SCBWI Book Blast Is Open To The Public!

#SCBWIBookBlast is live for the next six weeks!

The link: http://www.scbwi.org/bookblast/

The scoop: Explore new books from independent & traditionally published writers & illustrators with #SCBWIBookBlast

What's extra cool: Visitor incentives! For this week of October 10, post pictures of your favorite Book Blast picture book page on Twitter for a chance to win a $100 gift card, and SCBWI will match that with a donation to We Need Diverse Books!

Have SCBWI friends with books out in 2016? Drop by their book pages and sign their guestbook with a note of encouragement. And hey, you can buy copies, too...

Explore, and help us all spread the word about #SCBWIBookBlast!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Hugh Howey's empassioned argument for Amazon and self-publishing

In this Digital Book World interview by Daniel Berkowitz, successful self-published author Hugh Howey makes some fascinating points talking up the pros of self-publishing, like

"There’s a good route here for a livable wage if you can write entertaining stories and really pour energy into doing it right." 

and the cons of traditional publishing, like

"Publishers need to rebrand from the ground up. Get rid of ancient imprints that readers don’t care about. Stop paying seven- and eight-figure advances to people who are already millionaires, and instead pay more up-and-coming authors a livable wage."

Here's a highlight of their exchange:

Daniel: There’s some talk lately about Amazon being a monopoly or monopsony and the negative effects its share of the market has on the flourishing of literature. In your opinion, how worried should we be?

Hugh: I think the motives here are no secret, and they have historical precedent. When those who can’t compete on the open market realize this, they appeal to the public for sympathy and to the courts for protection. There are two very strident campaigns going on here, and both are ethically bankrupt.

Amazon has vastly increased the access to books. They have also vastly increased every author’s access to the market. They are lowering prices for consumers and increasing pay to producers. They are able to do this by operating very efficiently and by pouring all their earnings back into their business divisions.

What’s really Orwellian about these monopoly complaints isn’t just that Amazon is doing the opposite of what they’re being accused of; it’s that major publishers are the ones who have enjoyed a collaborative monopoly for many years and have used the lack of competition to calcify the reading experience, overcharge for their wares and underpay for work.

For a very long time, most aspiring writers had no hope of expressing themselves and having access to consumers. Amazon almost single handedly changed that. For an equally long time, many lower income and small-town readers have not had access to enough affordable books. Amazon almost single-handedly changed that.

Even better, Amazon is now hurting the big-box brick and mortar stores that decimated indie bookshops. Indie bookstores are making a comeback, and it’s largely because Amazon cleared out the wolves that were winnowing their kind. Those bookstores offer a shopping experience Amazon.com can’t emulate, so the two can exist in harmony. But there’s no doubting the positive effect Amazon has had on their numbers. Shoppers are showing they will support both.

So Amazon has been great for readers, writers and small bookstores. That leaves noncompetitive middlemen and the authors who were enriched by their system to complain. To be simultaneously pro-books and anti-Amazon requires some truly impressive mental gymnastics from anyone else.

It's a thought-provoking interview and well worth reading.

Illustrate and Write On, 
Lee

SCBWI's Newest Award Is For Independently Published Writers and Illustrators

The SPARK Award is a new annual award that will recognize "excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route."

One winner and one honor book will be chosen by a panel of industry professionals and will focus on quality of writing and concept, quality of illustrations (if applicable), professional presentation, and editing and design.

As the publishing industry evolves into the future, Lin and Steve believe that

"...it is time that SCBWI recognize that there are new models for publishing. The Spark Award is one way we can reward those authors and illustrators who are pursuing independent and self-publishing in a legitimate and high quality way." 

The prize is pretty sweet...

"The winner will receive a Spark seal to display on their book, a commemorative plaque, have their book featured in the SCBWI online bookstore and marketed on SCBWI social networking sites, and receive the opportunity to sell their book at the SCBWI Summer or Winter Conference in Los Angeles or New York."

For more details on the new SPARK Award, go here.

And make sure to check out all the amazing awards and grants SCBWI offers its members!

Illustrate and Write On (and apply for some of these amazing awards and grants!), 
Lee