it they will come, but you constantly have to show them the door Dan credits John Tesh as the website genius that makes Dan's website genius. Dan repeats themes on his website (like his clone photo series, he says each photo only takes about 20 minutes and is a good way to practice Photoshop.) Dan also has a special sketchbook that he sells original pages from on his Tumblr site

Dan's the king of viral marketing (which maybe most of us need approval for, but if you are as good as Dan, you can probably go for it!)

#10 You can do as much social networking that you want, but if your work isn't up to par, you aren't going to make it.

#11 is maybe the essence of Dan: Take what you have and do more with it, Dan says he's really not a good and helpful person that gives 150% in every flipping avenue, but he does. He practices what he preaches in dealing with family, friends, students, kids, librarians, booksellers, the media, cats.

#12-#15 Are some really juicy tips about how illustrators can use Facebook to get work!

Illustrators Intensive - John Rocco - New Methods for Promoting Your Book

David Diaz introduces the still-high-on-Caldecott-fumes John Rocco as our first speaker for the morning!

He's got some great tips for illustrators. The first few might be tough to do, though:

John Rocco's Self Marketing & Promoting Your Book in Three Easy Steps

1. Win a Caldecott
2. While waiting for step 1, add the word "licious" to the end of your title
3. Change your name to Mo*

BUY! BUY! BUY! http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781423121909/john-rocco/blackout

And while you wait for the legal name change papers required for Step 3 to be approved, why not spend your time making promotional materials that shine instead of researching the yacht you will buy with your Caldecott royalties? If you have a new book coming out, here're a few things John does right off the bat:


Step 4. Make a website! Put your new book on it!

Step 5. Create a book trailer. John has an entertainment background, so he thought he could "make the hell out of a trailer!" But bells and whistles aren't always what make for a good trailer. He shares two with us. John says the trailer for BLACKOUT is the simplest trailer he's ever made, and it's really stunning:

John says to make a trailer all you need are Photoshop and iMovie, or a flip camera, or your iPhone—simple(ish) tools that most illustrators have access to. (The FLINTHEART trailer was made using AfterEffects.) Licensing the music in FLINTHEART cost John $35 and Candlewick did reimburse him for it.

Put your trailer on your web page, but not just a Quicktime movie, make sure it's the Youtube version so it can be shared. iMovie exports directly to Youtube.**

Be sure you put your web address in the trailer itself as well as its release date, people will want to know where to see more.

He talks about Step 6. Branding, Step 7. Making your own promotional materials, and Step 8. Doing themed events or group events.

Step 12. My favorite takeaway from John's talk: is the free takeaway. He prints out really lovely one-sheets with a short bio as well as images of his book covers and info about each of them, plus his web address. John knows there is a lot of pressure at book events for people to feel like they have to buy a book to get to talk to the author/illustrator. John provides these one-sheets for people to have something to come up and get from his signing table, and who knows, maybe someday they'll buy a book because of something they saw on that one-sheet. And there are rare instances when your books AREN'T at your scheduled book event, so it's a great thing to have something to give the audience.***

Thanks, John!

*But not if your last name is Lest.
** And space.
*** Other than your spleen.

Marketing Intensive for Professional Writers

Susan Raab talking to writers at the marketing intensive.

Those of us who are in this intensive session have a huge day ahead, and while we're not going to share all of the details on the blog, we'll give a few highlights as the day progresses. But we can share the schedule, so you see how information-packed this sort of thing is:

Using Social Media to Your Best Advantage, with Sarah Dickman of Odyl.net; Susan Raab, president of Raab Associates; and Deb Shapiro, founder of Deb Shapiro & Co.

Creating Book Trailers & Other Random Acts of Promotion, with Darcy Pattison.

Promote Yourself via School Curriculum & Visits, with Nick Glass, founder of teachingbooks.net and Deborah Hochman Turvey, founder of Visitingauthors.com.


Developing Effective Websites, with Maddee James, owner of Xuni.com.

Working Collaboratively with Publishers: What Should You Do and What Should They Do, with Cindy Tamasi Hamilton, director of publicity at Harper Collins; and Tracy van Straaten, vice president of publicity at Scholastic.


