The Editors and Agents Panel Has Begun!

The first panel of #scbwiSummer22 is a panel of editors and agents, discussing "The Current Market for Children's Publishing."

Moderated by Emma D. Dryden (top left), with ASL sign language interpretation by Jennye Kamin (top center), the panelists are, clockwise from top right:

Namrata Tripathi (Founder & Publisher, Kokila)

James Mustelier (Agent, The Bent Agency)

Elena Giovinazzo (VP & Senior Agent, Pippin Properties)

Tiff Liao (Executive Editor, Zando)

Watch the blog for posts centering on each of the panelists!

The LGBTQ + Allies Social

An intimate circle, the group included conference faculty guests Laurent Linn, Emma Dryden, Ellen Hopkins, Jane Yolen, Heidi Stemple, Jeffrey West, Arthur Levine, and Erika Turner.

We went around the circle, everyone introducing themselves and sharing what they're working on that has LGBTQ characters and themes, sparking lots of discussion.

Standout moments:

Ellen Hopkins on why she includes LGBTQ characters in her novels: "I write the teen landscape." And how the current political and cultural climate makes it "more important than ever" that we're here talking about LGBTQ characters and themes in books for young people.

Emma Dryden on how agents are telling her that they're looking for manuscripts in which gay is incidental...

Which lead to a broad discussion on how we need all kinds of books on the LGBTQ experience, books that star the LGBTQ character and books where they're part of the ensemble, books where it's about the LGBTQ experience, and books where it's about something else entirely and the characters' identity is incidental.

Laurent Lin spoke about visiting schools via the Lambda Literary Foundations Authors in Schools program,

The conversation covered controversy and backlash, the responsibility we have to our readers, and so much more!

Jane Yolen speaking with attendee David Daniel after the circle opened to more informal discussion 

The Editors Panel Begins!

Moderated by Emma Dryden (at podium), from left to right the editors are: Caitlyn Dloughy, Jill Santopolo, Tiffany Liao, and Daniel Nayeri.

Transforming Life Into Art Panel Begins!

Moderated by Emma Dryden (standing), the panelists are (left to right): Alex Gino, Aisha Saeed, Ruta Sepetys, and Kim Turrisi.

The Editors' Panel Begins!

Moderated by Emma Dryden (standing, far left), the panel shares three books that they acquired (and why):

Seated, from Left to Right:

Stacey Barney, Senior Editor (G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin)

Kat Brzozowski, Associate Editor (St. Martin's)

Alvina Ling, V.P. and Editor in Chief (Little, Brown)

Melissa Manlove, Editor (Chronicle)

Neal Porter, Publisher (Neal Porter Books)

Matt Ringler, Senior Editor (Scholastic)

Sara Sargent, Executive Edtior (Harper Collins)

Reka Simonsen, Executive Editor (Atheneum)

Kate Sullivan, Senior Editor (Delacorte)

The LGBTQ Q&A

Joining me and legendary editor Emma Dryden, best-Selling author Ellen Hopkins, art director and debut YA author Laurent Linn, and agent Danielle Smith, about 30 writers and illustrators (including conference attendee and Sid Fleischman and Lambda Literary Award-winning author Bill Konigsberg!) gathered in a large circle to share our questions about and discuss our projects that include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning characters and themes.

We started out in a circle

As always, it was a safe space with lots of shared encouragement and mutual support.

Some highlights:

"Write bravely because it's going to matter to somebody. ...We have kids who need these books. Still!"
- Ellen Hopkins

"There is a need and a want" for these books with LGBTQ characters and themes, in publishing houses, "and readers who need these books."
- Laurent Linn

"The biggest tool against generalization is characterization. ...We are all more than our gender identification... Gender is not enough. Sexuality is not enough. Go deeper..."
- Arthur A. Levine

on why Ellen's books are successful... "These books are dealing with how kids would really feel in these situations. But if it's not on the page, kids are going to think you're lying to them."

"The question is not what hasn't been done, but what haven't I done?"
- Bill Konigsberg

Both Arthur and Danielle spoke of how in today's publishing environment, having LGBTQ characters and themes are something they cite as a positive about a project, something that helps them in selling/publishing a project.

