In the News This Week

On Fridays I've been sharing snippets of and links to news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun.

 Going forward, I'm moving this feature to the weekend to work better with my now-more-full schedule.

This week's news includes a new Scholastic/Ruckus imprint, a children's publishing newsletter launch, iPad 3 news, an editorial against agent-publishers, online/app safety for kids, a new property for Penguin, and more. 


Scholastic, Ruckus Media Form New Digital/Print Imprint (PW)
Children's digital developer Ruckus Media is joining with Scholastic to create the Scholastic Ruckus imprint, a joint venture that will publish a wide range of children's and teen content across all platforms, from interactive content and transmedia projects to e-books, enhanced e-books and print. The first titles from the Scholastic Ruckus imprint will be released in 2012.   

Publishing Perspectives Launches Children’s Publishing Newsletter (GalleyCat)
Publishing Perspectives, the online industry news journal, has launched its first newsletter focused on children’s publishing.

When Will Your Local Borders Close? (GalleyCat)
Wondering when your local Borders will close?
Borders Group entered liquidation this summer, closing its remaining 399 stores and cutting around 10,700 employees. On the bookseller’s Facebook page, you can now see a list of the closure dates for your local Borders bookstore.

iPad 3 Rumored To Be Lighter And Pricier (eBookNewser) 
As Amazon is gearing up to announce a new tablet, Apple is already hard at work on the iPad 3. According to a report from Apple Insider, the third generation iPad will be slimmer and lighter, and possibly more expensive.

Apps, social networks pose new threat to kids (USA Today)
The Federal Trade Commission last month announced a $50,000 settlement with app maker W3 Innovations for collecting and dispersing information of kids under 13 in violation of the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act, or COPPA.

Links Shared On Twitter Last Half As Long As YouTube (AllTwitter)
The folks at bit.ly, the popular URL shortener service, asked themselves just how long a link shared on a social network “lives”. And they found out that links shared on Twitter lasted only half as long as links shared on YouTube.

An Argument Against Agent-Publishers (PubPerspectives)
Nearly two thousand years ago, Plutarch wrote of a great ship that bore Theseus home from Crete. As its planks decayed, the plucky Athenians preserved it by replacing each rotting board in turn, until eventually nothing was left of the original vessel. Was it then the same ship? Plutarch asked. Or was it something wholly new?

Small Potatoes for Penguin (PW)
Penguin USA has acquired the license for Little Airplane Productions’ Small Potatoes, a preschool-targeted series of animated musical shorts. The series has taken off on Facebook and debuted on U.S. television September 6, on Disney Channel’s Disney Junior block. Penguin Young Readers Group’s Grosset & Dunlap division will publish a series of at least 10 books starting in early 2013, with Little Airplane handling the writing and design. The launch list will include a sticker book, an 8x8 and a board book.

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun.


This week's news includes a new YA imprint at Whitman, essays on boys reading and diet books for little girls, new words in Webster and the OED, a favorite piece on Steve Jobs (who, you may have heard, is stepping down), KidLit Con and Borders-related charity, and more.


Albert Whitman Takes on Teens with New Imprint (PW)
Founded in 1919, Albert Whitman publishes a range of children’s books, including board books, picture books, and middle-grade fiction, notably Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children Mysteries and The Boxcar Children Graphic Novels. With last month’s launch of Albert Whitman Teen, the Chicagoland publisher has expanded its offerings to include young-adult books. The inaugural releases are Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, a novel set six months after 9/11 that centers on a teen who finds himself incarcerated as an “enemy combatant”; and Michael Ford’s The Poisoned House, a ghost story that takes place in Victorian London. Guantanamo Boy was selected for the ABA’s summer 2011 Kids’ Indie Next List.

Children's Store to Open in Katonah, N.Y.  (PW)
Borders’s loss is proving to be indies’ gain. With the closing of a Borders in Mt. Kisco, Jennifer Cook, owner of NoKa Joe’s in Katonah, N.Y., has decided to take the plunge and turn the 650 sq. ft. second floor into a children’s specialty bookstore in October.

Was Steve Jobs really Apple’s editor-in-chief? (The Cutline) 
For those who've followed Apple, casually or compulsively, Steve Job's resignation as chief executive on Wednesday was not unexpected. But the announcement was nonetheless met with a mixture of shock and sadness.

Boys and Reading: Is There Any Hope? (NY Times)
At an American Library Association conference in 2007, HarperCollins dressed five of its male young adult authors in blue baseball jerseys with our names on the back and sent us up to bat in a panel entitled “In the Clubhouse.” We were meant to demystify to the overwhelmingly female audience the testosterone code that would get teenage boys reading. Whereas boys used to lag behind girls in reading in the early grades, statistics show, they soon caught up. Not anymore.

Do Little Girls Need Diet Books? (Salon)
It's the kind of aspirational image familiar from women's magazines and yogurt ads--a frumpy girl standing before the mirror, holding up the outfit she longs to fit into, dreaming of the smiling, slim version of herself waiting on the other side. But this isn't some Slim-Fast pitch or another Bikini Body by Friday! morning show segment. It's the cover of a children's book.

GoodReads Launches New iPad App (eBook Newser)
The online book community GoodReads has just made it a little easier for you to share your book interests with other fans. GoodReads uploaded a new version of its app to iTunes a few days ago and it finally supports the iPad.

New Words in Merriam-Webster Dictionary Include 'Tweet,' 'Fist Bump' (CNS News)
Merriam-Webster Inc. has added dozens of entries to the latest edition of its Collegiate Dictionary. Here are some, along with the year in which Merriam-Webster researchers first found them used in an English-language publication, and their meanings: 

Retweet & Sexting Are Now Words In Oxford English Dictionary (Mashable)
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has added 400 words to its dictionary, including retweet, woot, sexting and cyberbullying. The 12th edition of the dictionary is a recognition that modern technology and social media have greatly impacted the English language. Retweet, the act of resharing a message on Twitter, is our favorite addition, though sexting and woot are a close second and third.

new Study Reveals Kids Who Read More are Better Readers (eBook Newser)
he UK based National Literacy Trust has recently released a the results of a study. After testing over 18 thousand children in the UK, the Trust concluded that the ones who read more books each month were also better readers.

  

KidLit Con Partners with RIF (GalleyCat) 
KidLit Con has launched a fundraising partnership with Reading is Fundamental (RIF).
Earlier this year, we reported that the federal budget for RIF has been reduced. With the new partnership, readers can donate to the childhood literacy program in the name of KidLit Con. Follow this link for more details about how to make a donation.

Mementos of Borders, for Charity (Shelf Awareness) [scroll down]
Just in case you had a particular bond with your local branch of Borders, here's an opportunity to gain a souvenir of the fast-fading bookstore chain and do some good, too.

