On Being a Writer and a Publisher: Austin Ross Shares at Publishers Weekly

Seeing Novels from Both the Writing and Publishing Sides by Austin Ross, published earlier this month, includes some hard-earned wisdom. Some insights that resonated for me:

I have to constantly remind myself that it’s the writing that matters most. What becomes dangerous is when I focus my creative energy on the publishing circle of that Venn diagram—thinking of what might sell or attract an agent’s interest rather than what I want to write. —Austin Ross

and

We have no control over whether our work will be remembered or not, so we may as well have a little fun along the way....  I find myself wanting to go back and tell the eight-year-old version of me this same thing: writing should be fun, damn it. I would tell him, “Worry less about being ‘a writer’ and just write. Write what you love, and let the chips fall where they may.” —Austin Ross

It's well-worth reading.

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

Simon and Schuster Is Sold for $1.62 Billion

The new owner of the nearly century-old publisher is the private investment firm KKR. You can read about the deal here in Publishers Weekly.

This means we still have a "big five" of corporate publishers in the US, avoiding the consolidation of giant publishers which isn't particularly good for we creators of children's, tween, and teen books.

Part of being a creator is keeping up with the big news in our industry...

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

Check out highlights of the goodness and inspiration from the SCBWI Summer Conference

Where to find it?

Well the first place to go is the Official SCBWI Conference Blog - at https://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/

Jolie Stekly, Debbie Ohi, Jaime Temairik, and Justin Campbell have you all set... 

You can also check out your favorite social media channel with the hashtag: #scbwiSummer23

We hope you'll be inspired, too!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

Final Call to Join the Online Summer 2023 SCBWI Conference!

First timer orientation is today (Thursday Aug 3, 2023 at 4pm Pacific) and then the virtual conference starts on Friday Aug 4 at 8:30am Pacific. You can see the full conference schedule here.

Don't miss out on Keynotes (Lisa Yee, Frank Morrison, Doug Salati, and Angeline Boulley!)

Panels (Agents & Editors, Art Directors, Debut Authors!)

Breakout Sessions (More than 35 of them!)

A Half-Day Intensive Just for Illustrators (With amazing faculty!)

Pitch Sessions with Acquiring Agents and Editors (Make sure to addend the "How to Pitch to Editors and Agents" breakout session first!)

Portfolio Showcase for Illustrators (So many illustrators have advanced their craft and career by participating!)

Website and Social Media Consults (one-on-one 20 minute expert advice!)

Online Socials and Peer Critiques (find more of your community!)

And make sure to bookmark the SCBWI Conference blog, where Jolie Stekly, Debbie Ohi, Jaime Temairik, and Justin Campbell will be live-blogging the conference!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee

A New Business Model - Bindery's Influencer Curated Imprints Where The Influencers Get a Stake In the Success of the Books

On July 28, 2023, Sophia Stewart reported in Publishers Weekly about a new start up publishing house, Bindery.

The goal is to have micro-imprints where an influencer, in concert with their fans/followers, chooses one book that will get published by the publishing house that year. The success of that book, ostensibly driven by the influencer's authentic enthusiasm (a.k.a. promotion), is then shared 50% for the author, 25% for the publishing house, and 25% for the influencer.

From my perspective, this changes the game in a few ways: 

Seems that the way publishers interacted with influencers in the past was to try to get the influencer themselves to write a book. But they're not necessarily good at being authors. (No shade, it's a different skill set).

And previously, when influencers got behind a book they didn't write and the book succeeded, the influencer didn't share in that success in any material way.

Since no one's been able to harness the viral enthusiasm of book influencers on social platforms like TikTok (even folks who've had their books succeed in that way aren't exactly sure how it happened, and no one has the formula to do it on demand) this is new attempt to leverage that influence and set a book up for the kind of viral success #booktok has become famous for.

However this shakes out, it will be fascinating to follow!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee