News and Information about me
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News:
June 27, 2009: I've made a number of updates over the past couple of months, but haven't listed them here. Here they are:
- A number of new items on the Who's Moving Where page.
- I've thoroughly updated my comments on Children's Books and the Economy, and added links to the accompanying Resources page.
- I've added a list of Canadian style guides to the Canadian Children's Book Publishing page, courtesy of Bev Cooke.
- I've joined the American Bookseller's Association's new IndieBound program, and put up links to it around the site--you'll find more information on the Bookstores page.
April 19, 2009: And now the Coretta Scott King, Lifetime Achievement, Pura Belpré, and Scott O'Dell Award pages are done.
April 15, 2009: I have now updated the page with the Caldecott Medal and Honor Books.
April 9, 2009: I have started to update the pages listing children's book awards with 2009 winners, starting with the Newbery Medal.
March 31, 2009: I'm catching up after a move to a new apartment in February. Lots of updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
I also was interviewed for my thoughts on ebooks (part of a larger piece on Technology and Reading--follow the links in the interview), and my thoughts on marketing. I'll link to these from my Interviews page too.
And my class with Eileen Robinson, in which students revise a manuscript while working with us, has a new web site: Kid's Book Revisions, which provides information about our next class, starting at the end of April.
January 14, 2009: The holidays as usual were a busy time. Over the past several weeks I have been keeping the Who's Moving Where page up-to-date, but haven't had time for much else.
Now I have posted my thoughts on Working in Children's Books and the Recession of 2008-2009. It needs a little polishing but it's ready enough to be read, and I'll revise as comments come in, and events occur that need to be included.
The ALA will soon be announcing a number of awards at their Winter Conference; as usual, I will be updating my children's book awards section shortly after that, but it may take me a while. Check the main awards page to see what's been updated.
On a more mundane note, I've caught up with my reports on the income for the site for 2007 and 2008. Nothing exciting but if the site continues to bring in income I can put my time into it.
And on a practical note, Bookcloseouts is having a Dollar-for-Dollar sale--buy a certain dollar value of books, choose more books up to that value from a special section.
November 23, 2008: I hope that this hasn't affected any of you, but The Purple Crayon was recently "hacked." Someone inserted a small file that diverted visitors coming in from the major search engines to a bogus anti-virus site that planted a destructive program on the computers of anyone who allowed them to download and install their program. If you are a regular, this probably didn't affect you, because if you came to the site via a link or a bookmark, everything would seem fine. The "hack" operated from sometime early in the morning of the 15th until the early afternoon of the 19th. If you think you were affected, please let me know.
Otherwise, just see some updates to the Who's Moving Where page, and explore the links on this page, where I have listed articles that provide information about the state of children's publishing in 2008.
The National Book Award winners have been announced, and I've added the Young People's winner here.
As the holidays approach, you might want to use the code in the Bookcloseouts box to the right, which gets you free shipping on orders of $35 or more.
And see the updates to my Conferences page. You will see that I will be on the faculty at Chautauqua in July, which I am very excited about.
October 19, 2008: The big news is that I've written a review of Minders of Make-Believe by Leonard Marcus, a fascinating history of American children's publishing. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about our business.
I've also added some updates to the Who's Moving Where page, and tidied up my old piece Trends in Children's Books, which is now an archived look at some of what was happening in children's publishing in the 1990's.
And I've modified my Conferences page to now cover classes also; I will be teaching with Eileen Robinson in her "Mid-Winter Revision Bootcamp" from January 16 to March 14. Please visit her site, F1rst Pages, for more information.
September 25, 2008: This is more of an update than something new--I've put up my review of the latest edition of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market. I've also updated the books listed on my Resources Listing Literary Agents and Artist's Representatives page by adding 2009 editions--some of which are not available yet, but can be pre-ordered.
September 19, 2008: Summer was busy, and it's been a while since I've made any noteworthy changes or additions to the site. Now I'm back at work. See many updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
Anne Sibley O'Brien's Getting Real takes a look at some common weaknesses in their work that illustrators need to watch for--or get others to watch for.
One reason I have not been working on the site is that I have been reading Minders of Make-Believe by Leonard Marcus. It's a wonderfully readable history of the American children's book publishing industry, with a focus on both the big changes over time and the stories of individual editors and publishing companies. I will be reviewing it, but I can say already that I recommend it.