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun.



This week's news includes PW's coverage of SCBWI 40th Annual Summer Conference (which is technically last week's news, but I didn't want you to miss it); Little, Brown and Holiday house entering the leveled reader realm; magazine editors reaching out to the young and wired; syncing posts on multiple social networks; some e-reader-related news; Twitter contest tips; indie bookstore coverage including some fun from The Daily Show's John Hodgman; and more.

SCBWI Conference Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Record Turnout (PW)
A surprise guest appearance by Judy Blume at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators annual summer conference in Los Angeles made the 40th anniversary of the organization even more meaningful to the record-breaking number of attendees, which included writers, illustrators, publishers, editors, and agents. Nearly 1,350 people were on hand for the conference, which was held August 4-8 at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Two Leveled Reader Programs Debut This Fall (PW)
A phone call from a librarian friend at the Boston Public Library allegedly prompted Ursula Nordstrom in the mid-1950s to launch Harper & Row’s I Can Read! line of beginning readers. After the librarian told the legendary editor that there was a dearth of simple books that new readers were able to tackle on their own, Nordstrom set out to fill that void. The first I Can Read! title, Else Holmelund Minarik’s Little Bear, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, was released in 1957. That same year, Random House debuted Beginner Books with Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat. In subsequent years, many other early reader programs entered the marketplace, including Random House’s Step into Reading, Scholastic Readers, HMH Books’ Green Light Readers, and most recently Square Fish’s My Readers, which launched this spring. This fall, two new leveled reader lines join their ranks: Little, Brown’s Passport to Reading and I Like to Read Books from Holiday House.
 

Liberty Buys Barnes & Noble Stake (MCN)
Liberty Media said it has agreed to purchase $204 million of Barnes & Noble preferred stock, a deal which would eventually give it a 16.6 % stake and trumps a $1 billion bid the media  giant had made for the troubled book retailer in May.

iPad Killer: Amazon Goes Razor Blades On Tablet Landscape (PWxyz)
This October is likely going to be a defining moment for tablets. That’s if, as expected, Amazon drops its tablet into the increasingly crowded fray, which at the moment is only slightly more organized than the Wild West. Many are expecting Amazon to set things straight, eliminating the pretenders and giving us a better idea of what exactly buyers want out of a tablet. But before we get to what might happen, let’s get caught up on what already has happened.

Easily And Automatically Sync Posts Between Twitter, Google+ And Facebook (AllTwitter)
We’ve written before about how to tweet your Google+ posts to Twitter, and now we’ve got an even more robust way to sync up your various social media profiles.

4 Things To Remember When Running A Twitter Contest (AllTwitter)
Twitter is a fantastic place to host a contest. You have a direct line to your customers and fans, you can easily set a time limit, and you can even use a hashtag to track it easily. However, there are some things you’ve got to consider when setting up your Twitter contest, or else the scammers, hackers, and otherwise deceptive people will start coming out of the woodwork and ruin all your best intentions.

HARRY POTTER CHAINED to new Sony reader (Register)
Sony will bundle its next generation e-reader with the entire series of Harry Potter stories from November, The Register has learnt. The bespectacled wizard debuts in digital format in October – the same time as the Sony-sponsored Pottermore "online reading experience" goes live – according to well-placed sources in the vendor's retail channel.

Editors Face Teen Angst (WWD)
Magazine newsstand sales were revealed last week by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and the numbers were bleak. Editors are desperate to engage the younger generation — those tweeters, Facebookers, text messagers and Web surfers who will ensure that titles have a future beyond the Baby Boomers. But what do they have to offer this prized demographic? More pictures of Lady Gaga or Kim Kardashian?

Independent bookstores add a new chapter (WaPo)

The brick-and-mortar bookstore is, like most of the economy, dead or close to it. See: Amazon, growth of. See: Borders, tanking of. Everybody knows this. So here’s Eileen McGervey, owner of One More Page bookstore in Arlington, standing next to her gourmet chocolates and a nice little wine selection, right across from the food and travel section, and she . . . opened in January of this year?

  
John Hodgman Shares Tips for Indie Bookstores (GalleyCat)
Author John Hodgman poked fun at the demise of Borders in a Daily Show appearance (video embedded above) this week,  urging booksellers to “replace their old-fashioned bookshelves with beautiful, well-appointed downloading pods.”

In the News This Week

Happy holiday weekend, friends. Before you don red, white and blue, view parades, and marvel at fireworks, check out some of this week's news stories. Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

This week's tidbits include dwindling library budgets, tons and tons of tweeting, John Green signing and signing and signing, a literary agency repping self-pubbed authors, ALA in pictures, eReader stats, THE GIVER on the big screen, census news on your future audience, a psychologists weighing in on GO THE F**K TO SLEEP, and more.


In Lean Times, Schools Squeeze Out Librarians (NYT)
Budget belt-tightening threatens to send school librarians the way of the card catalog. Students at all six high schools at the Martin Luther King Jr. campus in Manhattan must share the resources of one library. The schools superintendent in Lancaster, Pa., said he had to eliminate 15 of the district’s 20 librarians to save full-day kindergarten classes.In the Salem-Keizer school district in Oregon, all 48 elementary and middle school librarians would lose their jobs under a budget proposal that faces a vote next week.

200 million Tweets per day (twitter blog)
Halfway through 2011, users on Twitter are now sending 200 million Tweets per day. For context on the speed of Twitter’s growth, in January of 2009, users sent two million Tweets a day, and one year ago they posted 65 million a day.

YA Author John Green to Sign All Preorders of Next Novel  (PW)
After revealing Tuesday on a YouTube video that the title of his next novel is The Fault in Our Stars, YA author John Green made a second announcement that has some of his 1,140,780 Twitter followers, 61,714 Facebook friends, 525,676 YouTube subscribers, and other fans buzzing today. Not only buzzing, but also rushing to preorder The Fault in Our Stars, even though its tentative pub date isn't until May 2012, and the cover art hasn’t designed yet. Within hours of the announcement, the book shot to #1 on Amazon.com and bn.com, where it remains on both sites as of press time.

ALA 2011: Photos from the Show (PW)
The Big Easy played host to librarians, publishers, and writers who ventured to New Orleans June 23-28 for the ALA's annual conference. Library Journal reported that attendance was down this year, with 20,186 attendees and vendors at the show, but there was no shortage of excitement for children's books. The Newbery-Caldecott banquet bestowed top honors on Clare Vanderpool, winner of the Newbery Medal for Moon Over Manifest, and Erin Stead, who was awarded the Caldecott for A Sick Day for Amos McGee. 

For the iPad, Books That Respond to a Child’s Touch (NYT)
There may never come a day when book apps, as interactive books for tablet computers are known, are more appealing to children than games. But the apps are getting more engaging. The latest book apps to appear on my iPad include The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore ($5), Angelina Ballerina’s New Ballet Teacher ($1), The Wrong Side of the Bed in 3-D ($3), Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! ($4) and Cars 2 Storybook Deluxe ($6).

Specific Media Buys Myspace, Timberlake Takes Stake (Online Media Daily)
Marking the end of a social era, ad network Specific Media on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Myspace. And in a strange twist, music star-cum-actor Justin Timberlake is also taking an undisclosed ownership stake in the company, and is expected to play a key role in re-imagining the MySpace brand.
While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, multiple reports put it at about $35 million--far less than the $580 million News Corp. paid for the then-high-flying site back in 2005.

eReader Adoption Hits 12% In U.S. Says Pew Research (GalleyCat)
The share of adults in the United States who own an eReader doubled in May 2011 to 12 percent from 6 percent in November 2010, according to the Pew Internet Project. Tablets haven’t seen the same level of growth in recent months. In May 2011, 8 percent of adults report owning a tablet, up only 1 percent since and 3 percent since November 2010.

Bridges giving 'Giver' another shot (Variety)
Jeff Bridges and producer Nikki Silver are taking another stab at a bigscreen version of Lois Lowry's young adult novel "The Giver." They had been developing a feature version of the popular book for nearly a decade before it wound up at Warner Bros., which ponied up nearly $1 million to set up the tome with Red Wagon's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher in 2007.

Twitter and Publishing: How the Industry is Faring (PW)
Last week, PW’s article “The Top Five Twitter Feeds for the Six Largest Publishing Houses” asked publishers to send us data regarding their Twitter feeds, and, on June 6, we ran an initial article featuring a small sampling of imprints on Twitter. While these previous articles were meant to show a basic overview of publishers' presence on Twitter, the table below is meant to be as an inclusive listing of publishers as possible of varying sizes and in a full range of categories. 

A Gateway to Great Books on Your iPhone (NYT Gadgetwise)
Penguin Classics, that more-than-1,500-titles collection of English-language literary classics, has a new free app for iOS devices available on Tuesday. The paperback publisher, celebrating 65 years of the Classics collection this year, has created a catalog of its titles (which basically includes every author you have heard of, ever) and put it into an easily searchable database.

DGLM Elaborates on Plan to Rep Self-Published Authors (PW)
After announcing on its blog Tuesday that it would be working its clients through the digital self-publishing process, literary agency Dystel & Goderich has had publishing insiders buzzing. What did the announcement mean? How would the agency take commissions from authors who are self-publishing? Would the agency become a publisher itself?

Census estimates show minority babies now outnumber white babies, part of sweeping race change (WaPo)
For the first time, more than half of the children under age 2 in the U.S. are minorities, part of a sweeping race change and a growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and fast-growing younger ethnic populations that could reshape government policies.
 
Why Has Go the F**k to Sleep Struck Such a Nerve With Parents? (HuffPo)
I admit, it's funny. And there's another thing I like about Adam Mansbach's Go the F**k to Sleep: It exposes the underbelly of parenting -- that dark, secret part of us that needs a little time to ourselves when we can do grown up things -- or maybe just crawl into our own bed for some desperately needed sleep.

In the News The Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

This week's tidbits include an announcement of a new literary agency, stats on the best times to tweet, J.K. Rowling's Pottermore unveiled, a (possibly controversial or maybe just a little annoying) piece on writing YA, e-book price points, new words added to the OED, and a NY Times magazine feature on Amanda Hocking.


Red Fox Literary Opens for Business (PW)
This week agent Karen Grencik and editor Abigail Samoun officially launched their new venture, Red Fox Literary, an agency representing children’s book authors and illustrators and based out of Shell Beach, Calif. The agency currently represents more than 30 authors and illustrators, including Diane Browning, Adam Gustavson, Ginger Rue, Teri Sloat, and Jan Wahl.

Infographic Reveals The Best Times To Post To Twitter & Facebook (Social Times)
What is the best time to share content on social networks for maximum exposure? Should you post first thing in the morning? During lunch? At the end of the workday when people are getting ready to head home? And how do you account for the fact that you may have potential customers living in different time zones? A new infographic from KISSmetrics answers these questions and more with a new infographic called ‘The Science of Social Timing.’

Pottermore: Interesting But Not a Game Changer (PW)
When J.K. Rowling revealed Thursday that her previously announced Pottermore Web site would be a portal to get additional stories and information about the Harry Potter universe, as well as the sole place to buy heretofore unavailable e-book editions of the Potter titles, the media started churning out stories not only about Rowling’s marketing prowess but how her move might have larger ramifications for the publishing business. But many people who work in publishing think that as interesting as Pottermore is, the endeavor says less about the future of book publishing than about the singular status of a very wealthy author who has the inclination and means to build her own brand.

Ten iPad Apps Based On Classic Children’s Book (eBookNewser)
Kids are growing up reading on iPads today. In hopes that they’ll still read classic books, we’ve made a list of ten iPad books apps based on classic children’s books. This list is not comprehensive. Help us expand it by adding your favorite kids book apps in the comments.

Writing Young-Adult Fiction: It's better than going to the prom. (Slate)
Young-adult books are being sold to an audience that can't vote, yet they're being written by people commonly referred to on the Internet as "the olds." We should know. We're two of them. Both of us have made our living writing. One of us in journalism (Grady) and the other in literary fiction (Katie). But then Katie's publisher pitched her on doing a Y.A. series, mostly because she's somewhat immature and teenager-ish anyway, so why not turn that weakness into a strength?

Come Meet the Author, but Open Your Wallet (NY Times)
Independent bookstores, squeezed by competition from Internet retailers like Amazon, have long done something their online brethren cannot emulate: author events. And now many bookstores say they have no choice but to capitalize on this grand tradition. They are charging admission.

 7 eBook Price Points Defended (GalleyCat)
How much should an eBook cost? To give publishers and authors some guidance, we’ve collected spirited defenses of seven different eBook prices–choose the price that works best for your writing. According to a new and unscientific poll, Nathan Bransford found that 51 percent of his readers thought eBooks should be priced between $5 and $9.99. What is your favorite price point?

Oxford English Dictionary Adds Auto-Complete, Brain Candy & Gender Reassignment (GalleyCat)
The Oxford English Dictionary has revealed 1,840 newly revised and updated words in its online edition.In all, the famous dictionary has added 98,000 revised and new entries since building an online edition in March 2000. The update added entries for everything from crystal methamphetamine to network neutrality.

Storyseller (NYT Mag)
Amanda Hocking, the star of self-publishing, was sitting in the front seat of her Ford Escape earlier this spring when she spotted a messenger delivering flowers to her home in Austin, Minn. She watched her best friend and roommate, Eric Goldman, get the door. “They’re probably from, like, my mom,” she said as she walked up to her porch. “Or my dad. He always sends flowers.” Inside, Goldman had set the assortment of gerbera daisies and roses on the coffee table. “Who are they from?” Hocking asked. “St. Martin’s Press,” Goldman said. “That’s your new publisher.” That morning, Hocking’s deal with St. Martin’s was announced: $2 million for her next four books, a series she’s calling “Watersong.”

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

This week's tidbits include news J.K.'s mysterious website, tips for staying offline, a YA author (and SCBWI success story) in Entertainment Weekly, James Joyce on Twitter, thoughts on Apple's cloud, advice for creating a good Twitter bio, 6th graders with iPads and more.


J.K. Rowling's latest trick: the mysterious website Pottermore (LA Times)
J.K. Rowling isn't writing another Harry Potter book--is she? The mysterious website Pottermore, launched Thursday, seems to bear her signature. And the words "Pottermore," "coming soon" and two owls. Wait -- owls are messengers from Hogwarts, aren't they?

The Games We (Don’t) Play: How Authors Stay Offline (ShelfTalker)
If you’re reading this, you’re online — and quite possibly procrastinating. No judgment here; I’m the Internet version of the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie mouse, roaming from one tidbit to the next, from email to Google Maps to Google Earth to some new article about a space discovery to an audio clip of sounds from the stratosphere to the new David Cook single to—whoops, have I said too much?
 
Why teen-suicide novel 'Thirteen Reasons Why' is saving lives: An interview with Jay Asher (EW's Shelf Life)

Jay Asher‘s YA novel Thirteen Reasons Why, which comes out in paperback tomorrow, has grown into a major phenomenon over the last four years. In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly we caught up with the author and got the story behind the book that some readers credit with changing—and even saving—their lives. You can read the story below.

James Joyce Fans Tweet Entire 700+ Page Ulysses For 24 Hours, 140 Characters At A Time (AllTwitter)
In perhaps one of the most ambitious literary projects Twitter has seen, 71 fans of the classic “Ulysses” are spending today tweeting out this 700+ page tome in an attempt to bridge old and new media and share this literary staple with the tweeting generation.

Reading in the Cloud (NYR Blog)
Last week, when Apple’s Steve Jobs took to the stage during the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference and grandly announced its new iCloud service, he was putting the Apple logo on something most internet users have relied on eclectically for years. Gmail, Dropbox, Netflix, Hotmail, Flickr, Box.net, and Spotify, to name a few popular services, all rely on cloud computing, where data—documents, music, photos, and movies—are stored on shared servers in large data centers, rather than on your puny, personal hard drive. The benefits of cloud computing are obvious: one is not limited by the size of that drive, nor restricted to viewing that material on a single device. Once it is in “the cloud,” the only thing standing between you and your stuff is a (fast) internet connection.

Private School in Massachusetts Issues iPads to its 6th Grade Students (eBookNewser)
The Cambridge Friends School in Massachusetts has given iPads to both its 6th grade teachers and each of its sixth-grade students. This is an expansion of the pilot program that the teachers, Sandra Rojas and Brooke Chandler, had been running since February.

3 Key Items You Can’t Afford To Leave Out Of Your Twitter Bio  (AllTwitter)
When people sign up for Twitter, the first thing on their mind is usually not their bio. They leave it blank, or hammer out a sentence or two about their love of their two dogs, and move on to the good stuff: tweeting, following, discovering what influence means, learning how to retweet. But if you leave your bio only half finished, you’re not optimizing your Twitter presence. Here are three things you can’t afford to leave out of your Twitter bio if you want to target the right audience, grow your follower count, and network with interesting people.

Best & Worst Book Trailers of the Year (GalleyCat)
A crew of book trailer fans gathered at the Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn last night for the second annual Moby Awards. This GalleyCat editor helped judge the annual prizes, celebrating the best and worst book trailers of the year. Follow this link to watch all the finalists. We’ve listed all the winners below…

In the News This Week

What's new? How about some news!

Starting today, I'm reviving my In the News This Week feature--so on Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I'll share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

This week's tidbits include the controversial Wall Street Journal piece on YA fiction and some reactions to it. Plus iPad algebra (which sounds so much better than Miss Dugle's class), more Borders closing news, advice for Twitter addicts, a Glee star-truned-YA-novelist, some Kindle news, and a fond farewell to the creator of Mad Libs.


Darkness Too Visible (WSJ)
Amy Freeman, a 46-year-old mother of three, stood recently in the young-adult section of her local Barnes & Noble, in Bethesda, Md., feeling thwarted and disheartened. She had popped into the bookstore to pick up a welcome-home gift for her 13-year-old, who had been away. Hundreds of lurid and dramatic covers stood on the racks before her, and there was, she felt, "nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff." She left the store empty-handed.

Young Adult Fiction Is Not All Doom and Gloom (ShelfTalker)
This weekend the Internet, specifically Twitter and Facebook, have been seriously abuzz about an article in the Wall Street Journal Saturday written by Meghan Cox Gurdon. In the article "Darkness Too Visible," the writer has focused on a few admittedly dark novels and classified the whole genre as bleak and fairly unredemptive. As a bookseller, I was struck immediately by the first two paragraphs:

Are Teen Novels Dark and Depraved—or Saving Lives? (PW)
It’s been an interesting week in the teen-lit world. On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal published a story that said modern YA novels were "rife with depravity" and "so dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things." The piece immediately set off an Internet frenzy. That night, 13 Little Blue Envelopes author Maureen Johnson started the #YAsaves hashtag with this tweet: "Did YA help you? Let the world know how! Tell your story with a #YAsaves tag. And copy the @wsj for good measure." Within hours, #YAsaves got 15,000 responses from regular readers and from such big-name writers as Judy Blume and Neil Gaiman. Bloggers—but also writers at major news outlets such as National Public Radio and New York magazine—weighed in. 

Leonard B. Stern, Creator of Mad Libs, Dies at 88 (NYT)
Leonard B. Stern, an Emmy-winning writer, producer and director for television whose frantic search for an adjective one day led him and a colleague to create Mad Libs, the game that asks players to fill in blanks with designated parts of speech to yield comically ________[adj.] stories, died on Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 88.
 
Suzanne Collins Becomes First Children’s Author To Sell 1 Million Kindle eBooks (GalleyCat)
Novelists Lee Child and Suzanne Collins joined the "Kindle Million Club" today, the fifth and sixth authors to sell more than one million eBooks through Amazon.

Citi Analyst: Kindle Will Be 10 Percent Of Amazon Sales In 2012 (TechCrunch)
As books goes digital, Amazon is managing the transition nicely with the Kindle. Amazon now sells more Kindle books than print books, and offers nearly a million ebook titles. In a research note that just went out this morning, citi analyst Mark Mahaney estimates that sales of Kindle devices and digital books will account for 10 percent of Amazon’s revenues in 2012.

New Jersey district plans iPad-only algebra course (eSchoolNews)
New Jersey’s Edison Township School District will be the first in the state to implement an entirely iPad-based Algebra 1 curriculum. The program will pilot the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Fuse: Algebra 1 application with 60 students this fall, said Richard O’Malley, Edison Township School District’s superintendent.

Borders May Close Up to 51 More Stores to Avoid Defaulting On Latest Loans (Lunch)
As potential bidders emerge for more than 200 of Borders' superstores in a deal the company hopes will close in the next two to four weeks, the retailer may need to close an additional 51 stores and liquidate assets to avoid defaulting on their debtor-in-possession loan in the meantime. According to a motion filed in court Thursday morning, the move may result in worse terms for creditors, since the closed stores would not be available for sale to a bidder--and at least some of them are stores that "buyers have indicated that they also wish to purchase." Though Borders hasn't underscored the human cost of their business failure in the past, now that it serves their ends they also declare the additional closings would result in "a significant loss of jobs."

Are You Addicted To Twitter? Here’s How To Fight It (AllTwitter) 
Shea wrote a fantastic piece about the five stages of "getting" Twitter last week, which included denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. But for some of us, there's another stage that hits us after we've accepted and finally "got" Twitter–obsession. 

Chris Colfer of 'Glee' gets a book deal. Fans get your jazz hands ready. (Shelf Life)
Gleeks, rejoice! Glee star Chris Colfer has just signed a two-book deal with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The first will be an adventure novel that draws elements from the very, very in-vogue world of classic fairy tales.

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

I took the day off that day after Thanksgiving (devoting the day to eating was pie), but I'm back this week with links to piece a piece on Black Friday book sales, a great PW roundup of YA publishers, the continuing Kindle vs. iPad popularity contest, the best agents on Twitter, some tips for self-editing, ABC plus ABA, an addictive blog on subway reading, and more.


Jeff Kinney and Rick Riordan Put the "Black" into Black Friday (PW)

Many independent booksellers contacted by PW earlier this week reported solid holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. While those figures include adult titles, especially memoirs—former president George W. Bush’s Decision Points, Keith Richards’s Life, and The Autobiography of Mark Twain—children’s books contributed to sales boosts. Two standouts, even at stores that don't typically boost a high percentage of children’s sales, were the fifth Wimpy Kid title and the first book in the new Heroes of Olympus series. At 40-year-old Breakwater Books in Guilford, Ct., where children’s comprise 30% of sales, the bestseller for the entire weekend came from the kids’ aisle: Peter Yarrow’s The Night Before Christmas, which features a musical recording by Peter, Paul, and Mary, and paintings by Eric Puybaret. And at BarnesandNoble.com, the perennial holiday favorite, The Elf on a Shelf by Carol V. Aebersold, held top positions in books for the gift set, with a light-skinned elf at #1 and a dark-skinned elf #10. 

Today's YA Scene: New Players, Innovative Directions, Fresh Voices (PW)

There is no shortage of media coverage about boom times in the young adult market. Looking beyond the houses responsible for many of the bold-faced headliners at the top of bestseller lists, one finds an enthusiastic group of publishers, some newcomers to YA, whose authors are making impressive contributions and helping to satiate the reading appetites of Twilight- and Hunger Games-frenzied fans.

From these publishers comes word of thriving YA programs, fueled by a bumper crop of talented new writers—many of whom are startlingly young—and a sizzling double-edged crossover market involving more adult authors penning YA novels and more adult readers buying YA fare. Editors claim they are not filling their lists with derivative stories (though vampires and dystopian landscapes are surely in evidence), but are signing up books in an increasingly diverse range of genres. Here's a look at some of these publishers' offerings and observations.

Small Press Spotlight: Purple House Press (Shelf Talker)

For some time now, I’ve meant to start a recurring feature highlighting some of our favorite small presses. We independent booksellers are always working to get the message out about the wonderful benefits we offer to readers; just as important is our support of smaller indie publishers, who likewise depend on us to recognize and value (and buy) the unique books they have to offer. In this economy especially, we need to put our money where our mouths are. Let’s hear it for small presses!

Kindles And iPads Are Most Popular eReaders: ChangeWave Research (eBookNewser)
Kindles and iPads are closely competing this holiday season. While more people currently own Kindles, iPads are growing in popularity, says a new consumer research study by ChangeWave Research.
In August, ChangeWave interview more than 2,800 consumers to inform the new report called “The Consumer Electronics Spending For the Holidays. The report found that 47 percent of eReader owners own a Kindle and 32% own an iPad. Interestingly, readers find the iPad more satisfying as an e-reader, with 75% of iPad owners saying that they are “very satisfied” with the tablet as an eReader, compared to 54% of Kindle owners reporting the same thing.

ABC Booksellers Overwhelmingly Approve Merger With ABA (PW)
By a vote of 105 to 23, members of the Association of Booksellers for Children have approved a merger with the American Booksellers Association. This marks the culmination of a process set in motion nearly two years ago when the ABC board, concerned about the organization’s long-term survival given that nearly two thirds of its budget is funded by publishers, initiated possible merger discussions with ABA.

Best Literary Agents on Twitter (GalleyCat)
Looking for an agent? To help aspiring writers, literary agents, and publishing professionals connect online, we are building a new directory of best literary agents on Twitter. At the eBook Summit on December 15th, we will have a special panel discussion about finding an agent in this new digital publishing landscape. Reading these agents every day will help you prepare as well. Add your favorite agent (or yourself) to the growing list below. Our feeble list IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE–yet. We will regularly update the directory, just like our other directories of publishing professionals on Twitter. This will a BIG directory, so please be patient as we update.

Flipping through e-readers, a skeptic becomes a believer (LA Times)
The last time I was stuck somewhere without a book to read was 1988. The place was Homa Bay, a village on the Kenyan shore of Lake Victoria that I wouldn't be leaving for five days at the minimum, with lots of downtime in store. After three days I'd finished both John Le Carre novels I'd brought with me. I was only saved from spending the endless hours watching scorpions skitter across the sand by the Gideons, whose geographic reach really is remarkable. After that experience, I never left home without a Dickens in my knapsack, on the principle that you can't get stuck anywhere on Earth long enough to get all the way to the end of "Little Dorrit."But that wouldn't be an issue for me today, because now I have my Kindle.

