It's no secret that the key to successful blogging is community. But mostly that community communicates from their keyboards--posting, commenting, and emailing from the privacy of their own home offices or neighborhood coffee shops.
So it was a rare treat that 80 or so bloggers (myself included) emerged from behind their keyboards to converge on Open Book in Minneapolis for the annual Kidlit Con.
Here are a few key points I learned (or was reminded of) throughout the weekend:
1) An online presence truly can make a career.
The weekend started off with a terrific Friday night panel by the Merry Sisters of Fate (Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tessa Gratton) during which they discussed their tremendous critique trio relationship (mostly done via Google chat), an illustration of how online communication of can impact the career of an author.
Maggie underscored this idea in her Saturday morning keynote, describing how blogging helped her career as an artist and writer living in middle-of-nowhere Virginia. "Blogging can be good for you professionally and good for the soul," said the New York Times bestselling author who's toured the likes of Lithuania recently. "Ten years ago, my career arc would not have been possible. Blogging made it happen." (Note: I'd rather be reading Maggie's book LINGER than blogging right now. It's calling to me from my nightstand.) An example: Instead of sending her on tour during fall when school visits would precede bookstore event--and bring in teen readers--her publisher sent her out during the summer, banking on her blog presence to bring in fans. It's worked beautifully.
2) Community means participation.
The kidlitosphere is a community and you can't be part of a community if you're a hermit. You've got to read other people's blogs if you want them to read yours. You've got to leave comments. You've got to tweet and facebook links to other posts you like by other bloggers. You cannot blog in a void. You've got to make friends.
3) There's strength in numbers and 3b) There are voids to be filled.
Elissa had the idea to start a blog by MG authors focusing on MG books, posted her idea on a message board, and was overwhelmed by the response. There are currently 30 writers and illustrators participating in Mixed Up Files. A group blog such as this offers plenty of bloggers to share the workload, a big talent pool to draw on, and lots of varied expertise within the group.
And In middle grade, Elissa found a hole that needed filling in the world of kid lit blogs. Mixed Up Files got great traffic right out of the box and is likely to become the go-to spot online for the MG gatekeepers--teachers, librarians, and parents--for reading lists, interviews, and all things MG.
4) Book review bloggers are a powerful and far-reaching bunch.
This year their call for potential judges yielded 200 volunteers for 100 open spots. (Yours truly is a second round YA fiction judge!) During the book nomination period, an unnamed publisher wanted to nominate their entire list. Authors like Jane Yolen and Lee Bennett Hopkins were talking about the Cybils on facebook.
Beyond the popularity of their award, they hold an annual blog book tour, and publishers seem happy to offer them review copies (based on a panel of marketing folks from Lerner, Flux, and Harper). These reviewers are reaching the gatekeepers, and publishers are aware of that.
5) Skype is cool.
During a panel on virtual school visits, Kidlit Con was joined via Skype by Nick Glass of TeachingBooks.net. (I likened this virtual panelist to The Giant Benevolent Wizard of Oz with headphones.) With a laptop and a projector (and no IT or AV professionals), Nick was able to fully participate in the panel, offering information and answering questions. Authors should really consider using this technology for virtual visits.
I've got lots more to share, but not today, dear readers. In the meantime, if you'd like more on Kidlit Con 2010 check out this stuff:
Conference co-coordinator Andrew Karre continues to update the Kidlit Con blog with links to conference-goers' recaps. (Click here, and here for particularly good ones.) Conference PowerPoints will follow.
Tomorrow I'm off to Minneapolis for Kidlit Con 2010! Kidlit Con is a conference just for the community of children's and young adult book bloggers. The 2010 event will be held at Open Book in Minneapolis on Saturday, October 23 and is hosted by three kidlit editors--Andrew Karre (Carolrhoda), Ben Barnhart (Milkweed), and Brian Farrey (Flux). Blogger and New York Times Bestselling Author Maggie Stiefvater is the keynote speaker for the event, which includes a full day of innovative and informative sessions.
Gathering at Kidlit Con allows bloggers who deal in kidlit (including editors, writers, librarians, teachers, reviewers) to instruct and learn from one another. It's also a great excuse to get out from behind our computers and meet one another in the flesh! During the Friday night and Saturday events well be discussing things like best practices, blog tours, YA and MG blogging, publicity, school visits via social media, and more.
I'll be offering my takeaway from the event in this space, so please tune in next week. I'll also be tweeting throughout so check out my Twitter feed and search for #kidlitcon.
In the meantime, is there anything you'd like me to ask? Any blogging-specific questions you'd like answers to? Please let me know via comments.
