Kid Lit Industry Catch-Up

A lot's been going on lately, and as we head into November, I wanted to make sure you knew about these stories:


Lauren Myracle is a National Book Award Finalist. Err, wait. She’s not.

Evidently "Shine" sounds a lot like "Chime."  And "Lauren Myracle" sounds a lot like "Franny Billingsley."  Hold on there...

Here are three angles on the story:

The Publishers Lunch version

Libba Bray pulls no punches in her backstage pass assessment of the situation (her husband, Barry Goldblatt, is Lauren Myracle’s literary agent.) It’s funny and passionate, but if f-bombs offend, read the other two links instead. Here's Libba's blog post.

Vanity Fair has an interview with the remarkably gracious Lauren Myracle, here.


Amazon's exclusive digital rights deal with DC comics, and what happened next

The new deal means that hundreds of DC’s popular graphic novels (think Superman, Batman, Watchmen...) will only be available on Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet. Barnes & Nobel and Books-a-Million responded by pulling all the physical volumes of those titles from their shelves, saying they wouldn’t carry any book it they’re denied the right to sell the digital version. The New York Times story is here.  


Sales Data Sharing With Authors

And there was more news featuring Amazon, this on Amazon driving changes in how publishers do business – since Amazon announced they would share some sales data with their authors, Simon & Schuster (and now Random House and Hachette Book Group) will do similarly. It’s an interesting article in Publishers Lunch.


New Radio Book Club for Kids

“Prisoners of NPR” (kids in the back seat forced to listen to ‘All Things Considered’ because their parents are listening) are getting their own Back Seat Book Club.  Here's the story at Publishers Weekly.


Traditional Publishing's path of Print first, digital second gets flipped

Ruckus Media is teaming up with Scholastic to publish digital first, and print second.  You can read more about it here.


Is a book ever finished, or just published?

For the 40th anniversary edition of the best-selling horror classic, "The Exorcist," author William Peter Blatty not only polished, but revised and added a whole new character.  You can hear the interview (and read the article) from NPR's Weekend Edition here.


And finally,

If you won the Newbery Medal, would you want that gold sticker on the cover?

On the right, the old cover, Newbery Medal flashing.  On the left, the new cover

Turns out this isn't a mistake.  It's the strategy for attracting adult readers.

Find out more about the new cover without the Newbery Medal for Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" at this Media Bistro post.

And interestingly, "The Graveyard Book" will be the inaugural title for the new NPR Back Seat Book Club.  Fun how that came full circle, isn't it?

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

SCBWI TEAM BLOG Pre-Conference Interview: Barry Goldblatt

Barry Goldblatt

A chat with agent Barry Goldbaltt kicks off my SCBWI TEAM BLOG interviews with 40th Annual Summer Conference faculty!

After years working in the rights and contracts departments at Penguin, Putnam, and Orchard, Barry opened Barry Goldblatt Literary in 2000, and set out to find writers whose work made him laugh, cry, scream and jump up and down. He's has been gleefully signing authors ever since--among them award-winners and bestsellers.

To learn more about him, visit his website or follow him on Twitter. Oh--and you can also come hear him speak at the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference! Click here to register.

You've been agenting for more than a decade now. How have the changes in the publishing industry effected your day-to-day work life?
 

I don't know that changes in the industry have had an impact on my daily routine, but the growth of the agency itself certainly has! Back when I first started, with just a handful of clients, I spent the majority of my time every day just reading--client manuscripts, sure, but also submissions and lots and lots of actual published books, usually as galleys. I needed that to get my feet solidly on the ground, to really know what was out there, what was selling (and to whom) in order to become a good, knowledgeable agent who could actually offer something to writers.

Now of course I spend a lot more time dealing with contract negotiations, royalty statements, and lots of other paperwork, and the reading time is a lot more difficult to come by. I also now have another agent working with me, and a full time assistant as well, so there's a lot more interaction with others on a daily basis as well.

Probably the one significant impact of industry changes on my daily work is the amount of it. The fact is, children's publishing over the last ten years has gotten bigger and for the most part better, and it's meant there are more terrific writers to discover, and more great books to sell and champion!

You're active on Twitter. How does participating in that community benefit you as an agent? Do you think it's a worthwhile for writers to tweet?

I find Twitter oddly entertaining. I tried the whole blogging thing as an agent, and it just wasn't for me. I angsted all the time over what to post, how often to post, was what I was saying of any relevance. But 140 characters? I can manage that, and if no one cares about a particular tweet, they'll just ignore it. But the Twitter community overall, especially as it relates to writing/agenting/publishing is both informative and useful, at least for me.

Is it useful for writers? It is, if you like doing it. I see some writers who are clearly uncomfortable with Twitter (or blogging or Facebook), but feel somehow obligated to do it. It's a tool, just like any other, and if it suits your personality, it's a helpful one. But it is by no means an absolute must. Many of my clients use it, to varying degrees: Cassandra Clare (@cassieclare) practically lives there, Jo Knowles (@joknowles) uses it to complement her blogging quite well, and Robin Wasserman (@robinwasserman) gets to satisfy a lot of her cultural interests and share her idiosyncrasies too (plus it led to her meeting Judy Blume!).

You've got an impressive list of clients (including Libba Bray, Holly Black, Angela Johnson and Lauren Myracle to name a few). Are you open to new clients? If so, what's the best way to approach you?

I am always open to new clients. I don't want to rest on my laurels, nor do I want to feel stagnant, and the best way to deal with that is to keep finding new writers to champion. My website clearly lists my guidelines, which are an emailed query with first five pages included in the body of the email.

You're doing manuscript critiques at the Summer Conference. Could you offer some advice to writers on getting the most out of a critique meeting?

 

I think the best advice I have for a writer in those meetings is to go in with an open mind and willing to listen. Do NOT go in expecting to hear "I totally want to represent you" as that's extremely unlikely, and will negate any useful information the agent/editor/writer you're meeting with might have to share. Also, remember as always, it's one person's opinion, and is not the be all, end all of the universe.

You're participating in a panel called "Four Agents View the Current State of Children's Books," as well as a breakout session called "What My Agency Does and How We Do It." Can you give us a taste of what you'll cover?

I imagine there will be a lot of discussion about ebooks and the future of print, because that's one of those hot button topics right now. In my breakout, I plan to give a snapshot into my agency's working philosophy, how we go about choosing what we want to represent, and then what we do to make sure those clients have the best careers possible.

Would you offer some general advice (or do's and don't) for writers on interacting with agents in a conference setting?

Remember that we're not scary, and we're not going to bite your head off if you come up and say hello. However, none of us want to be pitched, unless we're in an actual pitch session, and certainly none of us want to be handed a manuscript.