And spent time meeting and greeting each other

And we'll let Arthur have the final word for this post:

"There's never been a more receptive environment for publishing LGBTQ characters and issues."
- Arthur A. Levine

Small Presses: Though They Be Small They Be Fierce (Emma Dryden Interviews Rana DiOrio and Alison Weiss)

The room filling up to hear Emma Dryden (right) talk with Rana DiOrio (center) and Alison Weiss (left)

Legendary editor Emma Dryden is the founder of drydenbks, a premier children’s editorial and publishing consultancy firm. Calling herself a "big advocate of exploring your publishing options," she introduces Rana DiOrio, the publisher of Little Pickle Press and Alison Weiss, an editor at Sky Pony Press.

Some highlights of the session

On success,

Alison cites a fascinating perception difference: If a book is expected to sell 100,000 copies but only sells 20,000 copies, versus a book that's expected to sell 10,000 copies and sells 20,000. Both books sold the same number of copies, but the perception of success is completely different.

Emma asks Alison and Rana what arguments they'd use to convince an author whose work might be being considered by both their small press and a major house.

For Alison, the benefits of a smaller house include:

• The degree of accessibility. Being able to reach and talk to almost anyone at the small press, versus how at big houses you often don't even know who's touching your book.

• She cautions how at a big house, if you're very very lucky, your book is chosen as the big book they're going to feature and push. But, sometimes (most of the time) your book won't be chosen. A book can sort of get lost... At a smaller house, it's a lot easier to stand out and shine.

• Smaller presses have "a lot more room for experimentation."


For Rana, the argument for Little Pickle starts with:

• "Together, the author and Little Pickle become parents of your child, your work. It's that important. The success of your book is so important to us." She describes it as "intimate."

• Rana cites the process being much more collaborative than at a major house. For example, picture book authors get to weigh in on who the illustrator is, and get input on the art direction. "It's an amazing process and you're being a participant."

• "We work much more quickly." A picture book can happen in a year. (Versus three years at a big press.)

• Opportunity to serve a social mission - not just Little Pickle's, but yours. (They have a lot of cause marketing relationships.)

• Flexibility in business models, where contracted relationships can look more like joint ventures. She sites one of her authors whose deal was no advance and 30% of revenue, versus a traditional publishing deal of an advance with a royalty rate of between 5-7%.


Additionally, both Alison and Rana describe the acquisitions process at their small presses. They discuss marketing, trade shows, publicity and marketing, their business models (advances, royalties, profit sharing versus revenue sharing) and so much more.

The last ten minutes of the session Emma opens the floor to questions from the attendees (some of whom didn't get a chair and are sitting on the floor and standing against the back wall!)

Visit their websites at these links to find out more about Little Pickle Press and Sky Pony Press.

The LGBTQ Q&A

With conference faculty guest agent Tina Wexler, agent Jennifer Laughran, Art Director and Author Laurent Linn, Best-Selling and Award-Winning Author Jane Yolen, editor Emma Dryden and editor and publisher Arthur A. Levine, our group of more than forty attendees gathered to share and talk about  writing and illustrating LGBTQ characters and themes in works for children and teens.

In moments ranging from hilarious to somber,  topics covered included picture book art notes (dos and don'ts), gender non-conformity, gender challenges in the English language, and the urgent need for more books with LGBTQ diversity.

At one point, an ally voiced a concern about writing from a queer perspective, and the consensus was to not hold back about writing from other points of view (outside your own.) To do your homework, to run it by people who are members of that community...

Arthur: "I urge you to not be self-conscious"

Jane: "In terms of getting it right. In terms of getting the feelings right."

It was a great conversation and the room was filled with a sense of warmth and community. We sat in a circle, each person sharing their name and what they're working on, with our conference faculty (and myself) chiming in with thoughts, advice and insights.

Once the session ended, many participants stayed to exchange contact information and mingle. The pictures are from that part of the evening:

I was honored to host - my thanks and appreciation to the panel and all the attendees!

Lee

Emma Dryden: The Pre-#NY15SCBWI Interview

Emma Dryden has edited over a thousand books for children and young readers and many of her titles hit bestseller lists in USA Today, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Publishers Weekly. Books published under Emma’s guidance have received numerous awards and medals, including but not limited to, the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Honor.

Check out the great interview with Emma Dryden at Jolie Stekly's blog!