Steve Brezenoff wouldn't advise other writers to use his tactics when approaching an editor (more on that below), but his methods worked and he got the interest of Andrew Karre at a Minnesota SCBWI event. Steve's first book |-1| [The Absolute Value of -1] was released this month from Carolrhoda Lab, the new YA imprint of the Lerner Publishing Group.
Read on for the whole story of how Steve connected with Andrew and hear more about his book, his promotional efforts, his online presence and what draws him to YA.
You can chat with Steve during a Twitterview tomorrow at 1 PM central time using the hashtag #absolutevalue. He'll be answering questions and giving away copies of |-1|.
An SCBWI event played a part in you getting your book deal for |-1|. Tell us about meeting Andrew Karre. And how long had you been writing and pursuing publication?
Ah, time for my embarrassing story. I do so hate to spread this around, lest SCBWI members get the wrong impression of how to go about meeting editors, getting published, or writing a novel. But here 'goes.
I had written a middle-grade novel several years prior to joining SCBWI, and had shopped it out to an agent or two, very half-heartedly. It wasn’t very good. But as for the YA that eventually became |-1|, I'd shown it to a couple of editor friends at S&S (where I worked for five years) in an unfinished state. Though I'd been writing short stories (and the beginnings of several never-finished novels) since high school, that was the extent of my efforts to publish before I attended the MN SCBWI conference in fall of 2008.
When I arrived at the conference, I looked through the seminar options and spotted Andrew's. I knew of his work at Flux, and knew he was a hot brain of YA, so I attended his talk. It was brilliant, naturally--he compared good YA voice to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and, well, everything else to "Jack and Diane"--and afterward I approached him, introduced myself, and handed him my . . . um . . . resume.
Flashback to the day before the conference. I don't remember which of us gets the credit/blame for this idea, but at some point my wife and I decided I should have a resume of sorts. I had some strong publishing experience already--work-for-hire stuff, that is--and we agreed it gave me some kind of upper hand. I also had a few in-progress manuscripts I wanted to pitch. (Yes, in-progress. I know.) Anyway, I created this resume: on one side was my experience as a writer, and on the other were blurbs pitching my WIPs. I printed off 10 or 15 copies to bring to the conference.
So, back to Andrew. I handed him this . . . thing. To his credit, he accepted it without making a face like it was a bag of poo, which I would have totally forgiven in hindsight. And not only that, he contacted me on Monday morning to ask for "whatever I had." Which you'll have guessed, if you have been reading closely, was essentially nothing. I told Andrew I'd send him my YA manuscript in a few days, then set about finishing it.
(I really hope no one is reading this and thinking it's a good plan.)
So, I banged out the last few thousand words and sent it to Andrew. I guess I did a decent job, because he liked what he saw, but he said--and I agreed--that it really wasn’t a novel. It was hardly a novella. So it was back to the drawing board with the question: how do I make this into a novel?
With help from my wife, as usual, I solved the problem, and six months later, Andrew bought it.
Would you tell my readers what your book is about and explain the title?
|-1| is about three high school sophomores, Lily, Noah, and Simon. Each gets their own part to narrate, and each tells the story a little differently, highlighting certain pockets in time, leaving others out entirely, changing events to suit their perspectives. As tenth grade plods on, the friends drift apart in fits and starts, thanks to difficulties each is having, but not sharing with the others.
The title (my wife's idea, and perfect) reflects Lily’s obsession with math, of course, but also represents the central question: What is the value of absence? Each narrator loses someone, and that loss colors the character in a powerful way. I don’t think the question is necessarily answered, per se, but it is examined.
Your debut book is on Carolrhoda Lab's debut list. Do you feel any pressure for your book to do well to get the momentum going for the imprint?
Um, yes! I definitely have had a lot of fear that the debut list would flop so bad that I’ll never sell another book, and that Andrew will be out of a job, and that Lerner will close its doors and leave a big abandoned building in Minneapolis' warehouse district. But that's of course ridiculous. Also, with Blythe's and Ilsa's amazing titles on the list too, it can’t fail, really. [Other titles on the debut list are Blythe Woolston's THE FREAK OBSERVER and Ilsa J. Bick's DRAW THE DARK.]
Your book has been out for about two weeks. What have you been and will you be doing to promote it?
I’ve done a whole bunch of blog interviews, and I have an official blog tour about to happen, too. In the real world, I’m doing a reading at Magers & Quinn her in the Twin Cities. It’s the biggest independent bookstore out here, I think, and is the go-to stop for big-time authors to do in-store appearances. They haven’t hosted much YA (maybe ever? I don’t know), so it’s especially exciting for me that I’ll be reading there. It will also be my first reading ever, so I’m awfully nervous.
I also made a trailer, which I like and some other people have liked too.
