Beverly Horowitz: Forget the Trends: the Story Only You Can Write

Clearly a trend at this conference is a packed break-out session, and, in keeping with the trends, Beverly Horowitz is standing-room only. 

Some thoughts Beverly has on trends:

You should know what’s going on in the market.

What are trends anyway?

Pay attention to the impact of trends, not just in the book business, but in the world.

If you see what’s working now, it’s too late. However, open your eyes, you don’t have to opt in. You can opt out.

"There is always room for something new and different."

Trends are important. It helps us understand the marketplace, and to understand the need.

Things change. Trends change.

Do your best work. What’s important is your commitment to the quality and the storytelling. That, only you can do.

Marcia Wernick's Workshop: Ain't Nobody's Business but my Own: Creating Your Own Career Path

Marcia speaking to the room of PAL Session attendees

Marcia Wernick is the agent that introduced Mo Willems to the publishing world. Previously at the Sheldon Fogelman Agency, together with Linda Pratt she launched Wernick & Pratt Agency in January 2011.

Marcia starts her workshop speaking about career paths, and how there's no magic - it takes years of struggle and commitment to become an overnight success (she recalls that it took her two and a half years for her to sell "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus.")

For your path, you need to find your strengths, hone your skills and keep creating...

She's advising us how to be strategic in choosing what you are going to work on next, and sharing about how placing a second book is different than placing a third book - when the third book is being submitted, there's already a track record on how your debut novel sold, and that's considered as part of the acquisitions process.

She goes into depth on how you need to treat this writing/illustrating career as a business, and how you need to rally your business team:

An agent

Your writers group

your editorial relationship

a publicist?

And if a publicist isn't possible, what creative things can you do marketing-wise to entice readers to come to you?

Social media (PB authors don't need to be on facebook)

Book trailers

School visits

Conferences - which ones (besides SCBWI) to attend!

She spoke about ways to diversify your portfolio - from writing to other age categories to licensing.

One of the great points she shared:

We need to have a business plan, and to review it at regular intervals for what we've achieved and which goals need to be re-set. She urges us to set realistic goals that are under our control (you can't set winning the Newbery Award or getting starred reviews as a goal, since you don't control those) but you CAN set a goal of delivering a new draft of a manuscript in the next six months, or contacting your local newspaper, or getting 300 new facebook friends in the next month... She also suggests keeping these lists of checked-off goals as an "inventory of achievements."

And Marcia urges us to not get caught up in comparing ourselves to others (there will always be someone doing better in terms of NY Times bestseller lists, awards, and other authors/illustrators doing worse...) We should keep in mind there are lots of other measures of success, and suggests a few:

solid, consistent publication of your books

support of your indie bookstore

making state library book lists

subsidiary rights sales

positive reviews

fan letters

And Marcia concluded the session with a fun and super-informative Q&A, fielding questions on when to leave your day job, how to approach publishing in more than one age category, pseudonyms, and many more!

Ann Angel: Finding the Narrative in Nonfiction

Ann Angel (SCBWI Crystal Kite winner for JANIS JOPLIN: RISE UP SINGING) says that now is one of the most exciting times for nonfiction. There's so much more attention being paid to nonfiction today

Janis Joplin, the subject of her recent book, was someone she idolized when she was a kid. She's currently doing research for a book in Stevie Ray Vaughan and another on human trafficking in America.

When Ann started writing nonfiction, she thought there were two ways to do it--coming at it as either a historian or a reporter. Passion is not generally a word people use to describe nonfiction, she says, but it's there. You can see it. Passion is what's necessary for a creative nonfiction writer. You can be a passionate reporter. In addition to having a narrative voice, you also can be funny, playful, personal, objective, scientific, interpretive.

When Ann writes nonfiction, she doesn't leave out the "bad stuff." You need to get the facts from primary resources, she says. She interviewed three people who were in Janis Joplin's life (friends and family) as she worked on her book. Back story is also important for giving depth to nonfiction. You have to have so much information that you feel like you've lived the life of the subject, but you don't use it all.

For trade books, nonfiction should have a third person point of view and make the reader feel like they are on the journey--the reader shouldn't be interrupted by the narrator, Ann says.

 

I fired my therapist: the author-editor relationship

Liesa Abrams and Alan Silberberg teamed up to discuss how authors and editors can best work together. Liesa is executive editor at Aladdin, and Alan is the Sid Fleischman Award-winning author of MILO: STICKY NOTES AND BRAIN FREEZE.

Even before the session started, we could see the deep rapport these two have. No wonder they fired their therapists.

MILO is about a quirky, weird wonderful boy coming to grips with the death of his mother, something Alan related to because he experienced that loss as a child. Initially, he thought the book was going to be funny, but as he delved deeper into his memories, the book got more serious.

"The book has changed my life in so many ways," he said. "My life changed because my agent was able to take this manuscript and hand it over to Liesa."

Liesa related to the book because it was her husband's story, as well. His own mom died of cancer, and he'd spoken about it in similar ways. The closest thing she could come to healing her husband's loss was to work on this book. She really, really wanted to work on it and felt anxiety that it might not come to pass.

"This is the book that will make me feel my entire career has meaning if I can edit this book."

He read from the editorial letter Liesa wrote him, and we all got choked up. "I hadn't just found a way to get Milo published, but I had found this connection with this personal story."

One challenge was to separate themselves from the story a bit. Alan, who illustrated MILO, experimented with characters that looked less like him. Being able to have Liesa put a little distance between himself and the material allowed him to edit it from a safer place.

"I don't mean to get all therapy on you," he said, "but I really needed to feel safe to go back into these memories."

Liesa gave an example of how they shaped the story: the Milo character wrote about headaches making him think of drafting a will. It's not a kid point of view to think that way, so he wrote that Milo felt scared instead.

Liesa never asked which scenes were autobiographical (they were all emotionally true, but some were fictionalized). She was glad to have that distance, which let her look at it as a work of fiction.

"The reader only knows what's there on the page. They're reading that book. You're not there. It's not that actions can't be contradictory--you have to understand why the character is contradicting themselves."

"It's not just about the advance and the royalties," Liesa said. "It makes a world of difference to have a relationship like this... the writing is the most personal thing you can do."

Alan and Liesa made us all cry when they talked about the healing this book had brought about. “Not every editor relationship requires tissues, you know.”

Norton Juster Keynote: An Accidental Author Tells All

Norton Juster wrote the classic Children's book "The Phantom Tollbooth,"




"The Dot and The Line,"




"The Odious Ogre,"




and "The Hello, Goodbye Window."




And I (and the other 1,341 people here) are eager to learn from the mind of the man who wrote the note on that famous tollbooth that read:

"RESULTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED, BUT IF NOT PERFECTLY SATISFIED, YOUR WASTED TIME WILL BE REFUNDED."

Norton's first book, "The Phantom Tollbooth," came out in 1961 (50 years ago!) And he's reflecting on how the world was a much different place then, but children's lives were pretty much the same, across generations. The great puzzle for kids is what their parents are all about.

He's recalling how one of the qualities of his own childhood was a lot of time with nothing much to do... and the resulting boredom. And says,

"Boredom is not an unmixed blessing. But you can learn a lot fighting your way out of it."

He calls himself an "accidental writer," and reads us a very funny bio of himself he wrote early in his writing career, then launches into his journey through architecture school and the Navy to go back to seeing the world how he saw it as a child...

And then he started writing - 50 pages in, a friend sent it to an adult editor, who then called Norton up three weeks later and offered him a contract.

He was sharing a townhome with illustrator Jules Feiffer at the time, and shared pages with him, and Jules did sketches... And they were wonderful.

He's sharing very funny anecdotes about his back and forth with Jules on him challenging Jules to illustrate things he knew he didn't like to draw, and Jules trying to subvert what Norton was asking for...

The general sense when "The Phantom Tollbooth" was that "no child should have to confront anything that they didn't already know," and it wasn't expected to do well...

But wow did it ever!

He's talking about his other books now, with charming make-the-audience-laugh moments. Like an idea he had 40 years ago, put in an envelope, and three years ago took it out and finally knew what to do with... And that became "The Odious Ogre."

He's sharing about creativity - how there's a mythology about ideas, and how it's not true - they do not come crashing through the window like a lightning bolt - it takes time to revise and make it work!

He's reading a passage from "The Phantom Tollbooth" (the section where the bird keeps taking everything Milo is saying out of context) to laughter and applause. And ties it together, saying,

"One of the important jobs of a writer is to help children understand that there's more than one way to look at things, and some of them are strange."

He's talking about the power of looking at things out of context, like a newspaper headline about a sick religious leader unable to give his sermon and how his wife fills in for him to great success,

Pastor's Wife Fills Church

And all the images just that headline brought to his mind!

You never know where you'll end up taking a wild idea and following it until you end up at nonsense... or penicillin. or gravity.

So he urges us to spend a large part of our time out of context and encourage children to stay out as long as possible!

To knock it out of the ballpark, he ends with a spoonerism poem, Prindarella and the Crince, and the room erupts in applause, and a standing ovation!

And as far as that guarantee? While it would be cool to see how our time might be refunded, everyone in the room would have to admit that we're all MORE than perfectly satisfied!

Jon Scieszka - Keynote Part 2

Where and how did Jon fall in love with books? Not in school. Jon grew up reading MAD magazine or war comics for fun, but in school he had to read the incredibly boring Dick And Jane. They laughed at things that weren't funny. Like dishes.

"If I had only learned to read from the stuff I read in school, I don't think I would have been a reader."

It wasn't until after Jon was an elementary school teacher for a few years that he started to find all those great children's books we civilized, intelligent SCBWI members already know about.

Jon realized he wanted to make children's books, too. And some of the ways he's approached making books are outlined below:

STEALING AND TWISTING:

COWBOY & OCTOPUS is a tribute to GEORGE and MARTHA, FROG and TOAD. Jon tried to imagine the weirdest possible friend duo he could.

Be prepared for people to not get your twists. For THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS, Jon and Lane got lots of rejections from publishers like:  Too sophisticated, too dark, or code words for disgusting.

COMBINE YOUR PASSION WITH MARKET (OR DONUT) HOLES:

Jon loves history, and he noticed it was always hard to get his boy students to read chapter books, they liked thinner books with fun covers. So Jon made his books fit those limits, and THE TIME WARP TRIO was born. Not having too many rules for the magic in Jon's series means Jon can do lots of crazy stuff—going back in history, forward in time, into other books.

Jon digresses for a few minutes about Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I signed that diplomatic immunity contract in the post below and can't repeat it.

Similarly, the excellently covered GUYS READ short story collection he edits takes the sting out of too many chapters in a row.

Jon taught 8th grade algebra and for years tried to figure out how to write a funny book about math. Do you have any loves or specialties that don't seem like typical picture book fodder?

PROSTITUTE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS:

Jon owed an editor a book for four years, and after the book was overdue by two years, his editor asked him to write a book about anything and suggested he write about his family.

"Who'd want to read about my family?" he asked, "We aren't that weird."
"Yes, you are," said his editor.

And that's how KNUCKLEHEADS was born. Jon thinks we're all from weird families and recommends you write down your nuttiest family stories. He also recommends making your children work for you. They can build a Twitter or text a website, right?

FIND CHILDREN THAT AREN'T TIRED OF YOU YET:

"I wanted to write for pre-schoolers, my kids were older, and I'd never taught that age," says John. "To get to know that audience, I went and worked in a kindergarten near my house. I didn't realize until it was too late that pre-schoolers are insane."

"If you have a three or four year old, then you know that they're kind of like Alzheimer's patients on acid."