Team Blogger Jolie Stekly chatted with Emma to get the scoop on the World Building Writer's Intensive at the upcoming 2015 SCBWI Winter Conference, Feb 6-8!

It's a great discussion, and I'm more excited than ever to attend...

We hope you join us. You can find out all the intensive and conference information, and register, here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

The LGBTQ Q&A

Once again, it was my honor to host the LGBTQ Chat - a discussion of including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning characters and themes in works for children and teens.

Faculty members Jane Yolen, Emma Dryden and Ellen Hopkins spoke and answered attendee questions as we travelled around the circle and people shared what they were working on.

Emma shared some great market and story advice, and each of our faculty were encouraging - a true safe space. Some highlights and moments from our wonderful session:

Jane Yolen: "There's nothing off the table when you're writing a novel… if you do it well.  And then you set a new benchmark."

Ellen Hopkins: "Books don't create queers. The just offer empathy and understanding to that space."

And Ellen's call to action for us all to write the stories we need to write are still resonating:

"Be fearless!"

Emma Dryden: The Pre-#NY14SCBWI Conference Interview by Martha Brockenbrough

Make sure to check out Martha's wonderful interview with Emma Dryden. 

They talk about plot, reading and so much more, and it's packed with gems like these:

"the most common oversight I see writers making is not writing to the hearts of their characters and not allowing their characters to be the emotional and psychological heroes of their own stories." - Emma Dryden

and

"Writing is a lifelong process of learning, deepening and evolving craft..." - Emma Dryden

While the full-day plot intensive Emma is moderating the Friday before the conference is sold out, there's so much more to the 15th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference that you can still attend, including:

Keynotes by Jack Gantos, Kate Messner, Elizabeth Wein, and Sharon Draper,

THE ART OF THE PICTURE BOOK PANEL with Peter Brown, Raul Colon, Marla Frazee, Oliver Jeffers and Shadra Strickland

BANNED BOOKS PANEL with Ellen Hopkins, Author, Joan Bertin, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship, and Susanna Reich, Chair, Children’s and Young Adult Book Committee, Pen American Center

THE FUTURE OF AUTHORSHIP PANEL with Paul Aiken, Jean Feiwel, Jane Friedman, Abbi Glines, and Tim Travaglini

Your choice of two out of twenty-four special Breakout Sessions discussing craft, marketing, illustration and more,

Plus a Portfolio Showcase, a Saturday Gala dinner, and the magic mix of Craft, Business, Inspiration, Opportunity and Community that makes SCBWI Conferences such amazing and worthwhile events!

You can find out more details and register here.

The LGBTQ Q&A

Once again it was my honor to host the Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender and Queer Question and Answer Event!

Our conference faculty attending as special guests were editor Arthur A. Levine, editor Emma Dryden, author Kristin Venuti, agent Tracey Adams and author Ellen Hopkins.

We had over fifty conference attendees attend, and the questions and conversation covered a range including:

Writing the "other"
Post-gay (post-trauma) stories
The need for editors, agents and authors to go outside our comfort zones

There was a lot of discussion about recognizing that when you write an LGBTQ character, that's not the sum total of them as a person.  It's part of who they are.  And you need to write the other parts, too.

As Emma Dryden said so eloquently,

"Stop thinking about them as queer and just think of them as people."

It was a wonderful gathering, and many attendees stayed around afterwards to mingle and socialize (Which was when I remembered to take these photos!)

Emma Dryden and Harold Underdown's PAL workshop: Social Media for Authors & Illustrators

Harold Underdown is the man behind The Purple Crayon website, one of the first online resources in children's literature. He posts great links and articles about things going on in this industry and also tweets.

Emma Dryden has a website describing her Drydenbks business, and is very active on twitter and facebook and she's even moving into google+ as well.

They are sharing a virtual handout with amazing resources to check out and a paper handout that reviews a large number of the social networks for readers that are out there.

The first thing they suggest to do is to get a website.

Think about your website as a living document - a forum for you as you grow, with new artwork, new sketches, but not everything - you want to give a sampling, a showcase of your writing, your illustration, your interests, your links, song lists, book titles. (But don't give away the store.)

Some great pieces of advice:

Think about who your audience is going to be. The audience for picture books are not going online. But if you write picture books, you could have resources for parents and teachers.