5 Tips for Productively Editing Your Writing (HuffPo)
I've got writing on the brain these days. I've recently joined a writing group and I'm about to turn back to my own manuscript in a few days. (Drumroll, please...) So I'm thinking again about the craft of writing. Not the initial creative burst that yields a blog post, an article or a novel, but that potentially stomach-churning, roll-up-your-sleeves and stare-the-beast-in-the-face process commonly known as editing. (I think Ernest Hemingway summed up the distinction between these two phases best when he said: "Write drunk. Edit sober.")

Book Spy Sees What You Read on the Subway (GalleyCat)
Ever feel like you’re being watched on public transportation? Maybe you’ve been spotted by The Book Spy. This anonymous New York City blogger explained in a post: “Every day, I spend nearly two hours in a dank, dark box hurtling through tunnels under the ground. It is my curse, but also my blessing. In the subway I’m exposed to a culture of readers unequaled elsewhere. They flip through magazines, shuffle through print-outs, and contort their newspapers into elaborate origami folds to keep the pages from encroaching upon their neighbors. Above all they read books. Books of every shape, size, genre, and format.”

In the News This WeeK

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

Among this week's news: two pieces in the Huffington Post offer (yet more) reactions to the NYT picture book piece; kids and screen time; National Book Award finalists (in case you missed it); a new Seuss manuscript and new book from Hilary Duff (did I just mention them both in the same sentence?); Facebook vs. Twitter for content creators, children's comics; iPad news, authors who wrote in their birthday suits; Grover spoofs the Old Spice Guy (video below); and more.


There's Good News and Good News about Picture Books (HuffPo)
The recent New York Times article, "Picture Books no Longer a Staple for Children" set off understandable ripples of concern, anger, worry, and dismay. But I have to say it didn't bother me because what I see in my little corner of the reading world has me certain that the picture book is alive and well. What I do see as changing is a broadening (not narrowing) of the age of the audience and a wonderful extending of the concept and form of the book itself.

Adults Take the Fun Out of Reading, Again (HuffPo)
The big story on The New York Times today is that parents are again urging children to ditch children's books. Sure, Where the Wild Things Are and Green Eggs and Ham may be beloved by generations of kids, but many parents are concerned that colorful pictures and imaginative stories aren't going to give their 5-year-old a leg-up on their SATs. According to the Times:

Screen Time May Consume Nearly 1/3 of Day for U.S. Kids (Yahoo)
Children and teens in the United States spend an average of seven hours a day using television, computers, phones and other electronic devices for entertainment, compared to an average of three hours a day watching TV in 1999, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).  Parents, physicians and educators need to understand the effects of this increasing exposure to media and educate youngsters about media use, the academy said in an updated AAP policy statement released online in advance of publication in the November print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Patti Smith, Peter Carey Among National Book Award Finalists (PW)
Today, writer Pat Conroy announced the finalists for the 2010 National Book Award from the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home in Savannah, Georgia. The finalists include rock legend and poet Patti Smith, whose memoir Just Kids (Ecco) is a nonfiction finalist, and Man Booker finalist Peter Carey, for his novel Parrot and Olivier in America (Knopf).

Dr. Seuss Manuscript Surfaces (GalleyCat)
Would you pay $1,000 for a handwritten Dr. Seuss book? That’s the current bid for a long lost Dr. Seuss manuscript up for auction at Nate D. Sanders. The collection is pictured above, via the auction site (click to enlarge).

Someone alert the Pulitzer board! Hilary Duff turns author as she debuts her new novel (Mail Online)

It's not enough to just be an actress these days... or a singer... or a fashion designer...or a model.... or a combination of all five as Hilary Duff is. Today's young stars seem to feel the need to try their hand at absolutely everything, especially crafting their words of wisdom into the novel form. 23-year-old Duff is the latest celebrity to join the ranks of author, with the release of her new book, Elixir.

Kids' Comics Everywhere at New York Comic Con (PW)

While sales of graphic novels are down, comics for children and teens seem to be a bright spot, and they were attracting plenty of attention at New York Comic Con last weekend.

Traditional children's publisher Archie Comics had some of the biggest news of the show with the announcement of a new line of Mega Man comics, based on the character from Capcom's video game. The comics will be written by Ian Flynn and drawn by Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante, who both currently work on Sonic the Hedgehog. The new series will debut in spring 2011.

Open Road Media in Deal with Albert Whitman; Adds More Mysteries (PW)
Children’s book publisher Albert Whitman & Co. has reached an agreement with Open Road Integrated Media to publish all 150 titles of Whitman’s Boxcar Children Mysteries series in e-book format. The first 19 e-titles in the series will be released in time for Christmas 2010. Originally written by Gertrude Chandler Warner, who wrote the first 19 books, the popular series has sold more than 50 million copies across the 150 titles.

Children’s Story Apps Dominate Top 10 Paid Apps (eBook Newser)
Oceanhouse Media’s The Berenstain Bears app tops the Top Paid apps in the book category this afternoon. Disney Publishing Worldwide’s Winnie the Pooh app follows this $2.99 children’s story app at No. 2.

Facebook Vs Twitter: Which Performs Better? (AllFacebook)
Which has more value to content producers – a tweet or a Facebook share? New data from SocialTwist throws up some interesting answers. The company’s Social Media Sharing Trends 2010 Report is based on the social media sharing analysis of millions of referral messages sent using the Tell-a-Friend widget from August 2009 to July 2010. It suggests that Facebook is the dominant social networking site for sharing links but Twitter might be better for click-throughs.

Apple’s iPad Is Coming To Walmart (eBook Newser)
Apple is gearing up to push iPads this holiday season by stocking up on the popular devices in big box retail stores. The iPad is going to go on sale at WalmartWalmart this season, and according to reports, it could be any day now.

20 Kid-Friendly YouTube Channels That Moms Need To Know (+ 5 Channels for Moms) (SocialTimes)
A lot of my mommy friends have expressed frustration that there are no good lists of kid-friendly YouTube channels and playlists out there, so here at Social Times we’ve decided to compile one. I’ve put together a list of 20 great YouTube channels and playlists for kids that moms will love, based on recommendations from friends as well as my own love for children’s television. Check out our 20 picks after the jump and stay tuned at the end for 5 fun YouTube channels geared towards moms as well!

Seven Authors Who Wrote While Nude  (GalleyCat)
Writers have always had interesting stories beyond the ones they put down to paper. Here’s the naked truth: Neatorama has outed seven well-known authors as nudist writers. The authors are Victor Hugo, Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, James Whitcomb Riley, Edmond Rostand, Benjamin Franklin, and Agatha Christie.