All of those pre-K or K class kids became personalities in Jon's TRUCKTOWN series. And with Trucktown, Simon & Schuster said they could be all kinds of books: picture books, like TRUCKERY RHYMES, Early readers, even sticker books.

Write middle grade, write poetry, write YA, write graphic novels, write apps. WRITE, says Jon.

Final, ambassadorally approved quote:

Write your stuff, get it out there, in whatever form you can. 

Below is how the audience was forced by ambassadorial guards (and that contract we all had to sign) to say goodbye to Jon.

Libba Bray: Hello, My Name is...:Getting Past the First Date with Your Characters

Today Libba is going to talk about the mediocre because she believes that’s where attention is not paid to character.

Characters aren’t memorable if they give us what we expect and are just status quo.

Her number one pet peeve is when she’s reading and she feeling like the author is giving her some BS (you know what I mean).

“In the universal is the particular.”

How do we get to that place where we are writing memorable characters?

-You read! Read as far and wide as you possibly can.

-Allow yourself to play. Be the characters.

-Think of your characters like nesting dolls. It’s fun to open each layer.

-Know what your character wants. If you get stuck, that’s the engine that propels it all.

-Write from the outside in, relating to writing about other times or other cultures. Research is important and fun.

It’s always important to remember that people are people.

It’s fun (and can be helpful) to have a playlist for a book, and also for a specific character. Music often helps Libba find the character.

Libba keeps a spiral notebook with her always. It’s astonishing how much goes into the pre-thinking. She also sometimes interviews her characters.

It’s also helpful to monologue it. As a free write, Libba might write a letter. Or think about what a character would say over a PA. Or give a graduation speech. It can help get the juices flowing.

Acting is excellent training for writing.

Keep in mind, that characters often lie. 

Jon Scieszka - Keynote The Myriad Possibilities of Form, Style and Genre

Jon Scieszka, National Ambassador for Children's Literature Emerititutis is here. Before you read the transcript of his talk in the next post, you must agree to this 62 page contract waiving all potential suits you might bring against Jon for any reason, at anytime, anywhere in California.

