The Acquisitions Panel Begins!

From left to right, Rubin Pfeffer (Agent, Content, standing at podium), Alvina Ling (VP and Editor-in-Chief, Little Brown Books for Young Readers), Sarah Davies (Agent, Greenhouse Literary), Ginger Clark (Agent, Curtis Brown), Liz Bicknell (EVP, Executive Editorial Director & Associate Publisher, Candlewick Press), Alessandra Balzer (VP and Co-Publisher, Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins.)

Alessandra Balzer and Allyn Johnston: Editor's Panel

Alessandra Balzer is Vice-President, co-publisher of Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books. She edits everything from picture books to novels for teens.

Alessandra Balzer

Allyn Johnston is Vice-President and Publisher of Beach Lane Books, a San Diego-Based imprint of Simon & Schuster. She publishes books "for all ages and across all genres" with a "primary focus on lyrical, emotionally engaging, highly visual picture books for young children."

Allyn Johnston

The theme of the panel is for each editor to share their three must-sees and their three really-don't-want-to-see elements of a manuscript. Here are highlights of Alessandra and Allyn's comments:

Alessandra shares "I'm a sucker for voice." She needs to see voice, it conveys age, point of view, gender… it all comes through voice, and she must see that.

Allyn Johnson shares that she's looking for the unexpected. "If it has the ability to give me goosebumps" that's a really good thing. She also says that she's not a fan of long cover letters (she'd rather be surprised by the manuscript,)

As far as the what not to dos,

Alessandra cautions that the effort to not be boring can backfire if you overload the start of your manuscript with so much action and sex and drama that it's overwhelming… "introduce us to your characters."

And Allyn says, "Don't be weird." Don't submit your manuscript inside a plastic toy fish - which she s now holding up to prove that actually happened to her! [translation: your manuscript shouldn't need the gimmick to grab their attention.]

There's so much information and insights being shared!

Two last points, one for each:

Allyn Johnston - she asks herself of a picture book manuscript: Is it irresistible to read aloud? It must be, for her to acquire it.

Alessandra Balzer - in talking about having a hook, says, "what hook really means is the ability for the book to stand out." There's so much out there, what's going to make someone say, oh, you have to read this book - and that's yours?

The Editors' Panel!

It's starting!

Lin moderating the editors' panel!

And some close-ups!

Left to Right: Alessandra Balzer, Mary Lee Donovan, and Allyn Johnson

Left to Right: Allyn Johnson, Wendy Loggia, Lucia Monfried, and just a bit of Dinah Stevenson

Left to Right: Dinah Stevenson and Julie Strauss-Gabel

Writers Intensive Panel: Making the Most of the Critique Experience



l to r: Aaron Hartler, Allyn Johnston, Alessandra Balzer, Jennifer Hunt


SCBWI's Aaron Hartzler moderates a panel of editors offering advice on critiques to a room full of writers awaiting them. Allyn Johnston (Beach Lane), Alessandra Balzer (Balzer & Bray), Jennifer Hunt (Dial) are the panelists.

Aaron asks about the anxiety that can come from critique situations.

Alessandra stresses that editors are on your side. Jennifer says that there is not a writer in the world who couldn't use some critique. Allyn confesses that editors are nervous too--it's pressure for them to have to deliver something helpful to writers on the spot.

Voice, characterization, dialog, pacing are the types of things that you'd see in an editorial letter and those are areas writers should be considering, Jennifer says. Those are the kinds of things that she listens for. With a short critique, she focuses on voice and characterization.

Alessandra stresses that, in group critiques, you listen to others, pick out the positive elements, and balance out the positive and negative when offering feedback. When you're taking feedback, again, listen and be open to the comments--they might not all be relative but they're all worth considering.

Jennifer says that is you're the person getting a critique, you shouldn't spend your time talking when you could spend your time listening. She also recommends after a critique meeting or group session, you think about your suggestions for a week before making changes so you have sufficient time to soak them in and consider them. She says that editors are your allies, and it's better to hear about something that doesn't work from an editor than later, down the line, in a revieiw. Editors are like the good friends who tell you, you have a beautiful smile, but there's some spinach in your teeth.

Alessandra Balzer: You Can Handle the Truth

Editor and publisher Alessandra Balzer (Balzer&Bray/HarperCollins) gave a workshop today called You Can Handle the Truth: Honest Advice on What Editors are Looking For. Fast-paced and funny, Alessandra blasted through true or false questions for the audience.

True: Editors love first time authors
False: Pictures books have to rhyme

Alessandra had great advice for pitching your books, reminding the audience that the query will not make or break your career. But she did suggest using "meets". As in Harry Potter meets StarWars or Roald Dahl meets Blade Runner. Visualize how to pitch your books, know comp titles, and mention your hook.

As a publisher, some of the things Alessandra is looking for are:

Voice-A fresh voice, point of view, flavor.
High Concept-A great hook with high stakes
Crying-If you can make her cry then the book is emotionally true
Heart-Something that resonates. Alessandra read from Mo Willems book, Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator. And the room went, "Awww....."

Alessandra Balzer: What Makes Your Work Publishable

In real life, Alessandra Balzer isn't this blurry.

 She's the co-publisher of Balzer & Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins, and she told us 10 things she looks for when she's acquiring projects. We'll share five on the blog.

One of the first things, of course, is voice. Even with picture books, it's a critical way of understanding characters without lots of exposition. (Some favorites: Bob Shea's I'M A SHARK, Mo Willems' Pigeon books, and SKIPPYJON JONES.)

You also need a groundbreaking concept. What does the market need that it never knew it needed? She gave a couple of examples, including the picture book JUST BEING AUDREY. Something that isn't out there, or something that gives a fresh take on other stuff.

Thing three for Alessandra is world building. It doesn't have to be sci fi or dystopian--it could just be a really believable high school, created from the atmosphere to the dialogue and clothing. How is speech different? How are social moires different? If you don't figure all that stuff out, it won't work.

Read-aloud quality. This doesn't stop with picture books. She recommends reading your text out loud to yourself. "It really changes things when you hear your own voice doing it," she said. The book CAT SECRETS blends humor with sound effects--the reader is forced to interact.

Heart. This is the X-factor that crosses every genre. "It's the thing that makes you go awww. It's the emotional resonance. It's the thing that makes you want to root for a character."