Your November Insight is Here

November 2017

New SCBWI Recommended Reading List Launches Today

The yearly SCBWI Recommended Reading List returns today with more great books by PAL members. Members were invited to list one of their books along with a link to their website. The new 2017 list is hundreds of titles strong across all different categories and genres. The list is divided by region, or so that users can download only local authors/illustrators or they can chose to download the entire list . The new list is available on the SCBWI website as of today, November 1.

Click HERE to see the list.

SCBWI will provide strong support in getting the Recommended Reading List into the hands of decision makers in the children's book field. We will be buying targeted ads and promoted posts on Twitter and Facebook to reach those interested in reading and buying your books. Last year we had over 90,000 impressions from Twitter advertising alone. We'll also be sharing the reading list across the SCBWI social media platforms of Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tumblr, which reach another 5,000 followers. At the NCTE conference in St. Louis, we will be handing out flash drives containing the list to over 6,000 English teachers and educators. The se flash drives will also be sent to a long list of independent booksellers and librarians to let them know that they have hundreds of books at their disposal for their patrons. Our goal is to get your books the best exposure possible among book buyers, librarians, and other decision-makers in the world of children's book publishing.

The SCBWI Pro Insider Newsletter is Here!

The first edition of the highly anticipated SCBWI Pro Insider digital newsletter, a quarterly publication providing articles and information specifically aimed at our PAL members, will debut on November 8. With articles by Martha Brockenbrough , Miranda Paul , Nadine Topalian , and Laurent Linn , the newsletter covers topics that are important to published members, such as advice on creating an author/illustrator website, tips on how to become a speaker at conferences, and the intricacies of reading your royalty statement.

The PAL Newsletter will be emailed to members who have achieved PAL status, so if you are a traditionally published member but have not yet changed your status, now is the time to act.

PAL stands for "published and listed," and refers to members who have at least one traditionally published book. To make sure you have PAL status, go to your 'Member Profile' and find the section labeled 'Publications'; here you will see the titles you have entered into the Member Bookstore. You can either click to 'edit' an old book or 'add' a new book to your profile.

If you haven't already done so, enter the information for your new book entry, paying special attention to the 'Publisher' section. This feature gives you the option to choose a publisher from our verified list of PAL publishers. Select your publisher, click 'save', and watch your status automatically adjust to PAL member.

The full list of PAL publishers can be found HERE on our website. If your traditional publisher does not appear, but you believe that they qualify, you can click HERE to fill out a PAL request form on their behalf. It generally takes a few weeks for request forms to be processed, so please be patient while we verify your publisher.

SCBWI Booth Featured at NCTE

SCBWI will be attending the 2017 National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention in St. Louis, MO for the first time as an exhibitor. The convention runs from November 17 to 19. If you're at the show, come visit us at Booth 433. We'll be featuring our programs that showcase the work of SCBWI members. Over 6,500 teachers and educators are expected to attend.

The SCBWI Recommended Reading List will be distributed on flashy flash drives to attendees. We'll also be talking to attendees about our Speakers Bureau to encourage teachers to find an author and/or illustrator to come to their school. SCBWI BookStop will be a hot topic as we'll let the attendees know about all the books featured by our independently published and traditionally published members. Look for a full report on NCTE in the December issue of Insight.

New York 2018 Winter Conference Filling Fast

There has been an overwhelming response for #NY18SCBWI, our annual winter conference held at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. This year's program offers an array of masterclasses with agents, editors, and luminaries in the children's book field, featuring keynotes by Caldecott-winner Dan Santat and best-selling author Angie Thomas.

The masterclass format promises attendees a chance to delve deeply into their work with hands-on, smaller group sessions. As a result, space is extremely limited, but there are still a few spots left in our exclusive masterclasses, such as:

Best Practices: From Assignment to Bound Book

Illustrators will gain a better understanding of the publishing industry, from signing the initial contract to working with an art director. Wisdom from Marc Brown, Hilary Leung, and Patti Ann Harris (Creative Director, Scholastic).

