SCBWI Conference

On Saturday, I attended a one-day SCBWI {Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators} conference here in town. About 130 people attended, writers and illustrators. The food was hideous, actually worse than hideous, but it is what it is. It made me appreciate all the more the many conferences put on by RWI and the numerous RWA conferences I attended in years past. Yes, having coffee and tea available for X number of hours costs money, but sometimes it's money well served!

And for those who do wonder where their entry fees go--flying the various editors/agents into town, paying for their rooms, paying for their food, and sometimes paying them for their time. It pays for the conference room, the art illustrator room, the tables, the microphone system (yes, each mic has an additional fee), and the video system. The professionally presented folders given to each attendee, the paper fliers inside the folders, the name tags {though I did think it a little crass to request the plastic name tag holders to be returned. Yes, I know they cost, but really?}

And, of course, the food . . . which ran out. I happened to be table 11 out of 13 tables and by the time I went to get my food, there wasn't much left . . . except onions. Who in their right mind would have a bushel of sliced purple onions for a bunch of women to put on their ham/turkey/ beef sandwiches?? Okay, there were men there, too, but would you eat onions if you wanted to talk to an editor? More tomatoes, please.

Onward to the presentations:

There was one art director who went over the process of matching illustrator to author, and how they design the roughs into finished product. I've seen this presentation before, but it still brings the point home about how the text is only 50% or less of most picture books. Prior to this conference, I had the revelation about picture books . . . they are similar to screenplays--very pared down to allow for illustrator interpretation.

Then there was an editor who specialized in early readers: 5000 words and about 80-90 pages. Think Magic Treehouse books. There are illustrations, but it isn't so picture heavy as picture books. They are used more to break up the text and help the reader enhance the story.
One major thing I took away from her talk was to keep the early chapters shorter. At the early reader age, kids are very proud to say, "I read a chapter!" I remember this when my daughter was first reading. Yes, dear, you read a chapter . . . it was only a page and a half, but it was a chapter!  Once the reader is intrigued and invested in the stories, the chapters can become longer.

Another editor from a different house talked about action, action, ACTION! Unless you've been living under a log, you would realize that everything in today's world is instantaneous. Video games are action packed . . . and if books aren't action-heavy then you've lost your reader even before you start! This is a tough age to write for--early middle grade.

And the last speaker was an agent, who talked about reasons for rejections. Like we need to hear that, right? Well, this was a little different take on the topic. The reasons an AGENTED story is rejected by an editor. This agent shared intensely detailed reasons for picture book rejections. It really gave the audience some valuable insight as to the depth an editor views the story.

There it is in a nutshell.

Later, Peeps! I have a picture book to finish!

Synopses

Awhile back I commented that every author should have a couple of different lengths of synopses for each of their novels, along with a good query letter.

I have an excellent query letter (after numerous ass-whoopin's from my buddy Jody-check out her blog, she's got snark down to an art!), which could also be a 'mini-synopsis' except it doesn't give away the ending. I honestly think this is my best query letter. Trust me, I've had enough stinkers to finally recognize a 'good' one.
--One, Jody had read MOGG (short for MISSING: One Garden Gnome, don'cha know) and knew the story.
--Two, she kept pushing me to try harder, to use better descriptors, etc., and did an incredible job making my query better without trying to rewrite MY query (VERY difficult to do, but she's the best!)
--Three, I'm sure there's a three, but it's early and I'm drawing a blank.

Anyhoo, so far I have 20 basic queries floating around--I've recieved two rejections, and one partial request (YAY! query works!). And I still have about 15 more agents I want to query, but they all want some form of synopsis along with the query, and/or pages. Every agent is different. At this point in the relationship (i.e. there IS NO relationship) the author must play by the agent's rules.

This is where the synopsis part comes in. This particular requesting agent wants a two page synopsis.

Uh, I only have a five page synopsis. This is the very resion why I suggested having a long (5-10 pgs) and short (2-3 pgs) synopsis plus a one page single-spaced synopsis. It's a good way to cover all the bases since no agent is alike in there preferences.

So I wrote my two page synopsis this last weekend between running errands, laundry, cleaning house, and swimming and relaxing with the family.
BUT the partial (synopsis and pages) will be waiting for the agent when she opens her computer today.

Write on!

Queryland. . . again

I've been angsting over my children's story, so I decided to start pimping my picture book/easy reader, Peter's Messy Room. I'd tweaked, edited, reworked it so I would have the appropriate number of pictures with pages, cut my word count, etc. It was time to let go.

Two days ago I started researching literary agents specializing in children's books. My primary site is Agent Query. And from there I investigate the agency website, decide which agent to target within the larger agencies and verify their status with Preditors and Editors. Even with all my careful preparation one of my queries was sent to an agent no longer at the agency. This agent's name is still plastered all over the agency's website. I did my research, so why can't agencies keep their website updated?

Yesterday, I submitted to 19 agencies electronically. I personalized each salutation, verified each agent, and most of them wanted to have picture book text pasted into the email. Awesome, not a problem. I had to remove two agents from the pile because they only represent middle-grade and above stories, NOT picture books. Okay, I'll save them for my Missing Gnome story. Speaking of that, I need to get my butt in gear and finish the silly thing. I'm 1/4 of the way through, so I need to keep on writing.

So far, I have had (updated) five rejections on PMR. I'd rather have quick rejections than wait for the 'no response from us means no' mindset. THAT drives me crazy! How hard is it to click reply and say "no thanks"??? But this topic is definitely a whole other blog. And many fine agents have addressed this issue on their blogs within the last month. One of the queries I sent happened to be to an agent that I sent this query to in Jan---uh, OOPS! I didn't think I sent PMR to anyone. Guess I should have checked my list a little better, huh? This was one of those agents who don't respond unless interested, which fits my point--how do I even KNOW she got the first email? :-) I think I'll chock that one up as a no request.

Today, I'll be snail mail querying. I have seven agents who still require writers to kill trees. Personalizing these letters, addressing envelopes, and making certain I have stamped SASE's takes a little more time, but I should have it finished in an hour or so. And once they are out the door, I can forget about PMR. I have a list of things I need to do: finish my @#%@#$%@# faerie story, write on my middle grade story, and fill out a character profiling chart on my urban fantasy heroine that I'd like to make into a series of seven books.

What are my odds of gaining the interest of an agent?

Slim to none. I don't have unrealistic hopes. I've been in this writing biz long enough to know the odds are not in my favor. I really, really like this story, BUT I honestly don't think it is 'different enough' for the current market. When I attended a SCBWI conference last month, Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press had some depressing statistics. Last year Tricycle had over 7000 slush pile submissions, of that number they published 3, only 0.0004% of those submissions were published.

Yeah, those aren't very good odds. But writers do what they have to do--they write.

Write on!