"Jon has been a great friend of the SCBWI" and oversees a lot of the philanthropic aspects of Amazon (and they've become a key player in children's publishing.) He's the liaison between Amazon and the author/illustrator community, serving as Director of Author & Publisher Relations.
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| Jon Fine |
In terms of the changes happening now in publishing, Jon is optimistic, saying
"I view this as an incredible time of opportunity for writers and readers."He speaks of the biggest challenge we writers and illustrators face,
Tell your stories as well as you can and then
the real key is discoverability - how can people find your books?
And gives a shout-out,
"There is no group more supportive of its aspiring members than SCBWI."
Of independent bookstores, Jon says,
"A robust independent bookselling community is absolutely crucial. What a bookstore looks like will change over time." And there's a discussion across the panel of the resurgence of the bookstore, and a growing appreciation and understanding of the importance of the community around books.
He talks about transmedia, subscription services, serials, interstitial works, keywords and other tools to get the word out, his take on current trends and the age at which it's okay for your kid to read "Hunger Games" (it's dropping), skype author visits, and even predicts some trends yet to come..."A robust independent bookselling community is absolutely crucial. What a bookstore looks like will change over time." And there's a discussion across the panel of the resurgence of the bookstore, and a growing appreciation and understanding of the importance of the community around books.
Yet putting it all aside, he reminds us that the core issue is to tell a great story.
"It's all about the story. It's all about reading."
The panel is a fascinating view of the side of the business AFTER your book is published!