How long have you been blogging? What kind of posts will visitors find on Exile in Goyville?
I started my first blog in around 2003. It wasn’t very interesting. I remember one post I wrote about Manhattan Specials (an espresso soda you really can’t find anywhere outside of Brooklyn and Manhattan) and the spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy’s. Those were the days, right, bloggers? It eventually became a place to keep track of the mileage I was putting on my bike here in the Twin Cities before I abandoned it completely. (Don’t look for it, by the way. It’s all locked up.)
Ever since moving out here from NY in 2006, though, I’d been saying I’d launch a blog called Exile in Goyville, considering myself the only Jew for 1200 miles. (Obviously not actually the case.) Anyway, I made the thing but never posted anything until the weekend of that MN SCBWI conference in 2008, inspired to enter the YA blogosphere by (probably) something Andrew said. I intended to focus on the fish-out-of-water aspect of being a NY Jew in Minnesota. However, if you go there now you’ll find far more about writing, YA lit., the journey from MS to publication, and the day-to-day naval gazing I really excel at.
Your character Lily offers three reasons she became "a cigarette-smoking bad girl." Give me three reasons you write YA fiction.
1. I CAN'T HELP IT. I really can't, either. No era of a single human life is as interesting and worthy of examination--to me--than adolescence. I've written middle-grade (both work-for-hire and abandoned manuscripts), but it doesn't come as naturally, and it doesn't feel nearly as satisfying. I know--I'm totally just saying '"I write YA because I write YA" with that response. I'll try to do better with number.
2. IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.Not to be self-aggrandizing or anything, but writing YA certainly feels important. Sure, writing for youth of any age is crazy important, because everyone knows we want kids to read, so we'll have adults who read and think creatively and critically. But I feel like as a teen, a lot of us begin to think of reading as a chore. We encounter Shakespeare and Hawthorne and Hesse and Hemingway and suddenly books are thick, foreign, and a struggle to comprehend. "When the hell did this happen?" we say. Well, good YA lit is suited to teen readers, and is bound to hold their interest in a way that our canon cannot.
3. IT'S FUN!Sure, if I wanted to I could sit down and write something for adults, but writing YA characters allows me to drop all kinds of snark and first kisses and first rock concerts and first cars et cetera, et cetera. This is fun stuff! And I can be--in my role as author and sometimes narrator, that is--as adolescent as I want without fear of being called immature. Much.
Tell us about book number two, TWO SUMMERS AROUND THE FIRE. (And will the number three be in the title of your third book?)
Am I allowed to say this is my favorite thing I've ever written? It's short and the most experimental writing I've done, and I'm immensely proud of it. Andrew recently called it a young adult A MOVEABLE FEAST for Brooklyn, which is perfectly okay with me. TWO SUMMERS is a mystery, sort of, centered on three homeless teens in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 2005. It's also a love story. It's also about gentrification and waterfront property. Obviously I'm still working out the kinks of my elevator spiel.
I had not even thought of that numbers thing. Now I'm going to have to try figure out a way to get 'three' into my next title. Ack!
What's your advice to the unpublished YA writers out there?
Stay true to the voice and the characters. For some writers, this will come naturally; for others, it'll take some work. The best advice I can give is to tap into the adolescent in yourself, or you're bound to come across like an adult trying to sound teen-friendly and slangy and junk, and that's not only a chore to read, but sort of creepy. For me, it's something akin to Method acting, I think (and also for Swati Avasthi, who--at a reading this year--compared her work on narrator Jace in SPLIT to Method as well). You need to occupy that character and become them, especially if you're writing realistic fiction, probably in first person or a close third. Beyond that, don't rush (you won't catch up to trends and they're not important anyway), get a workshop or a critiquing buddy, and--of course--BIC (butt in chair). From a more pragmatic point of view, um, ignore my publication story, because that method will never work for anyone again.
Attention all you bloggers out there... have you heard about Kidlit Con 2010?
Kidlit Con is a conference just for the community of children's and young adult book bloggers. The 2010 event will be held at Open Book in Minneapolis on Saturday, October 23 and is hosted by three kidlit editors--Andrew Karre (Carolrhoda), Ben Barnhart (Milkweed), and Brian Farrey (Flux). Blogger and New York Times Bestselling Author Maggie Stiefvater is the keynote speaker for the event, which will include a full day of innovative and informative sessions.
Says Carolrhoda Publisher Andrew Karre:
Blogging and social media are increasingly important to every facet of book promotion in trade and library markets. Everyone knows this. It’s more than promotion though. I think these tools will play a role in shaping the artistic future of the genre. The uniquely collegial and cooperative community of kidlit authors and reviewers does itself a big favor when it supports events like these. I hope our Kidlitosphere has something for everyone from bloggers to authors to librarians trying to facilitate teen reading groups. Most of all, I hope it provides a forum for lots of unexpected conversations.