SCBWI members, employees and guests need to understand the scope and limitations of the privileges and immunities that flow from Jon's diplomatic or consular status, and the obligations and liabilities that his status imposes upon them.
Privileges and immunities are set forth rather explicitly in two basic bilat- eral treaties, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 (VCDR) and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1969 (VCCR). Additional privileges and immunities may be contained in bilateral agreements, most of which are styled as consular agreements, but other agreements, such as friendship, commerce, and navigation treaties may also contain provisions that pertain to the immunities of consular and diplomatic personnel and to the embassy and consular offices. Frequently, international organizations have treaties or arrange- ments with host states that provide for privileges and immunities for their own staff, members of missions to that organization, or experts or other representatives on a mission for that organization (e.g., peace- keeping, humanitarian assistance). Finally, some agencies, such as USAID or Peace Corps, have specific arrangements with a host state that provide privileges and immunities “consistent” with a particular status.
The discussion below can provide only a general framework. When seeking information about a specific situation, guidance should come from someone who demonstrates a full understanding of the modern treaties that address the subject. The Legal Adviser’s Office of Diplo- matic Law and Litigation has legal experts who will advise you on these matters. In addition, you should be able to review the applicable trea- ties in the post library, the administrative office, and on the Internet.
The discussion below addresses the situation of U.S. Government employees of the foreign affairs agencies and employees of other U.S.
agencies who are posted abroad and notified to a receiving state as diplomatic agents or members of the administrative and technical
staff for embassy personnel, or as consular officers or members of the consular staff for those assigned to consulates outside the capi- tal. It also applies to some family members who are considered part of
the employee’s household. Family members who are nationals of the receiving state generally will not have any privileges and immunities.
This discussion of privileges and immunities does not, however, address the situation of U.S. personnel assigned to U.S. missions to international organiza- tions. Note also that USAID employees generally receive their privileges and immunities pursuant to the bilateral economic assistance agreement between the United States and the particular country to which the employee is assigned. USAID employees can deter- mine their status at a particular post by talking with the Regional Legal Advisor or the Executive Officer.
BACKGROUND
Centuries ago, sovereign states discovered that it was not possible to maintain useful diplomatic relations with other nations if their respective diplomatic envoys had to live in fear of being thrown into a dungeon for carrying unfavorable opinions to the host government or for other real or imagined offenses to the host state. When these early diplomats began to reside in the host state, it was realized that they needed se- curity in their persons, homes, and official papers in order to accomplish the work that both the sending and receiving states agreed (during moments when tempers were cool) that they should accomplish. Over time, a body of customary international law developed to provide a broad range of privileges and immunities for diplomats, eventually including some degree of similar protection for members of their staffs and families. The Vienna Convention on Diplo- matic Relations, concluded in 1961, reflects the cus- tomary international law (refined and brought up-to- date) with respect to diplomats and is now adhered to almost universally by the nations of the world.
Consular representatives were traditionally consid- ered quite apart from diplomats. Historically, consular functions consisted of helping to resolve problems involving citizens from the consul’s home country and issuing travel documents. These were held to be mat- ters not warranting special privileges and immunities. Over time, however, consular functions became more sophisticated. States came to realize that at least a limited degree of protection was necessary for their consuls. Many nations, including the United States, entered into bilateral agreements with their principal
allies and trading partners to provide for certain con- sular privileges and immunities.
The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1969 incorporates rules that were developed by customary practice and found in bilateral consular agreements and has obtained broad adherence. However, these consular privileges and immuni- ties are generally markedly less than those afforded diplomats. Nonetheless, some nations have, on a bilateral basis, concluded agreements with the United States that provide additional privileges and immuni- ties for consular personnel. It is thus critical, when attempting to ascertain privileges for consular per- sonnel, to determine whether there is an applicable bilateral agreement.
The same U.S. Government employee may be ac- corded diplomatic immunities during one tour at an embassy and quite different (and lesser) immuni- ties during a subsequent assignment to a consulate separate from the embassy. This is because entitle- ment to privileges and immunities stems from the status accorded a particular individual when he or she is formally accepted in a particular capacity by the receiving state and the post to which the person is assigned in that country. Status is not determined, in this context, by any professional designation, rank, or title that the sending state may assign.
Possession of a diplomatic passport alone affords its holder no privileges or immunities of any kind. The advantages that the diplomatic passport does afford are only courtesies that are without significance under international law and should not be relied upon.
Similarly, a person accredited to a particular country is entitled to the privileges and immunities that corre- spond to his or her specific status only in that particu- lar country (and, to a limited extent, when in transit to or from that country); not in third countries when on personal leave or even on official TDY. The receiving state accepts the posting of an individual and has the power to end privileges and immunities at any time by declaring that individual persona non grata, giving the individual a reasonable time to depart before privileges and immunities cease. No reason need be given.
DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY (EMBASSY ASSIGNMENTS)
While all official U.S. employees sent from Wash- ington to embassies abroad share certain protection (e.g., criminal immunity, personal inviolability [immu- nity from arrest or detention], inviolability of property, including car, residence, official papers and corre- spondence), there is a functional distinction between diplomatic agents (engaged primarily in diplomatic exchange between the two states) and members
of the administrative and technical staff (engaged primarily in the support of the former category). Both categories are entitled to total immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state. However, diplomatic agents enjoy more extensive immunity from the civil and administrative jurisdiction of the receiving state than do members of the administra- tive and technical staff. Administrative and technical staff (and family members of diplomatic agents and administrative and technical staff) have immunity only if they are not nationals of the receiving state. And service staff who also have immunity only if they are not nationals of the receiving state do not have crimi- nal or general civil and administrative immunity; their immunity extends to acts performed in the course of their official duties. Those on TDY who have not been notified to the host state have no privileges or immu- nities; nor do American citizens locally hired (Rock- efeller appointments or personal service contractors). Eligible family members ordinarily retain their status because of their connection to the sponsoring em- ployee.
It is the duty of all personnel with privileges and im- munities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state. U.S. Government employees are all expected to pay their just debts and other obligations and may not use their privileges and immunities to avoid them.
Criminal Immunity
Complete immunity from criminal jurisdiction means that a person may not be de- tained or arrested or subject to a body search and may not be prosecuted or required to give evidence as a witness. This immunity may be waived, and it may be waived in a limited
162
fashion, but it is the U.S. Government’s immunity and must be waived by the Government; it cannot be waived by the individual or the post. To avoid a common complication, individuals who drive vehicles in the host state are advised to carry local liability insurance and may wish, in light of several cases where U.S. Government employees are being sued in the United States, to carry the same liability insurance limits overseas as they do at home.
Immunity from criminal jurisdiction does not mean that the receiving state authorities are precluded from interrupting certain dangerous criminal actions that present an immediate threat to public safety (e.g., stopping a diplomat who is driving dangerously). However, Foreign Service employees serving abroad need not perform duties under the threat of being treated as a common criminal by the law enforce- ment and judicial authorities of the receiving state.
Civil and Administrative Immunity
Civil and administrative actions are those in which a person or business (or a government) files a com- plaint (often seeking monetary damages) against an- other person before the civil or administrative authori- ties of the receiving state. Diplomatic agents enjoy comprehensive immunity in this respect, with three exceptions: actions connected with real property in the receiving state; actions where the diplomat is an executor or beneficiary of an estate in the receiving state; and actions relating to professional or commer- cial endeavors engaged in by the diplomat outside the scope of official functions. In general, members of the administrative and technical staff of embassies are only afforded civil and administrative immunity with respect to actions related to the performance of their official functions. (Special bilateral agreements with some countries grant more extensive immunities, which are sometimes identical to those of diplomatic agents, to members of the administrative and techni- cal staff. Check with your post management officer for the status of a specific country.)
For example, a member of the administrative and technical staff would probably be personally immune from a suit for breach of contract in connection with a contract that the employee negotiated with a local vendor for services to be provided to the embassy (al-though the U.S. Government might be a defendant). On the other hand, a member of the administrative and technical staff would ordinarily have no immu- nity from a private lawsuit for failure to pay personal debts or for compensation for damage to the prop- erty of a local citizen alleged to have occurred while the individual was off duty.
DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY AND FAMILY MEMBERS
The preceding paragraphs refer to the immunities of the employee. The fundamental notion of privileges and immunities is to protect the interests of the send- ing state in having its employees be able to perform their official functions. The sovereign states discov- ered some time ago, however, that the employee could not be effectively protected without extending certain protections to the members of the employee’s immediate family who reside with him or her. Today, family members forming part of the household of most diplomatic personnel are also accorded ex- tensive immunities. However, cohabiting partners
of Foreign Service personnel or other members of household are not accorded any of the privileges de- scribed below. Further, adult children are not typically afforded immunities unless special circumstances (e.g., substantial disabilities) warrant.
U.S. citizen spouses and other household family members have the same immunities as the sponsor- ing accredited diplomat. However, under the VCDR, family members who are nationals of the host country (when the sponsor/employee is a diplomatic agent) or nationals or permanent residents (when the spon- sor/employee is a member of the administrative and technical staff) do not have privileges and immunities in that state. For example, a spouse of French na- tionality would not have privileges and immunities in France but, when posted to any other country, would receive precisely the same privileges and immunities as a spouse of U.S. nationality.
The criminal immunities of family members of dip- lomatic personnel are the same as those to which the sponsoring employee is entitled—that is, total criminal immunity for the families of both diplomatic agents and members of the administrative and tech- nical staff.
The civil and administrative immunities of families also correspond to those accorded both categories of sponsors. However, members of the administrative and technical staff (the sponsors/employees) them- selves enjoy only “official functions immunity” against civil and administrative actions. Thus, family members of administrative and technical staff employees enjoy no civil or administrative immunity (except in specific countries where a bilateral agreement might provide otherwise).
Waiver of Diplomatic Immunity
The right to waive immunities for any of its diplo- mats, staff employees, or family members resides in the government of the sending state and in our case only with the Department of State. The individual who ultimately benefits from the immunity has no power to waive such immunity, even in cases where he or she believes that it would be in his or her interest to do so. Rather, the sending state may waive immunity when it judges that to do so is in the national interest. An individual whose immunity is waived has no stand- ing under international law to protest this determina- tion.
The Department of State requests waivers of immunity from criminal jurisdiction in almost all cases involving foreign personnel accredited to the United States to ensure that the proper course of justice proceeds. On this basis, the U.S. Government may seriously con- sider waiving the criminal immunity of its employees, especially in cases where it is believes the employee would receive a fair trial and the interests of the United States would not be harmed.
The only instance in which the action of an individual can directly cause the partial loss of immunity is when an employee entitled to civil and administrative im- munity initiates a civil suit in the local courts. In that case, the VCDR bars the individual from asserting im- munity from counter-claims with respect to the same subject matter.
Even in a case in which all would believe it to be in the interest of the U.S. Government for a certain immunity to be waived (e.g., an embassy employee is the sole, disinterested witness to a crime and, as a “good citizen,” wishes to testify as a witness at the trial), authorization for a limited waiver of immunity must be sought from the Department of State by the embassy. If granted, it must be expressly communicat- ed to the foreign ministry of the receiving state before the employee takes any action. (A limited waiver might, for example, be devised to permit a diplomat to testify regarding an automobile accident that he
or she witnessed, but leave completely protected the diplomat’s immunity from the jurisdiction of the receiving state in all other respects.)
Family Member Employment
The VCDR contemplates the possibility that a receiv- ing state may permit local employment by diplomatic family members and provides rules regarding con- sequential restrictions on the immunities of family members when they are permitted to undertake local employment.
The Family Liaison Office in the Department of State negotiates bilateral employment agreements with other states to increase the opportunities for family members of official U.S. Government employees to obtain employment in the state to which their spon- sor has been assigned. As of 2006, 95 bilateral work agreements and 52 de facto arrangements have been concluded, and negotiations with additional countries continue.
These agreements acknowledge the limitations on civil and administrative (but not criminal) immunity for family members who take up employment in the receiving state, but only to the extent that such civil or administrative actions are related to the employment.
This means that an employed family member contin- ues to enjoy the privileges and immunities to which he or she would otherwise be entitled unless a suit is brought to recover monetary damages (or other civil remedy) for an act by the employed family member that is determined by a local court to be connected to his or her employment. For instance, immunity would probably not exist in the case of a suit against a fam- ily member by the employer based on allegations of fiscal improprieties.
LIMITS ON IMMUNITY
Persons enjoying diplomatic privileges and immuni- ties are, at least in a figurative sense, “above the law” of the receiving state. All states that enter into diplomatic relations with other states accept this en- croachment on their sovereignty as a necessary cost of being a member of the world community. However, the immunity concept would never have endured if
its application left the receiving state helpless to react to the commission of serious crimes in its territory or without recourse when foreign diplomats abuse the civil law rights of its citizens. In order to understand that some control must be retained, one need only recall the sense of outrage expressed by U.S. citizens whenever diplomatic immunity thwarts prosecution of a serious crime by a diplomat assigned to the United States. For this reason, the principle developed that all persons enjoying privileges and immunities also have the obligation and duty to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state. This principle is expressly stated in both the VCDR and the VCCR.
In addition, the receiving state has the right to de- clare any person entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities to be persona non grata (PNG) at any time and without stating a reason. When declared PNG, a person has a certain period of time to depart the country before being divested of all privileges and immunities. Failing such departure, the person faces any pending legal actions (civil or criminal) with only the defenses available to an ordinary citizen. In ex- treme cases, the receiving state will designate a very short time within which departure must take place or even formally expel the person.
The PNG procedure is sometimes employed for purely political purposes. It is also used by the host state to require the departure of diplomatic person- nel who have committed serious crimes or who have shown themselves to be generally disrespectful of local law. Family members may not be declared PNG since their privileges and immunities are deriva- tive, stemming from their status as family members. However, if the departure of a family member is desired, it is common practice to declare the sponsor PNG, thereby divesting the entire family of protected status. The PNG procedure is harsh and abrupt, but receiving states do not hesitate to use it in addressing unacceptable behavior.