Don't put your unpublished manuscript on your website, but once it's published, put up a few chapters - people love to preview.

Do not post photos of your children: be careful of the presence that you have online - it's totally public. Keep your boundaries in mind from the very beginning.

Own your own domain name (and don't let it lapse.)

They're explaining and discussing the pros and pitfalls of facebook, twitter, and twitterchats, myspace, LinkedIn, and Google+, sharing strategies for how to manage the flow of information.

You can also have a blog as your website. Emma mentions the article Alice Pope wrote about starting a blog in the recent SCBWI Bulletin, and recommends it. You can also use your blog as your website. One way to take the pressure off is to be part of a group blog - a Glog - (like INK)

Some authors doing social media RIGHT that Emma and Harold suggest you look to as inspirations:

Ellen Hopkins

Laurie Halse Anderson

And another example of an author doing an excellent job with twitter is Maureen Johnson

There are even publishers and authors who are tweeting AS characters!

Of course, you can't do everything. (Emma likes twitterchats, Harold doesn't...)

"Social Media is not something you HAVE to do, but maybe you can find one part of it that does work for you." - Harold Underdown

And the attendees of this session are now armed with loads of practical information to help them figure that out!

Keynote: Emma Dryden on Traveling Through the Digital Landscape

Emma Dryden

If a career had a backlist, Emma Dryden's would be huge. She's edited more than 500 books and, as publisher of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Margaret K. McElderry Books, oversaw the publication of 100 more.

She's also got quite a bit going on in her current career list, so to speak. Since March of 2010, she's run her own editorial consulting firm, Drydenbks, working with people in every publishing discipline--including ebook and app producers. (Oh, and she even writes her own poetry and fiction and blogs at emmadryden.blogspot.com.)

She gave a keynote address on the digital future of publishing and started by talking about the most important aspect of the business:

"What I've learned first and foremost ... is that story matters most." And no matter what the platform, "I want to identify with the story, relate to something in that story, and have that story resonate long after I've finished it."

"The road we're on together has always in one way or another taken us into uncharted lands," she said. Today's digital upheaval is just one more example of this.

Children know the digital landscape intrinsically, she said. Adults re-educate and retool themselves--but kids have nothing to unlearn as they travel the digital landscape.

"I don't think we need fear for the survival of the book," she said. "Not in our lifetime. But the digital world is reshaping the very foundations of the book business and the book business has to adapt to survive."


Her keynote offered a comprehensive overview of the digital landscape, from platforms to pricing to piracy. A few of the many observations she shared:

How did we get here? The landscape is ever-shifting. Among other things: the iPhone and the Kindle, launched in 2007, spelled big changes. Then the economic recession hit publishing hard. In 2011, start-ups nosed in. There was also that big debate over pricing between Amazon and Macmillan. (Emma said we have to pay close attention to the debate about e-book pricing because more than 50 percent goes to the publisher.)

The iPad is a major development (and Apple is insisting that all book apps sell through its own bookstore). And there continue to be additional developments: better screen resolution, the ability to use it as a credit card... the list goes on.

What's the digital market look like? Ebook sales are up 170 percent in the first quarter of this year, and they're expected to go up 140 percent further later in the year. 

For enhanced ebooks (the ones with video, etc.), the ones working best are cookbooks, craft books, and language books. Ebooks and apps are different, Emma said. Apps are little programs designed to entertain and be useful. They have more features than books.

Finally, the digital platform can possibly supplement the picture book market (and not replace it).

Ebook royalties: The industry standard is 25 percent of net receipts published through traditional houses. Some pay more. For self published, it's 60 to 80 percent. It's critical for publishers, agents, and authors to work together the fundamental issues related to ebooks: rights, royalties, pricing, distribution, marketing and sales, she said. 


Out-of-print titles/self publishing: Some agencies are facilitating e-publishing of authors' work. "I think the waters of conflict of interest are being churned up considerably," she said. "Is the agent the perfect publishing partner? The jury is still out on that one."

A few self-publishing options: Figment, InkPop, Tikatok--all publish the writing of children. For adults there is Utales.com: Emma is helping with quality control for this pending service, designed to showcase picture books.

This comment drew gasps: "It's more than just a rumor that Apple is interested in buying Barnes and Noble."
  
Follow Emma Dryden on Twitter