July 16, 2008: I have posted a blog entry made up of Manuscript Submissions Questions and Answers, and updated my Who's Moving Where page. Margot Finke's "Musings" column is on hiatus for the summer.
June 28, 2008: Eileen Robinson and I will be running an August Online Class to help you get a manuscript ready for submission. Beginning at the end of July and running into September, we will give participants multiple rounds of feedback on drafts of the opening chapters of your manuscript. We will also hold online discussions. Please go to Eileen's F1rstpages site and click on "August Online Class" for more details.
June 10, 2008: I have written a review of The New Writer's Handbook by Philip Martin. This is an interesting collection of practical and philosophical articles for writers, not specifically focused on children's books, but well worth browsing.
I have also posted Margot Finke's latest "Musings" column, on Voice, Focus, and POV, and reorganized the Musings index into subject areas to make particular topics easier to find.
May 29, 2008: I've posted a review of Anastasia Suen's Picture Writing, and updated the Who's Moving Where page.
I recently took part in a chat/interview on the Institute for Children's Literature's website: you can now see the complete transcript, in which I discuss my work, the new edition of the book, and The Purple Crayon, and then go on to answer a variety of questions.
I did a series of half-hour audio interviews recently. Here is the first interview, in which I mostly talk about the new edition of the Idiot's Guide. In the second interview, I talk about what I do as an editorial consultant, and in the third and fourth I go on to talk about the current state of the business and address some common questions. You can find links to the other three interviews on the Book Bites for Kids home page. There is some advertising, unfortunately, before the interviews start.
May 8, 2008: I've posted Margot Finke's latest "Musings," called Blog Mania – Can It Help You?. Find out what a blog can do for you, and how to get the most out of having one.
And a link--if you are curious about what kids are reading in school, have a look at this report: What Kids Are Reading, published by the company that does the Accelerated Reader program (so it has limits).
May 6, 2008: The third edition of my Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books is now available. Click through to the CI Guide home page for more information.
April 24, 2008: I've completed my most substantial addition to the site since last year's Acquisition Process piece: an expansion and reorganization of the information I have about agents and how to find them. I split off a separate resources page from the Guide to Agents I've long had on the site--the new page is Resources Listing Agents and Artist's Reps. As a supplement to Finding and Choosing Literary Agents, I've created three Case Studies: Firebrand Literary; Writers House; and An Agency to Avoid. My hope is that these will help visitors to learn how to tell a good agency's website from a shady agency's website (Note: I have had a case study of the Firebrand site up for some time, but this case study replaces that and has a different focus)
So, in six pages, I have what I think is a very compact and useful guide to the world of children's book agents and artist's reps.
April 9, 2008: There are some recent updates on the Who's Moving Where page. I have also posted Margot Finke's latest column, in which she answers an important question: Writing Conferences--Are They Worth the Time and Money?
I have also finished work on a new book review, of Gail Carson Levine's Writing Magic. Though aimed at children learning to write fiction, it may interest some adults as well.
March 19, 2008: Coming soon! The third edition of my Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books will be available the first week of May. It's already available on Amazon for pre-order, so I thought I'd better get some information up about it. Accordingly, the page with information about my book has links to:
- An updated FAQ
- Reviews and endorsements
- Chapter 3, a basic introduction to the world of children's literature
- Chapter 17, "I Need an Agent!"
- And more by the publication date
Last week I went up to Bank Street College for the annual Children's Book Committee awards, and I have written up a blog entry about it.
Last and least, I want to mention that BookCloseouts is having a sale on Tokyopop manga. If you're a manga fan, this is an opportunity to add to your collection. If you're curious, this is a chance to get a few inexpensive samples to look over.
March 9, 2008: I've added Margot Finke's latest column, Fighting to Write, on making time for writing, and using it.
I've also finished updating the Children's Book Awards section with 2008 winners.
February 18, 2008: I've updated the Who's Moving Where page recently.
I've also added a blog entry, Notes on a Visit to BookExpo America--several months after the fact, but perhaps timely if you're considering attending the next BEA.
Margot Finke's latest Musings column is called Picture Book Secrets and includes a number of useful tips on writing picture books.
If you are considering self-publishing, or know someone who is, then Bev Cooke's If You Are Considering Self-Publishing may be a useful reality check.
Finally, because I am going to several conferences in the coming year, I've created a page with my conference schedule. You'll find a permanent link to it on the home page in the "Back Matter" section.
January 15, 2008: I haven't updated this page in some time, but I did post Margot Finke's What Do Editors Really Want? in December.
More recently, I updated the Who's Moving Where page with several items.
I was in Philadelphia for the 2008 ALA Midwinter Conference, although I headed for home before yesterday's announcements of the Newbery, Caldecott, and other award-winners. I've already updated the Newbery and Caldecott pages on my site, and will update the pages for the other awards I follow soon.
November 16, 2007: I've updated the Children's Book Awards section of the site with the Scott O'Dell and National Book Award winners, and also posted news of Egmont USA, a new children's subsidiary of Egmont, a large European publisher.
November 11, 2007: I have posted Margot Finke's latest column, in which she looks at the character-driven versus plot-driven approaches to writing novels, and concludes that one might as well combine them.
I've also put up some comments on the recent Jessica Seinfeld cookbook uproar--in which it was alleged that she had stolen the idea and perhaps some of the recipes for her book from someone else's--as an entry in my blog, after someone asked me for my take on the situation. Not children's books, but a publishing issue, so I found it interesting.
And I've updated the report I post on the site's earnings for the third quarter. Take a look to see how The Purple Crayon is doing, and don't forget to make use of the Bookstores page to help support the site.
October 23, 2007: I had to spend some time on the author review files for the next edition of my book, but that had a beneficial side-effect--I produced some new pieces connected to the book. They supplement material in it, but also stand alone. One is An Interview with Joi Nobisso: Self-Publisher or Small Press?, which looks at the experiences of Joi with Gingerbread House, the company she originally started to bring three of her books back into print. Then there is another interview, with Lucas Miller, called Smart Self-Publishing: Tie It to What You Already Do, in which he talks about his experiences with self-publishing a book he can promote through his school performances as a musician and songwriter. I also updated the books and other resources listed in the Resource Guide from my book. And I posted a list of Writing Guides, which I compiled while working on a new chapter.
Meanwhile, I've also posted a new column by Margot Finke, on Writing a Middle-Grade Masterpiece, and added several items to the Who's Moving Where page.
September 11, 2007: I've written a review of the 2008 edition of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, which includes a look at just how many entries are revised in a given year (based on a sample, not an analysis of the entire book!). Some snippets from reviews of previous years now appear in Past Editions of CWIM, so you can see when a new feature appeared or a particular article was published.
I've also posted Margot Finke's latest Musings, on the always hot topic To Use an Agent or Not to Use an Agent. Margot offers strong opinions, sage advice, and links to useful resources.
There's news from Holiday House on the Who's Moving Where page.
And the review of CWIM made me realize that I hadn't updated the listings of agent and general market guides that appear in my article on agents, so I've done that too--2008 editions are now available for many guides, or can be pre-ordered.
August 29, 2007: I'll be doing a workshop at a conference in Kansas City at the end of October. The link will take you to more information and registration info.
As it turns out, everyone is not at the beach, so please see the Who's Moving Where page for news about Rising Moon and HarperFestival.
I've also posted a piece on Manuscript Format Basics, which simply covers the basics for setting up a manuscript for submission. I've made sure to cover common questions I receive: if you think I've left out something both important and basic, please let me know. This page will evolve over time.
August 27, 2007: Well, I'm finished with the revisions to my Idiot's Guide, at least until I have to review the edited files. But that shouldn't be quite as demanding as what I've been doing for the past couple of months--writing two new chapters, revising several chapters substantially, adding new sections, and tweaking and updating throughout. There will be some new pages on the site that came out my revising, but not right away.
For now, I've just posted Margot Finke's latest Musings, on Professional Critiques a useful guide to finding the right critiquer and what to expect from them.
I hope I'll be catching up with my backlog in coming weeks, so do check back.
July 29, 2007: I've been working on a revision of my Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books and haven't had time for the site, but I've finally been able to do some updating. There are several new items on the Who's Moving Where page, including news of a big industry merger. Margot Finke's latest Musings are on the dangers of drawing on personal experiences for fiction.
I've also posted an updated report on the finances of the site, covering the 2nd quarter of 2007.
