A "Hot Tip" from Frances Gilbert (Editor-in-Chief, Doubleday Books for Young Readers) On Keeping Up On The Industry

How do you know who publishes what? Where can you get a comprehensive glance at what each publisher—what each imprint—is publishing? How do you know where your book might fit?

Frances Gilbert highlights an upcoming title

Frances Gilbert, at this past week's SCBWI Los Angeles Writers Day Conference, suggested Edelweiss.plus, a free resource that lets you look at (and study) publishers' catalogs.

Check it out here.

Thanks, Frances!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Listen to the Latest SCBWI Podcast: A Conversation with Namrata Tripathi

Namrata Tripathi is Vice President & Publisher of Kokila, a newly-formed imprint of Penguin Young Readers that is dedicated to centering stories from the margins. In this exclusive interview with Theo Baker, Namrata shares about her journey as an editor of picture books, middle grade, and young adult titles, what she's learned on the way, and the vision behind her new imprint!

Listen to the episode trailer here.

Current SCBWI members can listen to the full episode here (log in first).

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Listen to SCBWI's newest podcast: A Conversation with Nancy Paulsen

Nancy Paulsen is the President and Publisher of Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. The imprint publishes fifteen books a year and focuses on eye-opening, often funny picture books and middle grade fiction from diverse and distinct voices, especially stories that are inventive and emotionally satisfying. New York Times bestsellers she has edited include National Book Award and Newbery Honor Winner Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, and Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler. Other award-winning titles include Coretta Scott King Honor Winner Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis; Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman and Leaves by David Ezra Stein.

In this two-part conversation with Theo Baker, Nancy discusses editing, her list, diversity, first chapters, the process of revising a middle grade novel, what goes into publishing a picture book, and so much more!

Listen to the episode trailer here.

Current SCBWI members can listen to the full podcast here (log in first!)

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Rainforest Action Network's Report: "A New Chapter for the Publishing Industry"

"...the world's top publishers are moving in the right direction when it comes to eliminating rainforest destruction, human rights violations, and species extinction from their supply chains."

Rainforest Action Network's May 14, 2014 report, A New Chapter for the Publishing Industry: Putting Promises Into Practice, outlines the shift in the children's publishing industry over the past four years towards a fuller view of and action on their social and environmental responsibility, and offers a set of best practices to guide companies (publishers and others) in tracing their paper supply chains and protecting forests in the process.

In 2010, Rainforest Action Network found that nine of ten top children's book publishers were using paper linked to the clearing and conversion of Indonesia's rainforests in books sold to American consumers.

In 2014, they cite Disney, Hachette, Scholastic, HarperCollins, Pearson/Penguin (prior to the merger with Random House) and Macmillan as "Leaders" and say that things are much improved.

Eight companies are now conducting independent fiber testing of their books, "to verify that no unwanted fiber is making its way into the supply chain," compared with not a single company four years ago.

Nine companies have public paper policies today, compared with five back in 2010.

And in 2010, 63% of the books tested contained paper with controversial wood fiber linked to Indonesian rainforest loss and 13% contained mixed tropical hardwood. In 2014, 33% of the samples tested positive for significant percentages of Acacia fiber, and mixed tropical hardwoods were found in only one of 30 samples.

The numbers are better, but there's still progress to be made.

The report also profiles major children's publishers, giving an overview of how each is doing in terms of this issue, citing strengths, opportunities and areas for improvement. The companies explored include:

Penguin Random House
Candlewick
Disney
Hachette
HarperCollins
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Macmillan
Scholastic
Simon & Schuster

And while they acknowledge that "publishers alone cannot guarantee the survival of rainforests in Indonesia, the industry has the ability to affect change and create a positive impact."

The report is a fascinating education, and is well worth checking out.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

In the News This Week

To end each week on the SCBWI blog, I'll be sharing snippets of and links to some of the publishing-related news I've read during the week that I found interesting or helpful (or, perhaps, fun). (Articles discovered via Twitter, Facebook, newsletters, blogs and general Internet trolling.)

Below are my picks for this week. (Click the title to link the the articles.) If you're attending the BookExpo America, be sure to read Elizabeth Bluemle's great post on BEA planning and the PW piece on galleys to grab (then construct your strategy). I'm also excited about the iPad apps for writers rundown by the amazing Debbie Ridpath Ohi on her Inkygirl blog. (My iPad is set to be delivered next week--I'll give you a full report on using it for working and for reading. Yay!) And here's hoping Alice won't become a hip baby name thanks to Stephenie Meyer's series (see the NYT piece below). I'm not sure I want a bunch of little Alices running around.


ABC and ABA to Formalize Potential Merger Plan) (on the ALA site)
"The Association of Booksellers for Children and the American Booksellers Association moved another step closer to a possible merger this week with the release on Thursday of a letter of agreement..."

Facebook And Twitter Are On A Collision Course. And We’re In The Middle. (on Tech Crunch)
"In Jim Sheridan’s 2009 film Brothers, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire play two siblings that are opposites... In the tech world, Facebook is Sam, Twitter is Tommy, and Grace is all of us, the Internet users..."

Facebook Creates Community Pages for Stephen King, Kathryn Stockett, Random House, and Many Others (on GalleyCat)
"As part of a controversial expansion of Facebook, the social networking site has created "Community Pages" for many popular people and brands..."

Amazon to Drop Free Books from Kindle Bestseller List  (on PW)
"For some in publishing it may be a curiosity, for others a point of contention—Amazon’s practice of including free downloads in its list of most popular Kindle titles..."

2010 BEA Planning (for real) (by Elizabeth Bluemle on PW's Shelf Talker)
"Our April 1 column this year was a spoof of BEA programming—which caught a few of you by surprise when you sat down expecting to plan your trade show schedules. We cross our hearts that today’s post is the genuine article: a guide to children’s-book-related events and educational sessions at BookExpo America in New York City from Tuesday, May 25-Thursday, May 27..."

BEA 2010: Kids' Galleys to Grab (on PW)
"Favorite Authors, New Projects..."

ALSC announces 2010 election results (includes judges for Newberry, Caldecott and other awards)
"CHICAGO – Mary J. Fellows, manager, youth and family services, Upper Hudson Library System, Albany, N.Y., has been elected vice-president/president-elect of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA)..."

Self-Publishing Expo Back in October (on PW)
"The founders of the Self-Publishing Book Expo have announced plans to hold a second SPBE in October..."

Patterson, Brown Win Top Honors at Children's Choice Awards (on PW) 
"The Children’s Choice Book Awards, the only national award chosen by children, were presented by the Children’s Book Council in a ceremony on Tuesday night in New York City, hosted by Mo Willems. The winners were..."

iPad apps for writers: notetaking, writing, & brainstorming ideas (on Inkygirl)
"The following is a list of reviews I’ve posted so far on iPadGirl during my ongoing search for useful iPad apps for writers, starting with the most recently reviewed. Feel free to bookmark this page, because I’ll be keeping it updated as I review more iPad apps..."

A Name for Newborns Thanks to the Vampires (NY Times)
"For baseball fans, 2009 was the year of the Yankees. For job seekers, it was the year of the Great Recession. And for people who track baby names, it was the year of the vampire..."