We began with Self publishing.
Zetta, who has been very successful in self-publishing, made a powerpoint to take us through her journey in self publishing.
"You have to ask yourself why you are publishing for children, what your definition of success is? Awards might not be a possibility through self-publishing but what Zetta wanted was sovereignty, so this is a great space for her though self publishing can be a blessing and burden.
Zetta knows that Black women have traditionally struggled to get published so they created their own space. Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press was founded in 1980 and this gave Zetta a place to start.
"They are missing out on so many stories" That is why she feels it is an act of resistance.
Soon we moved onto Book Packagers, and Dhonielle Clayton took the stage!
Dhonielle spoke about how you can utilize book packaging to further your career! As she was navigating the publishing world, she found herself writing books under an alias, and ghostwriting big series books and IP that already existed. You find that big corporations, like Disney and Marvel, create media like this; they create with a team, but have been known to exclude marginalized writers.
This spurred her on to create more opportunities for those who need to learn how to write well, how to write quickly, learn commercial plotting, etc. That is why she developed her company, Electric Postcard Entertainment, an IP story company that creates diverse books for all ages in order to give opportunities to those marginalized groups.
Her goal is to help make connections and show the writers what she knows, giving them tools that they can use for their own manuscripts and work. "Take what you need. We are in this together." Dhonielle wants make sure the writers get compensated in working in book packaging.
"Packaging is a way to write in someone else's sandbox." - Dhonielle
What Dhonielle is looking for is— can you collaborate? Do you have a voice? Think of a television writing room. "I can teach you how to write a plot, well-rounded characters, commercial and elevator pitches, building blocks but can you write in a voice and in the voice of the project."
PARTING THOUGHT:
Zetta: Continuous check in with yourself, why you want to write children book, why do you want your children's book to exist? Think about what would success look like for you, what would make me happy?
Dhonielle: Look at book packaging as school, something to learn from while on your journey. We all dream about being an author, so look to "sharpening your skills, and paying your bills" while you navigate your journey in publishing. And remember, with book packaging, you won't be able to come in and dictate as you translate someone else's story, but think of it as a practice.
For more insight on the other categories, don't forget to check out the blogs written by Jaime and Jolie, who covered our other fabulous panelists!
About Dhonielle Clayton
DHONIELLE J. CLAYTON was born in the suburbs of Washington, DC and spent her childhood Saturdays at the comic book store with her father and most evenings hiding beneath her grandmother’s dining room table with a stack of books. She earned a BA in English at Wake Forest University. She was an English teacher for three years and worked with educational curriculum. Being surrounded by children, Dhonielle re-discovered her love of children’s literature and earned a MA in Children’s and Young Adult Literature from Hollins University, and an MFA in Writing for Children. She is a middle school librarian at Harlem Village Academies. She is co-founder of the lit packaging company, CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen that whips up decadent literary confections for middle grade, YA, and women's fiction readers that aims to bring diversity to high concept material. Her book TINY PRETTY THINGS co-written with her CAKE Literary co-founder will be out in summer 2015 from Harper Teen.
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