DO YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS?

YES

NO

Brenda Bowen: Agents--Who Needs 'Em

Brenda Bowen, an agent with Sanford J. Greenburger, is using Entourage-related images to enhance her talk (subtitled, Somebody Has to Channel Ari Gold.)

There was a time when an writer didn't need an agent, she says. You sent your manuscript, an editor bought it, and they became your editor for life. Richard Jackson was Judy Blume's editor for 30 years.

The agent's job now is to get a book in good enough shape to go to an publisher. These days a manuscript must be more polished before it's presented to a publisher than it needed to be 10 years ago.

Agents create strong relationships with certain editors because they reflect their tastes. They schmooze with editors. They know which ones are cat people and which ones are dog people. It's important for agents to know everybody--assistants, editors, marketing folks, etc. An agent's job is not done once the book deal is signed. The agent's job is to help their authors work with their editors. (Brenda said she even will look over drafts of emails her authors are writing to editors before they send them.)

An agent, she says, takes the heat so you can be a star. 

(Brenda gave an email address for submissions and a secret word for the subject line for all the attendees in her session. But I'm not telling.)

A couple of Brenda's pet peeves:

• Seeing "Fwd" in the subject line 
• Queries that start with a rhetorical question

She recommends writers subscribe to pubishersmarketplace.com (go in on it with your writers group) and read about the deals. It's a great resource, she says, when you are at a point where you've finished your book and love your book and are ready to submit.