Tweet, Promote and Brand Your Way to Marketing Success: Strategies and Real World Scenarios, with Tracy Barrett, author; Roxie Munro, author/illustrator; Lin Oliver, author/SCBWI co-founder, Susan Raab, president of Raab Associates, Inc.

New Directions in Publicity, Emerging Trends, with Jason Kintzler, founder of PitchEngine.


Where Next? Multimedia, Mobile, Electronic and Game Platform, with Jon Fine, director of author and publisher relations at Amazon.com; Michel Kripalani, president Oceanhouse Media; and Peter Reynolds, founder of Fablevision.com.

Marketing Intensive for Illustrators - Opening Remarks

Cecilia Yung says howdydo and shares with us all a new way to think about the work we do and how we might benefit from thinking of ourselves as a corporation*. She likes Dan Santat's self-proclaimed CEO status.

Cecilia says—

The reality is: published books jostle one another for space on a children's bookstore bookshelf.

Being a brilliant illustrator is just the beginning,
Being visible is another important step,
Being smart is the most important step to success in children's book illustration.

Since most of you have one pair of hands, 24 hours in your day, and let's face it, limited funds, being smart is making sure that you are the CEO of your company, and that every single one of your books will contribute to your success by thinking of each of your books as an employee. And marketing is what you do as a CEO to make sure your books work around the clock to bring you success.

*I would like to talk to my corporation about how some people always forget to clean the coffee pot thoroughly.

Friday Intensives Start... Now!

Writers and Illustrators arriving and checking in for the sold out day of intensives!

The energy is palpable at reception.

Writers and Illustrators are gathering from all over the world.

The Illustrators Marketing Intensive room filling up

Writers taking their seats at the Writers Marketing Intensive

Writers finding their tables at the Writers Roundtable Intensive

To dig deep for knowledge.


To soar with new understanding and skills.


And Team Blog is here.  We'll be sharing some highlights and impressions from each of the three sessions:

The Writers Roundtable

The Writers Marketing Intensive

and The Illustrators Marketing Intensive.


Illustrate and Write and Let's get our Conference On!

Friday and Saturday Night Events at #NY12SCBWI

The Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference is sold out - and if you're fortunate enough to attend, you may be wondering what's going on the Friday and Saturday nights of the conference...

There will be plenty of craft, business and inspiration all weekend... and check out these four evening opportunities to immerse yourself further into our Community!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Ken Wright

SCBWI Team Blog member Suzanne Young interviews Writers House Agent Ken Wright on his upcoming conference sessions on non-fiction, what agents and published writers can gain from attending conferences like the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference, and much more.

The conference is sold out, so if you didn't get a chance to attend, make sure to follow along with the live blogging here at the Official SCBWI Conference Blog, and the stream of tweets on twitter with the hashtag #NY12SCBWI.

And if you are fortunate enough to be attending the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference, we look forward to seeing you in New York!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with John Rocco

I was fortunate to interview John Rocco, who will be leading and participating in three sessions at the upcoming Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference - a keynote at the Friday January 27th Marketing for Illustrators Intensive, "New Methods of Promoting Your Book: Trailers, Co-Op Marketing and More," he'll be on a panel that afternoon in the same Intensive called "Is Self-Marketing Cost Effective? Wise Use of Your Money and Time" and he's presenting in the Sunday January 29th keynote: "Methods to the Madness: The Process of Making Picture books, Featuring the Bookmakers Dozen."

John shares a ton of great information, including secrets of designing cover art, the power of illustrators to portray diversity, and his favorite book trailers!

You can still sign up to see John and avail yourself of ALL that #NY12SCBWI has to offer... but act fast - Registration for the conference closes today Wednesday January 18, 2012 at 5pm PST.  (It's on the cusp of selling out!)

We hope to see you there,

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Selina Alko

Check out this wonderful interview by Team Blog's Jaime Temairik with Selina Alko, one of the Bookmaker's Dozen who will speaking at the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City!

Registration for the conference is only open for ONE MORE DAY, closing Wednesday January 18, 2012 at 5pm PST.  (It's selling out fast!)

We hope to see you there,

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Plate Design by Dan Santat and Peter Brown!

