Agent Linda Camacho, Highlights of NY19, Spark Gallery, and MORE in the March INSIGHT

March 1, 2019

Good as Gold: The 2019 Golden Kite Gala and New York Winter Conference

The weather was remarkably balmy for a February in Manhattan, and the energy in the Grand Central Hyatt was likewise bright and animated. Authors, illustrators, and industry professionals in gilded attire sipped golden champagne and posed for the camera, waiting to acknowledge the deserving winners of the Golden Kite Awards. (See full list of winners here.) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered remarks to a captivated crowd, kicking off the New York Winter Conference on a high note.

With keynotes from award-winning authors Christopher Paul Curtis ( Bud, Not Buddy ), Elizabeth Acevedo ( The Poet X ), and Jarrett Krosoczka ( Hey, Kiddo ), NY19 delivered a program that blended heartfelt stories with savvy advice on how to succeed as a children's book creator.

Keynote speakers Christopher Paul Curtis, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jarrett Krosoczka

NY19 Portfolio Showcase winners

Artwork by grand prize winner Victoria Tentler-Krylov

The 2019 Winter Conference Portfolio Showcase was held on February 8 in conjunction with the Golden Kite Gala. There were 180 portfolios on display, and the awards were judged by agent Christy Tugeau Ewers, art director Marijka Kostiw, designer Ciara Gay, editor Jeffrey Salane, and art director Lily Malcom. The portfolios were viewed by 500 of the top industry professionals in children’s publishing, as well as many of the conference attendees.

The grand prize winner, who will receive a trip to NY and meetings with three art directors, is Victoria Tentler-Krylov .

The honor winners, who will each receive a phone call with an art director to discuss their work, are Annie Bowler , Mar Ferrero , and Joy Yang .

CLICK HERE to see their art.

Announcing the 2019 Spark Winners

The SCBWI Spark Award recognizes excellence in children’s books published through an independent or non-traditional route. SCBWI authors and illustrators who independently published a book in the calendar year of 2018 were eligible to apply.

The 2018 Spark winner in the Books for Older Readers category is Francis Moss , author of Losing Normal . The book is about Alex, an autistic teenager whose sense of normality is shattered when a sinister digital program begins brainwashing the world, and only Alex can stop it.

The Spark Award for Illustrated Book goes to Pretty , a well-rhymed ode to female empowerment that explores all the ways that a girl can be “pretty amazing” beyond superficial looks. Author Dani Coplen and illustrator Natalia de Frutos have announced that they will donate a portion of all Pretty profits to the educational program Girls, Inc. of Metro Denver.

The two Honor winning books are Posthumous by Paul Aertker and Little Moss, Big Tree by M. Yap-Stewart , illustrated by Mariya Prytula .

Feature Your Indie Book in the Spark Gallery

On April 15 month we are launching our Spark Gallery, where all of the independently published books that were submitted for the award will be celebrated and displayed on our website. This gallery will be publicized on our social media channels and remain up all year.

In future years, the application process for the Spark Award will be electronic, and all entries will be automatically uploaded to the gallery. Because we have already collected all the applications for the 2018 award, this year we will need all applicants to re-submit their book information.

The submission deadline is March 15.

CLICK HERE to find out how to submit.

Happy Birthday, March Releases!

Celebrate spring with a new crop of SCBWI member books! This month’s winner of the Happy Book Birthday drawing is Caroline Arnold for her nonfiction book Butterflies in Room 6: See How They Grow , which details the stages of butterflies raised in a kindergarten classroom. Ten copies of her book will be purchased by SCBWI and donated to Reading is Fundamental, an organization whose mission is to create “a literate America by inspiring a passion for reading among all children, providing quality content to make an impact, and engaging communities in the solution to give every child the fundamentals for success.” To learn more about Reading is Fundamental, visit their webpage here .

We are currently accepting submissions for books published in April 2019 only , but we celebrate book birthdays every month. For more details about submitting your book, visit the Happy Book Birthday page here . Happy reading!

SCBWI Supports Kweli Color of Children's Literature Conference

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Art by Rafael Lopez

SCBWI is finding new ways to enhance our commitment to diversity in our membership and in delivering information to assist in the growth of diverse storytelling. To this end, we’ve entered into a partnership with the organization Kweli .

Kweli’s mission is “…to nurture emerging writers of color and create opportunities for their voices to be recognized and valued. By creating a community and programming based on artistic excellence and rigor, Kweli empowers writers to share stores that engage and impact our communities. Our vision is for a world where the narratives being told reflect the truth of our histories and the possibilities for our future.” The Color of Children’s Literature Conference is “exclusively for Indigenous and POC writers and illustrators.”

This year SCBWI is sending Tammy Brown, one of our Executive Committee members, to attend the conference to learn more about their sessions offerings and the notable industry pros who are guest speakers and faculty members. This year those pros include Rita Williams Garcia, Tiffany Liao, and Jacqueline Woodson. We believe that working with Kweli will give our community access to information and opportunities that will enrich their work and perspective that they might not get elsewhere. We’ll have a review of the event in the May issue of Insight .

Alliance of Independent Authors: A valuable resource for indie published writers

by Laurie Miller

There are many paths available to an author who wishes to self-publish: you can self-publish completely on your own, hiring only the freelance assistance you need; you can self-publish by hiring a service company to basically act as your publisher; or you can work with a hybrid publisher (one who works partly like a traditional publisher and partly like an indie publisher.)

So, how does one learn about the various self-publishing options and then figure out which service providers are legitimate?

A Hot New Benefit for SCBWI Members

The Hot Sheet , a publishing industry newsletter designed to help authors and illustrators navigate the often-complex business side of publishing, is now available to SCBWI members at a 25% discount.This informative e-newsletter arrives in your inbox twice a month and provides clear and concise industry news plus in-depth analysis on topics relevant to both traditionally published and indie published authors. A typical issue covers everything from marketing trends to contracts to the latest in self-publishing platforms. You can check out a sample issue here .

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Three Cheers for Patrice Karst!

Three Cheers is a new Insight feature in which we select one SCBWI member a month who has a phenomenal success story to share. If you have realized a dream through your involvement with SCBWI, please send your story to threecheers@scbwi.org

Patrice Karst explains how her SCBWI region helped her acquire a new agent and book deal:

Even though I had a bestselling picture book, I had no idea how to get my career to the next level and my very small publisher (who was mostly a small book distributor) had no interest in growing the book. I knew nothing and no one in this children's book world, and I had just been dropped by my agent.

Through an instinctive hunch from a Kite Tales editor Sarah Parker- Lee, who kindly threw out their names during a conversation, I found my current agents Michelle Zeitlin and Jane Hamilton at MoreZap Literary-- who got me a 4 book deal at Little Brown for Young Readers to turn THE INVISIBLE STRING into a series. In Spring 2020 THE INVISIBLE WEB (the fourth book in the series) will be released. Japanese and Spanish rights have just been sold and I have an Invisible String line of jewelry coming out! None of this would have happened without SCBWI!

SCBWI Exclusive with...

Linda Camacho, Agent, Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency

Linda Camacho graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in Communication and has held various positions at Penguin Random House, Dorchester, Simon and Schuster, Writers House, and Prospect Agency. She's done everything from foreign rights to editorial to marketing to operations, and received her MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Now at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, Linda is looking for MG, YA, and adult fiction across all genres (especially upmarket).

READ THE INTERVIEW