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....."

What's the word? A conversation with Norton Juster

Leonard Marcus (left) and Norton Juster

Oh, THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH: Raise your hand if this is the book that turned you into a reader.

The children's book historian Leonard Marcus interviewed Norton Juster, the Tollbooth author, revealing Norton's interactions with spies, an incident where he impersonated a Canadian journalist to present a fake award to Jules Feiffer, and the apartment rental deal he once worked with an Austrian dentist. (Seriously. Not making any of this up.) 

Some highlights from their chat: 
Leonard kicked things off by asking Norton where he and illustrator Jules Feiffer met. At the time, Norton had a $77.10 monthly living allowance to live off the naval base. He found a place in Brooklyn Heights (rented from the aforementioned dentist). Jules lived on the third floor.

"Jules claims we both met when we were taking the garbage out," Norton said. "I claim I was taking garbage out and he was looking for something to eat."

Norton always planned to be an architect. His father was one, and Norton played with scraps and things from his father's office. This taught him to think visually, which has carried over to his writing. He visualizes things before he begins writing about them. "I think I'd write very much differently if I didn't have that visual background."

How did he write the Phantom Tollbooth? 
 He had a grant to do research on cities. He realized it wasn't what he wanted to do. He went on a vacation and started to write a two- or three-page story that started to become the Phantom Tollbooth.

"The best work I do, I do trying to avoid doing something else I don't want to do. Don't knock that. It's terrific motivation."

On how he works
Norton said he never had any clear idea what was going to happen with the Phantom Tollbooth. He wrote bits and pieces, not sequentially.

He happened on a technique he's used ever since.

"I would write long conversations with the characters that didn't end up in the book." But they helped him understand their relationship and what people were thinking. "I realized I wasn't making up this dialogue. I was just eavesdropping. It was just happening."

You can write a conversation between two characters from any point of view he says. It's a great exercise. "I can't write at all unless I know the characters. The plot isn't nearly as important as the people and what they mean to each other."

Norton is a list maker. He puts something on his list every day that he knows he'll be able to do. He also makes lists of words (which Leonard found in the collection of Norton's papers).

This actually happened
The copy editor of TOLLBOOTH edited out all of the word play, and the manuscript came back to him looking like someone had bled on it. "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry."

Where did Milo get his name? 
Norton had a scholarship to study in Liverpool ("pre-Beatles, which shows you how old I am"). He traveled regularly to Dublin, where one member of his group was the character actor Milo O'Shea. "I just fell in love with the name. He has no idea I used that name for Milo. That same year, there was a Milo character in CATCH 22. I still love the name."

JUDY BLUME! JUDY BLUME! JUDY BLUME! (cont.)

Judy wishes there was an answer to, "What is voice?" There is no answer. You just find it.

She says that it never gets easier. The only thing that gets easier for her is that she knows how do it now. But "it" doesn't get easier. Her notebook is her security blanket. She never has to face a blank page or blank screen because of what she has in her notebook.

"The first draft is finding the pieces of the puzzle. The next draft is putting the puzzle together."

You come to a conference like this to find inspiration. There can be so much that it can be overwhelming. Judy thinks if she was a new writer here she would be over-stimulated. She suggests to go home with your notes and then forget them because the inspiration will be inside you and just write.

Judy suggests that when hearing advice on what to write or what not to write, don't take it. "When it hits you inside, then it's right. You write it."

In the beginning, Judy says, writing not only changed her life but saved her life.

TIGER EYES will be coming out in theaters. Judy says it might be more emotional on screen that in the pages of the book. (Wow, that's rare. Can't wait to see it.)

About writing dialogue:

"It's the only thing I like to write. I hate the rest of it."

"I like knowing what they're thinking versus what they're saying."

"Dialogue writing is what comes to me naturally and spontaneously. I hear them."

In regard to censorship, Judy mentions getting the censor off your shoulder and not too worry about it. She says, just write and you can think about it later.

She doesn't want to the session to be over. Neither do we!

"I would have killed for an SCBWI when I was starting out. A community. To not feel alone."

Judy Blume's heart-felt thank you to Lin has her choked up, and the rest of us too.

*hearts float all about the huge ballroom*

JUDY BLUME! JUDY BLUME! (cont.)

Lin Oliver sits down with Judy Blume, Oprah style. Like nothing I've ever seen at an SCBWI conference.

Judy Blume gives a loving shout out to John Green. (Hey, John, she just said you were, "sooo cute!")

Lin states for all of us girls that we have girl crushes on Judy Blume. So true, Lin. Yes, we do.

Judy Blume: I like Twitter. (And we like to follow her. If you don't, you can here: @judyblume) "It's a good way to waste time," she says.

Judy Blume mentions things in our world might change (like electronics) but people don't change.

In the past she went right through the draft, beginning to end. She doesn't do that anymore, even though she believes it's the best way to do it.

Judy mentions, stealing from Libba Bray's words (shared yesterday), I’m so sucky at plot. 

Judy Blume admits she doesn’t understand the process or how it works. But for her it starts with some basic idea that lives in the head for a long time. It lives there and it percolates. 

"I start the book on the day something different happens. But sometimes you have to write many, many, many pages before you actually get the page where the book actually starts."

Lin mentions that the way Judy writes is like a direct line from kids to her. Judy says it's something she can't explain, but that she can look into a child's eyes and be that age again. "It's who you are." Who do you identify with? She identifies with kids.

Awesome! Judy Blume just said, "We are so HOT." (referring to children's book writers)

How great to know that Judy Blume started like so many of us, writing bad rhyming picture books, wanting to be like Dr. Seuss. Also making the same beginner mistakes that many do and getting rejected. But she was determined!

Gary Paulsen Keynote: A Writer's Upside-Down Life

"Hatchet." Have you read it? You must.