SCBWI Team Blogger and Illustrator Jaime Temairik has thought out of the box on this pre-conference interview, way out of the box, and it's genius!  She connects with former pair figure-skaters (author/illustrators) and #NY12SCBWI faculty Peter Brown and Dan Santat to get their balanced career diet info.

It's funny, and inspiring, and very thought-provoking.  After all, what would YOUR balanced career diet be?

It's not too late to register to see Dan and Peter / Peter and Dan yourself at the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City, January 27-29, 2012!

We hope to see you there.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Cheryl Klein

...In which Martha Brockenbrough chats with Scholastic Editor Cheryl Klein about Cheryl's upcoming breakout sessions on revision on the Saturday January 28, 2012 of the conference.

And it's a testament to Cheryl's genius on the subject that just from reading this interview, I have a whole new inspiration for my current revision (Defining my story "Points," and putting them at the top of my to-do revision list!)

I've seen Cheryl speak before, and I can't wait to learn more from her!  You can, too - Registration for the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference is still open.

Hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview With Ari Lewin

Check out my super-informative and fun interview with the delightful Ari Lewin, executive editor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers!

We cover a ton of ground, about Ari's upcoming breakout sessions on writing Fantasy on the Saturday January 28, 2012 of the conference, about prologues, and business cards, trends and Hollywood-style pitches, and so much more!

It all really fired me up to attend Ari's session myself - and you can, too.  Registration for the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference is still open.

Hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Tracy van Straaten

Team Blog member Martha Brockenbrough interviewed Scholastic Publicity and Marketing VP Tracy van Straaten in the run-up to our Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City, coming up January 27-29, 2012. The photo Martha ran is Tracy in her Halloween costume as Lisa Yee's Peepy, which clearly shows this professional loves her job.

They discuss the responsibility authors have for marketing our own books, and some of Tracy's answers are surprising...

"I think one of the bigger myths out there right now is that publishers expect the authors to take on all of the marketing for their books."

Their discussion also touches on a few kid lit marketing what-NOT-to-dos and what you really should do.   It makes me even more excited about Tracy's presentation (along with Cindy Tamasi Hamilton, Director of Publicity, Harper Collins) at the "Marketing for Professional Writers" Intensive on Friday January 27, 2012, "Working Collaboratively with Publishers: What Should You Do and What Should They Do?"

You can read the interview at Martha's blog. It's another taste of the great stuff served up at the upcoming Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference. You can still register here.

Hope to see you in New York.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Barbara Marcus

I had the honor of interviewing Kid Lit book marketing expert Barbara Marcus, who will be presenting on the Saturday morning of the upcoming #NY12SCBWI Conference as part of a super-star panel exploring "Children's Books, Today and Tomorrow: Four Expert Impressions."

Barbara is Strategic Innovations Advisor to Penguin Books USA focusing in the area of new ventures and new publishing opportunities and Advisor to Open Road Integrated Media in the area of children's digital publishing. She is on the Board of Knowledge Adventure, a children’s software and technology company and Media Source, a children’s books direct marketing company and publisher of Library Journal and School Library Journal. Prior to that, she was President, Scholastic Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution where she was responsible for children’s consumer book publishing and distribution in the United States. After acquiring J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for publication in the United States in 1998, Barbara led the publishing effort for six out of the seven Harry Potter titles.

We discuss what made "Harry Potter" so successful, the future of e-books for kids and teens, how concerned we authors and illustrators should be about building a "brand," and much more!

You can check out the full interview here.

I know Barbara's answers made me even more eager to attend her conference presentation, and you can as well.  Registration for the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference is open, and we hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Jean Feiwel

SCBWI Team Blog's Jolie Stekly interviews Senior Vice President and Publishing Director of MacMillian Jean Feiwel over at Jolie's Cuppa Jolie blog.   I loved Jean's answer to what's the one element that has to be there for a manuscript to be acquired...

Jean will be presenting as part of "Children's Books, Today and Tomorrow: Four Expert Impressions" on the Saturday, January 28 of the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City.