The Story Behind Sesame Street’s Viral Old Spice Spoof (Mashable)
Sesame Street’s spoof of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” commercials has reached 2.6 million views in just five days. Given the video’s rapid spread, we reached out to Miles Ludwig, vice president and executive producer of Digital Media at Sesame Workshop, to find out how the concept was hatched.

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

Among this week's news: New York Times on the suffering picture book; Open Road Media's new addition signal children's books ahead; Scholastic's reading report; reasons you may be losing Facebook friends; NYC is top Twitter city (I'm sure it's all the publishing tweeps); a new book featuring literary tattoos (guess who's got the Mad Hatter on her bum?); iPad and Facebook continue to take over the world; NYT's "spaghetti taco" expert (who's hungry?); bye to "Huge" (sad face!); and more.


Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children (NYT)
Picture books are so unpopular these days at the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline, Mass., that employees there are used to placing new copies on the shelves, watching them languish and then returning them to the publisher. The picture books section at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington. Even some best-selling authors feel the pinch. “So many of them just die a sad little death, and we never see them again,” said Terri Schmitz, the owner. The shop has plenty of company. The picture book, a mainstay of children’s literature with its lavish illustrations, cheerful colors and large print wrapped in a glossy jacket, has been fading. It is not going away—perennials like the Sendaks and Seusses still sell well—but publishers have scaled back the number of titles they have released in the last several years, and booksellers across the country say sales have been suffering.

Barbara Marcus Joins Open Road (PW)
Children's publishing industry veteran Barbara Marcus has joined Open Road Integrated Media as an adviser, and will help lead the company's entry into the children's market. She will also help further Open Road’s international business development and consult on general strategic issues. 

Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report: Next Chapter Of eBooks, Reading Roadblocks Vs. Potential Portals & More (Ypulse)
The other day in Essentials I pointed to a New York Times piece, reg. required, on the latest Kids & Family Reading Report out of Scholastic conducted by the Harrison Group among children ages 9 to 17 and their parents. Some of the big takeaways were enthusiasm from young readers towards adopting new digital platforms like eBooks (not at the sacrifice of traditional books!), concerns coming from parents around digital distraction (with some notable quotable exceptions: One father says, "The need to read and comprehend video game instructions seems to have helped my son’s reading ability..:") and, lastly, a persistent lack in information literacy when it came to "reading" the web.

5 Reasons You Got Unfriended On Facebook (And How To Prevent It From Happening Again) (All Facebook)
Have you been loosing sleep trying to figure out why you got unfriended on Facebook? I hope not! But if you have been unfriended recently, you might still be curious to know the reason behind this distasteful act. Lucky for you, a new study conducted by University of Colorado Denver researchers will help you make sure you will never be unfriended again! After surveying 1500 Facebook users on Twitter (loving the irony!), University of Colorado Denver Ph.D student Christopher Sibona found the following top reasons for Facebook unfriending:

iPad Adoption Rate Fastest Ever, Passing DVD Player (CNBC)
Apple’s iPad sold three million units in the first 80 days after its April release and its current sales rate is about 4.5 million units per quarter, according to Bernstein Research. This sales rate is blowing past the one million units the iPhone sold in its first quarter and the 350,000 units sold in the first year by the DVD player, the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product.

Google Editions Coming In 2011  Google Editions has surfaced in the press today. The long awaited Google book platform is getting some ink from the Frankfurt Book Fair, and is reportedly set to launch this year. It was supposed to be out this summer, so we’ll wait and see. The Bookseller has more: “Google Editions will be available on multiple devices, including the iPad, online via a Google ‘web reader’, but will not be available on Amazon’s Kindle device at launch.”
 
New York Is the Top Twitter City: You Got a Problem with That? (WebNewser)
Start Tweeting the news: According to the Social Business Report study from marketing database outfit NetProspex, New York is the top Twitter city—which NetProspex defines as cities with the most active businesspeople on the microblogging site, based on employee presence and average numbers of Tweets, followers, and profiles followed—reports Katie Kindelan from sister blog Social Times.

Lit-snobs, hot librarians, and the rise of the literary tattoo (Boston Phoenix)
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich was sitting down for a meal at Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, when she found herself under critique "I sat down in the cafeteria," the Jamaica Plain writer recalls. "One of the famous poets who was there to teach sat down next to me and read the first line of the Sexton poem off my arm, and he said, 'That's a terrible poem! That's not one of her good ones!' " The eminent bard—she wouldn't name names—found fault with Anne Sexton's "Curse Against Elegies." That poem, along with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Dirge Without Music," wash over each other to form the outline of an orchid on Marzano-Lesnevich's bicep. She didn't take offense at the poet's criticism. "I just let him talk," she says. "How often do you get to hear a famous poet rail against another famous poet?" At that same conference, the tattoo led to another, more fortuitous encounter. "Amy MacKinnon [the Boston-based author of the novel Tethered] saw my tattoo and said to me that a woman in her agent's agency was putting together a book of literary tattoos."

ABC Family Cancels Huge, Breaks Our Hearts (Fishbowl LA)

After only one short season of 10 episodes, the weight loss camp drama Huge has been canceled. The creators of the show, Winnie Holzman (who is also responsible for My-So-Called Life) and her daughter Savannah Dooley, told Entertainment Weekly:

'Glee' to help bullied gay teens (Toronto Sun) 

Glee creator Ryan Murphy is planning to devote an upcoming episode of the show to bullied gay teenagers following the recent suicides of tormented youths in America. The writer is hoping the hit show, which features a gay high school student played by Chris Colfer, will show fans struggling with their sexuality how to cope with any taunts aimed at them. 

How Facebook Can Become Bigger In Five Years Than Google Is Today (TechCrunch)
Remember three years ago, when Microsoft paid a quarter-billion dollars for 1.6% of Facebook and the exclusive right to run banner ads across Facebook.com? Tell the truth, how many of you thought that was a killer business decision? I can’t say I did at the time. But as that deal is about to expire in 2011, Facebook’s status as a revenue juggernaut is rarely questioned any more.

It's True: Spaghetti Tacos "Expert," Prof. Robert Thompson, Has Now Been Interviewed By 78 Different NYT Reporters.  (The NYTPicker)
In tomorrow's NYT, reporter Helene Stapinski performs what might appear to be a near-impossible feat of journalism dexterity--producing a college professor to support her thesis that more Americans now consume spaghetti tacos than ever before. "Spaghetti tacos has made it possible to eat spaghetti in your car," Robert J. Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, tells Stapinski. "It’s a very important technological development. You don’t even need a plate."

MeeGenius! Kicks off the Launch of Their Authoring Platform with a Contest

MeeGenius!, the children's book app for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and the Web, is celebrating the kick off of its authoring platform with a contest.