Gary Paulsen is the three time Newbery-Honor Winning Author who wrote it, and over 200 more books. He has 30-40 million copies of his books in print!

Gary Paulsen telling us the stories of his life and his journey as an author

is like a master class in how to tell a story!

He's got the room roaring with laughter in the first 30 seconds. Roaring.

And then he brings it down by sharing his childhood story, one where he didn't so much fall through the cracks, he was 'hammered through them.' By the time he was 10 he was trapping in the woods, failing school, no friends, and fighting to support himself and on his own.

"All the stuff in Hatchet is true, it's all the stuff I've done."

And then he walks in a library... and the librarian gave him a library card, with his name on it, spelled right. "And I was somebody."

Would you like a book? Yeah. He struggled to read it for weeks, returned it and 'would you like another?' 'Yeah.' And he became a reader.

"Everything I have become (all the books, all the awards], I owe that woman."

What an incredible testament to the power of librarians to transform lives!

He shares more about his remarkable journey to becoming a writer, the hard work he's put into it (while working many other 'day' jobs), running the Iditarod, his books, his successes and setbacks, and more successes - 3 Newbery Honors in a row, for "Dogsong," "Hatchet," and "The Winter Room!"

And what's he's realized through it all is that "I love to write."

When he finishes, the room leaps to their feet, giving him a standing ovation.

Wow. What a life. What a storyteller!

JUDY BLUME! JUDY BLUME! JUDY BLUME!

The entire SCBWI conference wishes John Green a fast and speedy recovery, but we also thank his gallbladder (in the nicest, most caring way) for bringing us Judy Blume.

If John had been at the conference today, my guess is that he'd be front-row-center to listen, one more super fan among the hundreds in the room. (Well, actually...he'd be standing up to give a keynote and we would not be watching Judy Blume take the stage, but you know.)

I know I am not alone in that Judy Blume has been a major influence throughout my life: from childhood when I was reading Superfudge, to my teen years when I got my hands on ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET, making me want to read everything and anything Judy Blume. (I still recall sitting in my school library riveted to her autobiography--because I'd read everything else.)

Now here I am, watching my SUPER HERO take the stage and I feel like a Justin Bieber fan. I suddenly understand the crying, shaking, and near fainting. The screaming part, I'm doing all that internally. Because it's Judy Freakin' Blume.

Already a standing ovation, just for taking the stage.

A TRUE ROCK STAR!!!

David Small Keynote - The Voice of the Eye

It's a great morning. Donna Jo Napoli was up first, David Small is up now. If you haven't visited David's website, it is full of fantastic sketches from his travels and helpful links. For a hint at his demo on Monday and a quick interview, visit this post.

Besides visiting David's website, I would say PLEASE take a moment to read the posts about him on Julie Walker Danielson's Seven Impossible Things. Her review of STITCHES alone makes me tear up.

David shares this video with us:

It's pretty harrowing, be sure you've had your breakfast and a hug for the day.

David tells us making STITCHES was the therapy he couldn't get any other way.

David needed to find a way to bring his family back, to recreate and remember them to figure out if his adulthood nightmares, anxieties, and anger are rooted in his childhood or just chronic depression.

But as David is sketching and drawing and writing down his childhood memories, he comes to the conclusion:

"I had an unloving mother who wanted me dead. And I believe it's safer to keep expressions like that away from the body, and get them out through art or music..."

David is still reticent to talk about the making of STITCHES in public, so he's structured the rest of his talk about it as a Q&A.

Why the switch from picture books to an older audience/graphic novels?

David quotes Dante,  

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Deciding he needed to drop all the metaphors in his life and start looking at REAL life, David wanted some good therapy, but:

"Out on the prairie, you don't have access to the perfect psychoanalyst, so I became that for myself... by writing and drawing this memoir... and I always expected myself to get over 'it.'"

What would you like readers of this book to know?

When all is said and done, STITCHES is a warning about families with wrong-headed tradition. A long conga line of people abusing their children who go on to abuse their children... David reads Philip Larkin's poem:



Though David now has a brighter view of life than Mr. Larkin, and he's stepped out of that conga line he mentions, it's still a daily struggle for David to be sure he's treating his loved ones the right way.

"So now, after being the downer of the morning, I will try to be the upper, too."

David shows us a video called UNCHAIN MY HEART. A rousing, hilarious animatic of a typical day on an author tour. While I STRONGLY OBJECT TO THE PORTRAYAL OF MEDIA ESCORTS, we all absolutely loved David's drawings of Hicklebee's. Because how sweet it is to be loved by independent bookstores!

And just so you know, the SCBWI store sold out of all 250 copies of David's books YESTERDAY. We're trying to get more, but if you want to organize a bus to Hicklebee's for a shopping spree, I say go for it!

Donna Jo Napoli keynote: How writing about terrible things makes your reader a better person

Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli is the award-winning author of numerous children's books, and she does everything from picture books such as THE BRAVEST THING to young adult novels such as BREATH.

She has taught linguistics at a variety of colleges, including Smith, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Swarthmore.

Someone once asked Donna Jo why she ruined her perfectly good books with terrible things. She hadn't asked herself that question back then--she writes what she needs to write.

"But that's not a satisfying answer to anyone," she said. Her illuminating talk explained why these books are important, and why certain kids of censorship are "wrong-headed."

In 1999 she was asked to give a talk on censorship. She was working at it in her office (in the laundry room, which made a lot of sense when her five children were small, she said). She was reading articles about censorship and contacted a professor, who sent her a thick packet of reading material. She learned that the number of censorship episodes chronicled by the People for the American Way was seven times greater in 1996-97 than it had been in 1988-89. And it was increasing.

The top reason for censorship is "offensive language," she said. She can understand that--whether or not she agrees with it.

Other things on the list are explicit sexual descriptions. With these, too, she understands why parents would want to introduce their kids to this topic, rather than encountering it in a book for the first time.