Registration for the conference is open, and we hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Nancy Paulson

I'm delighted to share that I interviewed Nancy Paulsen, President and Publisher of her own imprint, Nancy Paulsen Books, at the Penguin Young Readers Group, in the run-up to her Saturday morning of the conference, January 28, 2012 presentation as part of "Children's Books: Today and Tomorrow: Four Expert Impressions."

We covered her list (picture books and novels) and how she builds it, trends, what she's looking for, and she shares some excellent advice for conference-goers and writers of children's literature.

And for illustrators, it's great to hear that one of the highlights of attending conferences like the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City for Nancy is checking out YOUR work... and Nancy tells us about another SCBWI success story.  Two, in fact!

You can read the interview here.

And you can see Nancy in person - Registration for the #NY12SCBWI conference is open.

We hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Ginger Knowlton

Team Blog's Jolie Stekly interviews agent Ginger Knowlton!

Ginger, an agent at Curtis Brown LTD, will be taking the stage on Sunday January 29, 2012 as part of "The Current Market For Your Work: Four Agents' Views" Presentation at the Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City.

Their interview covers some excellent advice for conference-goers, strategies and tips on submissions, and the all-important 'how do you know when your work is ready to submit?'

And Ginger knows her stuff: her list includes Newbery Medalists, Newbery Honor and Printz Honor winners, Edgar and Lambda winners, a Sibert and Orbis Pictus winner and New York Times bestsellers!

There's even another SCBWI success story in their interview, and you can read it here!

And you can see Ginger yourself at #NY12SCBWI.  Registration is open, and we hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#NY12SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview with Rubin Pfeffer

Team Blog's Martha Brockenbrough interviews agent Rubin Pfeffer to get the inside scoop on his E-books and Apps Breakout workshops on the conference Saturday - January 28, 2012.

Rubin is a veteran of the children’s and adult trade industry, a visionary who's working on - as they used to refer to it when I was in grad school - the "bleeding edge of technology." 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.

In the interview, Rubin also put out a call for readers to nominate our favorite book apps in the comments, so he can share and build on what we all have to say when he does his presentations.  See how innovative and cutting edge he is?

So head on over to Martha's blog and check it out.  It's a taste of one more amazing offering at the upcoming Lucky 13th Annual Winter Conference.   You can find out more and register here.

Hope to see you in New York.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

#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

All about the Writers Intensives at the Upcoming 2012 SCBWI Winter Conference!

I expanded last week's conversation with Lin Oliver, SCBWI's Executive Director, to find out more about the two different writers intensives the Friday before the full 2012 SCBWI Winter Conference.

The Roundtable Intensive for Writers is a chance to share your work with (and get immediate feedback from) editors and agents. (And it sells out every year.)

And new for this conference, there's a Marketing For Professional Writers Intensive. In our video, Lin explains more:






You can register now for the Illustrator's Marketing Intensive and the whole Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference!

Hope to see you there.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

All About The New Full Day Illustrator's Marketing Intensive on January 27, 2012

I got to sit down with Lin Oliver, SCBWI's Executive Director, and learn why the new Illustrator's Marketing Intensive coming up on the Friday before the full 2012 SCBWI Winter Conference isn't just going to be great - it's going to be essential.




You can register now for the Illustrator's Marketing Intensive and the whole Lucky 13th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference!

Hope to see you there.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Winter Conference Registration Opens Monday!

Registration for the SCBWI 2012 Winter Conference begins Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 10AM PDT. 

Click here for registration.

The Annual Winter Conference features a huge line-up of stars and decision-makers from the world of children's book publishing. Whether you're an illustrator or a writer, whether your genre is picture books, middle grade, or young adult, you can't afford to miss this spectacular chance to meet and network with the major players in publishing for young readers!

Plus we've added a third pre-conference intensive on January 27th-Marketing for Professional Writers--and that, along with our Writers' Roundtable Intensive and Marketing for Illustrators Intensive are sure to fill up fast. We have also added a Gala Cocktail party on January 28th so people can mingle with publishing professionals, regional advisors and other attendees, as well as enjoying a free drink and food.

The conference will take place from January 27th-29th at the Hyatt Regency Grand Central in New York City.

And be sure to watch this conference blog for exciting interviews with faculty members and other 2012 Winter Conference news from SCBWI's terrific TEAM BLOG.