MeeGenius!, a bookstore and reading platform that offers enhanced picture books (including word highlighting, audio playback and auto-play), is looking for great children's book submissions and will award one grand prize winner an ebook publishing contract along with a top-of-the-line iPad (64GB + 3G). Four runners-up also win a contract along with an iPod Touch. Authors Laura Dave, Jane Green, and Allison Winn Scotch will serve as judges, along with MeeGenius founders Wandy Yeap Hoh and David Park.

Material submitted for the contest must be suitable for a 3- to 8-year-old audience and must include illustrations. The deadline is October 31st and winners will be awarded in January. After publication, author/illustrator will receive 30% of net revenues from the book's sale. MeeGenius! may also choose non-winners for publication (with the same revenue deal). Click here for complete contest rules.         
                     
"We have two main customers--Parents & Kids and Authors & Illustrators," says David Park. "With the April launch of our website, iPhone and iPad apps, we built something for Parents & Kids, now with the launch of the authoring platform we've built something for our other customer base--Authors & Illustrators. We thought what better way to celebrate the launch of the authoring platform than to have a book contest to find some new and wonderful children's books."

To find out more about MeeGenius! and their contest, check them out online:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Contest info 
• Author & Illustrator info
• App Store

In the News This Week

Fridays on the SCBWI blog, I share snippets of and links to some of the publishing/media-related news I've read during the last week that I found interesting, helpful, and/or fun. Click titles to get to the full articles.

Below you'll find a cool book deal by Carolrhoda Lab, top picture book agents, an essay defending grown-ups who read YA (whatev!), writers helping a financially strapped library in my home state, layoffs at Borders, Elizabeth Bluemle's updated list of star-reviewed titles (fall reading list, anyone?), speculation on THE HUNGER GAMES movie casting, an enhanced e-book from Knopf BFYR, query letter tips, and some Twitter news items worth tweeting about.

Lerner Lands Unconventional Book from Three YA Authors (PW)
YA readers will have an opportunity to learn how authors conceptualize and write fiction, from start to finish, when Lerner Publishing Group releases (in spring 2012) a collection of YA stories written by Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver and Linger), together with her colleagues Brenna Yovanoff (The Replacement, Razorbill, fall 2010) and Tessa Gratton (Blood Magic, Random House, summer 2011). The stories originally appeared on the three authors’ blog, Three Merry Sisters of Fate. The as-yet-untitled release, which will be published under the Carolrhoda Lab imprint, will also include private emails, tweets, and IMs among the three, discussing and critiquing each other’s work as they develop and revise their stories.

Top 20 Picture Book Agents in Publishers Marketplace (Suite101)
The world of children's literature is packed with promise and savvy literary agents, listed below are the top 20 dealmakers as of August 6, 2010.

Twitter Moves to Make it Easier to Tweet (WJS Digits)
Twitter borrowed a page from Facebook Thursday, announcing a plan to begin offering online publishers the chance to embed a “tweet” button on their sites. The goal is to make it easier for users of Twitter to share content–or tweet, in Twitter-speak. More than 30 large sites including CNN.com, HuffingtonPost.com, and YouTube, the video website, today will begin making the tweet button available to users, Twitter announced.

The Stars So Far 2010—Updated 8/12/10 (Shelf Talker)
It’s time for another update of the starred reviews from Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, the Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates). Starred reviews are excellent guideposts, but they don’t tell the whole story, of course. There are amazing books out there that never receive a starred review but are popular and/or critical favorites nonetheless.

Writers Help Struggling Ohio Library (PW)
Newcomerstown Public Library in Newcomerstown, Ohio, has been struggling to remain open in its small community due to state budget cuts. The library formed a fundraising committee last fall and has been working hard to raise funds so that it may continue operating.

Borders Group lays off more employees at Ann Arbor headquarters (AnnArbor.com)
Borders Group Inc., which is battling a continuous revenue slide and massive industry changes, laid off more employees at its Ann Arbor headquarters this morning, a spokeswoman confirmed. The job cuts come as the book store chain is placing a heavy emphasis on its new electronic books strategy in the midst of major structural challenges to its core business model.

The Kids’ Books Are All Right (NY Times)
While au fait literary types around town await the buzzed-about new novels from Jonathan Franzen and Nicole Krauss, other former English majors have spent the summer trying to get hold of “Mockingjay,” the third book in Suzanne Collins’s dystopian trilogy, so intensely under wraps that not even reviewers have been allowed a glimpse before its airtight Aug. 24 release. What fate will befall our heroine, Katniss Everdeen? My fellow book club members and I are desperate to know. When will the Capitol fall? And how can Collins possibly top the first two installments, “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire”? Oh, did I mention? “Mockingjay” is for teenagers. I am well into my 30s.

FishbowlNY Talks To Marie Claire About Its Interactive September Issue (FishbowlNY)
It seems that many publications are touting the interactive features made possible with iPad or smartphone applications, but Marie Claire has found a way to make browsing through a print magazine a more interactive experience for its readers. We spoke with the magazine's publisher, Nancy Berger Cardone, about how Marie Claire's September issue, with a little help from image recognition technology expert Pongr, is helping readers shop instantly for items found among its pages.

3 Key Elements of a Great Query Letter (HuffPo)
Yes, the concept of writing a query letter can be an intimidating process. The fact that it should only be one page in length makes the need for potency even more relevant. It is the proposal for your proposal and it's just as important. You have to be able to convince agents why you and why your book.

RH Children's Does First Enhanced E-book (PW)
Knopf Books for Young Readers is publishing its first enhanced e-book, a tie-in edition of Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. The publication marks the first foray any Random House imprint has made in publishing an enhanced e-book for the children's market. The e-book went on sale August 10 for $14.99, leading up to the August 27 release of the film, which is directed by Rob Reiner.

iStoryTime Launches Story App For Deaf Children (eBook Newser)
Digital publisher iStoryTime, a publisher of children's storybooks for the iPhone and iPad, has launched a new app for deaf children. Their first app designed for the hearing impaired, the app is a hear impaired version of Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy includes a sign-language interpretation.

Casting Future Movie Franchises: Who Will Star in The Hunger Games? (New York Magazine)
The next win-a-franchise battle—this one called the “Who gets to be Katniss Everdeen?” contest—is scheduled to begin on August 24, with the release of Mockingjay, the third installment in Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy, a series of adult-loved YA books that will be adapted into movies, and that you will only be hearing more about.

Women in Publishing Twitter Directory (GalleyCat)
Today Dear Author co-founder Jane Litte created a big stir in the publishing Twitter-sphere, celebrating her favorite Women in Publishing. Her post generated a massive response from readers around the globe, all archived at the hashtag, #womeninpublishing.