Lose the Baggage: Wrangling Backstory and Exposition

Are your opening chapters bogged down by too much exposition? Kendra Levin (Executive Editor, Viking Publishing) leads a hands-on workshop focused on balancing character backstory with taut, clean storytelling.

Word by Word

Best-selling writer Linda Sue Park will examine how word choice and sentence structure affect the voice and pacing of a novel. Bring a draft of your novel to apply these skills in real time!

Digital Pre-Press Best Practices

Join illustrators Mike Curato and Renee Curilla, art director Laurent Linn (Simon & Schuster), and publishing pre-press expert Al Imparato (Simon & Schuster) as they demystify the screen-to-printing press process, providing tips for a vivid and beautiful final product.

Connecting with Gatekeepers: How to Get Your Book Noticed by Teachers and Librarians

Carmela Iaria (VP, School and Library Marketing, Penguin Young Readers Group) leads this masterclass session focused on promoting your work to teachers and librarians. Participating PALs will have the rare chance to present a marketing plan and receive feedback from an industry pro.

Click HERE to book through our website ASAP before we sell out!

2017 Golden Kite Awards Deadline Approaching Fast

The deadline for submitting your books for consideration in the Golden Kite Awards is December 1, 2017. We urge you to follow up with your publisher to make sure your book has been submitted. You don't want to miss out on this special year when the 2017 Golden Kites will be presented at an evening gala at The Grand Hyatt in New York on February 2. The entire children's publishing industry is invited to this glamorous event, and all winners will be flown to New York to give their acceptance speeches and walk "the golden carpet."

Golden Kites are awarded in five categories: Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Book Text, and Picture Book Illustration. To be considered, books must be written or illustrated by SCBWI members, and have been published in 2017. For questions or inquiries, contact our Golden Kite coordinator Bonnie Bader at [email protected].

This is a revolutionary break-out year for the Golden Kites. Make sure your book is in the running!

SCBWI Exclusive with...

Kelly Sonnack, Agent, Andrea Brown Literary

Kelly Sonnack is a senior literary agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She represents works for all age ranges and a wide assortment of genres. Some of the novels Kelly has represented include SCBWI Sue Alexander winner and NYT best-selling Sharon Cameron's The Forgetting and its companion novel The Knowing (both Scholastic), David Elliott's novel-in-verse Bull which received 7 starred-reviews (HMH/Houghton), and Steve Watkins' middle grade series The Ghosts of War (Scholastic). Picture books she's sold include Mustache Baby written by Bridget Heos and illustrated by Joy Ang (HMH/Clarion), Ashlyn Anstee's Are We There Yeti? (S&S), and Alastair Heim's No Tooting At Tea (HMH/Clarion). She also represents graphic novels including James Burks' series Bird (Scholastic/Graphix) and Mike Lawrence's Star Scouts (Macmillan/First Second). She has a strong list of illustrator clients including Joy Ang, Kimberly Gee, Simone Shin, and Kim Smith. Kelly teaches, and is on the Advisory Board, for UC San Diego's certificate in Writing and Illustrating for Children and is the founder of the City Heights Young Writers Workshop. @ksonnack agentsonnack

Read our interview with Kelly HERE

Podcasts

This month's podcast brings us an interview with author/illustrator, Javaka Steptoe, winner of the 2017 Caldecott Medal. This engrossing conversation with a thoughtful creator of highly original books is exclusive for SCBWI members. Listen Here

Illustrator Info

My Experience Jumping into Inktober

by Sarah Baker

If you're an illustrator, or you follow illustrators on social media, you probably noticed something called #Inktober taking over Twitter last month. Jake Parker started Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his own inking skills. It's still going strong, and now thousands of artists participate by posting one ink drawing every day for the entire month of October, tagging them with #inktober and

#inktober2017 . All types of artists join in, from children's book illustrators to comic book artists, posting pieces in every style you can think of. People use all types of inks and tools--pens, markers, brushes, quills and even digital inking tools.

Read More