With lots of fanfare (there's confetti flying here in my home office) I'm kicking off the new SCBWI blog with an editor interview featuring Brian Farrey of Flux, an imprint dedicated to publishing only YA. Brian has been Flux's acquisitions editor since the end of 2008, before that working in publicity for the imprint since it started up in 2005. Here he talks about Flux, his direction with the imprint, some upcoming titles, and, of course, YA itself.
Has anything changed at Flux since you took over the imprint?
As some people know, my first job with Flux was as publicist when the imprint first launched. In that capacity, I worked closely with Andrew Karre, Flux's former acquiring editor (now the Editorial Director at Lerner's Carolrhoda imprint). I had (and continue to have) a lot of respect for Andrew's sense of vision. He did a lot to set the standard for the imprint. Thankfully, Andrew and I have very similar tastes in YA, so in that respect not much has changed. However, by nature, I bring a different eye to reading submissions. Ultimately, I don't think Flux's direction has changed at all. I'm still looking to bring in fresh voices with a solid grounding in emotional honesty. If anything, I aim to build on the success the imprint has enjoyed, expanding on the points of view we present. I'm adding some sci-fi/speculative fiction to the line in the coming year. I'm looking at the books where we've seen success and hoping similar titles will prove just as successful. We'll also be expanding the number of titles we produce each year, which means I'm chin deep in submissions.
How would you define YA?
I think the most important part of the definition invokes Flux's slogan: YA is a point of view, not a reading level. To me, that's where it all starts. I find I get in trouble (with myself, mainly) when I try to narrow the definition further because just when I decide what it is, I fall in love with a manuscript that challenges my criteria. In a lot of ways, YA is a lot like the target audience: try to label and define a "typical" young adult at your own peril. They're at that exciting* stage of life that's all about reinventing convention and exploration of self. The best YA--the stuff that really gets me excited--latches on to that.
{* I say "exciting" in retrospect because I think a sizable contingent of teens would find other adjectives (terrifying, confusing, stultifying) to describe their current situation.}
You accept electronic submissions directly from authors as well as taking submissions from agents. What makes you keep reading?
The thrill of discovering a new voice. Really, that's what it is. Finding the person who zeroes in on the right words and puts them in just the right order and leaves me giddy. I've had that pleasure over and over again, both with agented submissions and unagented. Part of the price of admission for that thrill ride is, of course, reading lots of stuff that doesn't hit the mark with me. LOTS of stuff. Not that it's bad but I just don't connect with the material in the way that a writer deserves. So much of this job, to me, is about the author-editor relationship. I enjoy that collaboration and when you find an author with whom you share a wavelength, it's really exciting. So I keep reading to keep reliving that experience.
What are some upcoming or recent Flux releases that you're excited about?
Ah, this is the part of the interview where I'm forced to choose which of my children are my favorites. Always so hard to do. To make it easy, I'll just mention three of the very first books I acquired when I took over Flux. Out in May is A BLUE SO DARK, Holly Schindler's stunning debut. It's the story of a girl who can no longer hide the fact that she's her schizophrenic mother's sole caretaker (and, as I type this, I just found out it got a starred review from BOOKLIST!). And keep your eye on Heath Gibson when his debut, GIGGED, hits shelves (also in May). Like many YA enthusiasts, I adore Robert Cormier's work and I don't invoke his name lightly. But GIGGED captures a lot of Cormier's magic and includes a stunner of a twist ending of which Cormier himself would approve. And this summer, Karen Kincy's debut, OTHER, starts an exciting new urban fantasy series for Flux about a shapeshifting teen in Washington state who becomes the target of a serial killer when she begins investigating the deaths of "Others," the paranormal kinfolk of the world.
What advice would you offer to YA writers hoping to get published?
The piece that I've been distributing most often recently comes from something I'm noticing more and more with submissions: if you're going to write YA, you need to read YA. Know the market. Every day I get manuscripts from people who CLEARLY have not read a contemporary YA novel. Don't look at the "New for Teens" shelf at Borders and think you can do that without having read a word. DO NOT regurgitate what you see on the market. You definitely need your own voice, your own spin. But know what's out there and what's appealing to readers.
During a panel on virtual school visits, Kidlit Con was joined via Skype by Nick Glass of TeachingBooks.net. (I likened this virtual panelist to The Giant Benevolent Wizard of Oz with headphones.) With a laptop and a projector (and no IT or AV professionals), Nick was able to fully participate in the panel, offering information and answering questions. Authors should really consider using this technology for virtual visits.