But parents who want to keep their kids away from the following are "thinking the wrong way," she said: incidents of violence or brutality including rape, examples of racism, examples of substance abuse, text that include anti-feminism or sexism, derogatory images of the handicapped, and materials including depressing, morbid topics.

For both protected and unprotected kids, these book serve a vital purpose.

Protected children are talked to and listened to, she says.

"And then we have the other children. Children who are unprotected. You know them as well as I do. Sometimes this is no fault of the parents. It can be built into the system." (For example, when a family is living in grinding poverty.) And then there are kids who are abused by their families. "All kinds of things happen behind closed doors. We know that."

When children read about other unprotected children, "It can be wonderful. If you are unprotected, you can get the sense that you're alone. That it's only you."

These kids often keep their troubles to themselves out of loyalty or pride.

"When you think you're all alone, you can and sometimes do blame yourself," she said. "You can feel guilty that that rotten thing happened to you ... Then you meet somebody in a book and you become that person in the book and they're a perfectly good person, and still that lousy thing happened to them. It is so comforting. You are not alone. It is not your fault. And bad things do happen to good people."

Characters who are hopeful and hold onto their dignity show readers a way to live decently in their world--even if it's only inside their heads, she says. "These books are of crucial importance to the unprotected child."

It's even more important for the protected child. They can grow up and everything goes smoothly, she said. "This is a person who can not only be intolerant, but intolerable. They feel entitled... This ruins society."

"Any civilization is built on empathy. If dreadful things happen to you, you learn a lot of empathy. I wouldn't want dreadful things to happen to these protected children, but I want them to learn empathy. The safest way for them to learn it is through a book. Let them live that life and they will understand that they're lucky. It wasn't just that they're good or they work hard. They also have luck."

She closed with an exhortation to write what's in our hearts: "If you need to write it, chances are, there are people out there--a lot of people--who need to read it."

Like Donna Jo on Facebook

Paul O. Zelinsky - Illustrating Fairy Tales

A quick social media note: Paul is on Facebook and has a public page, so please go and Like his Paul O. Zelinsky page. And he's great on Twitter, too, see links to all of that and more in this post.

What do you need to illustrate a fairy tale?

• A personal connection to the story
• Inspiring and relevant research materials
• Willing models that won't get a restraining order against you when you try to put them in a costume
• A special calendar for timing your fairy tale dummy submission
• A wonder-full heart
• Toothpicks

Paul grew up listening to classical records with fairy tale narrations and he'd act out those tales with family and friends. His grandmother's painting of Hansel and Gretel (that hung in his childhood room above his crib) sticks out to Paul as something that was strange and wonderful and an icon he focused on. (Easter Egg Alert: Paul pays tribute to his grandmother and her art talent by hiding an homage to her painting in the last spread of HANSEL AND GRETEL.)

Dutch Renaissance painting copying, researching period costumes, collecting images that fit the desired mood and time period are how Paul started getting ready to paint the scenes of HANSEL AND GRETEL. That and studying witchcraft at the Karl Jung Museum in New York (a hot tip from Leonard Marcus!)

After these preliminary measures, Paul enlists volunteers to model the poses he needs for the illustrations. He dresses, poses them, and does sketches and photographs of the models (his editor posed as the witch! As pose only, not in demeanor!)

His next fairy tale, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, he built similarly, but Paul wanted it to look like a different and later European art style.

WORDS TO LIVE BY FROM PAUL O. ZELINSKY:

"When in trouble, go to a librarian."

He's able to get lots of good examples of period costume and art for Rumpelstiltskin, but the BIG DILEMMA for RUMPELSTILTSKIN is

STRAW.

It's hard to find straw in New York, though Paul found a few photos to help. But how to draw straw, how to paint straw, that was a conundrum for Paul. So he played around, painting with tons of different techniques until he found the one he liked: it's the top left and he used a toothpick.

Some final Paul Pearl's:

"If you want to illustrate a fairy tale, the first thing to do is consult The Calendar. It's a cycle. It's related to sun spot activity, so every seventeen years or so is when the fairytale market is up."

"Fairy tales are literally wonderful stories, stories filled with wonder, if you come at them with your heart, if you believe in them, then you can do them."

Denise Fleming: Illustrating for the Very, Very Young

If picture book making was competitive French pastry baking, Denise Fleming would be wearing the blue, red, and white collar of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France. But she's equally happy to wear a croissant-shaped hat* instead, because that's what would most appeal to her target audience, the very, very little kids that are moving from board books to picture books.

When illustrating for the very, very young some key ingredients are:

• Strong graphics. Simple, bold bright, but not entirely lacking in the subversive or a bit of detail: give kids something a little extra, things hiding in the picture or in the background, like a pile of croissants.
• Make the actions kid friendly. If you look at Denise's ALPHABET UNDER CONSTRUCTION, her original sketches were quite different—there were big, heavy adult actions and jobs—welding, carving giant cement blocks. But in the final, all of the materials and actions can be found in daycares and done by little kids: painting, knotting yarn, eating baked goods, gluing stuff...

NOT ENTIRELY RELATED WORDS TO LIVE BY FROM DENISE FLEMING:

You can never use too much glue.

Denise blows raspberries at the teacher rhyme, "Just a dot, not a lot."

• Clean fonts. Make sure it's easy for little kids to distinguish not only different letters but different cases in your type by choosing the right font and not doing anything to wild, like make the text read croissants, not cRoissAnTs.

There's more ingredients than that, but how are those for a taste? Light and flaky, yet disarmingly moist, am I right? For a bit more about Denise plus a slideshow of her books, you can visit this post. She's on Twitter! @DeniseKFleming. We need to bombard her with Twitterlove and get her tweeting more regularly.**

*I'm correct in assuming no child has ever refused a croissant, oui?
**I won't write more anymore about irregularity.***
***Or croissants. It must be time for a snack.

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