June 7, 2007: Margot Finke has compiled some tips on writing picture books in her latest Musings column, Picture Book Perfect.
I've come across a new (to me, anyway) blog by writer Cynthea Liu, with a lot of useful articles. One in particular, on writing a synopsis, caught my eye, as I didn't have any information on the site about this. She's allowed me to post a copy. Check it out, and be sure to follow the link to see her site.
I've made some additions to The Acquisition Process, in response to suggestions I got from readers. Be sure to check it out if you haven't yet, and take a look at the sample acquisition proposal I created.
Last, Bookcloseouts has announced a June Sale, with lots of very inexpensive new books, so if you're looking for summer reading material or want to stock up on books for a classroom or library, take a look.
May 29, 2007: I'm very proud to have completed what I feel is a substantial new resource: my article on The Acquisition Process. This subject isn't talked about much, and yet is central to publishing. I've tried to provide a general guide to the process, which of course varies considerably from publisher to publisher. Please let me know if anything needs to be added or explained further.
Cynthia Leitich Smith has published an interview with me on her blog, Cynsations. Even if you're a regular here, I hope you'll pick up some new information.
And please be sure to see the Who's Moving Where page for the latest news.
May 6, 2007: Margot Finke's latest Musings is up, with tips for nipping procrastination in the bud. I meant to have it up at the beginning of the month, but, well, things just kept coming up....
I've also posted a report on The Purple Crayon's finances for the first quarter of 2007, which are much the same as last year. Please remember to use the links on the Bookstores page for your online shopping, particularly the ones to Bookcloseouts.com (like the one above)--good bargains for summer reading, a classroom library, or a reading group, and they pay good commissions to The Purple Crayon.
And finally, a note to visitors from the UK and Europe generally. The Purple Crayon is now associated with Amazon UK. For now, there's only a link on the Bookstores page, and links on some of my book reviews. If people use them, I'll put more up.
May 1, 2007: My big project over the last few weeks has been redesigning the pages that list the various subcategories of articles. They now have a more useful and complete set of links on the side, and a space I can use for advertising; check out any of the pages linked to from the Articles page to see an example.
I've also written a couple of pieces for my blog, one on the question of whether cover letters are necessary, the other with some observations I made during the recent SCBW-I Portfolio Review day in New York.
And as always, there are updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
April 7, 2007: Margot Finke's latest Musings column is a useful introduction to school visits, School Visits Can Be Fun and Profitable.
March 15, 2007: I've been doing work on the site over the past few weeks, and thought I'd better stop and make note of what's new and updated.
You may have already noticed the revised Purple Crayon home page, featuring less purple. I hope it's easier to read and tidier looking. I plan to redesign other parts of the site in the coming months.
I'm also moving into a new approach with the Purple Crayon Blog. When a topic needs a longer treatment, I will be writing up a full-length article on it, rather than making it one of a few items in a blog entry. The first subject to get this treatment is Editors' Names on Manuscript Submissions. I may also continue to do some of the standard blog entries, but we'll see what develops.
Margot Finke wrote a two-part article on Query Letters as her March "Musings" column. Be sure to read both parts--the second part has the complete text of three successful query letters.
I've also finished updating all the pages in the Children's Book Awards section with 2007 winners. Still looking for interesting articles and related resources to link to, so if you know of any, please let me know.
And of course, there are a few updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
February 7, 2007: I have started updating the pages in what has now become a Children's Book Awards section. So far, I've done the Caldecott page, the Newbery page, the Coretta Scott King page, and the Lifetime Achievement Awards page. I am adding resources such as interviews with award winners, or commentary about the awards, as well as listing the winners.
Margot Finke's latest "Musings" discusses Ten Common Problems she sees in people's manuscripts when she does critiques.
I have also posted a report on The Purple Crayon's income for 2006. I'm pleased to report that it's become essentially a part-time job for me, and that has made me feel more comfortable with spending time working on the site. See the report for plans for the coming year.
January 22, 2007: The announcement of the Newbery, Caldecott, and other awards today has spurred me to finish a long-lasting project--dividing up the Children's Book Awards page, which had become very large, and making separate pages for different awards. Start on the main awards page and you'll be able to click through to the other pages and see what I've done. I've started putting up the newly announced awards and will make other improvements. But the framework is there.
There's also some news on the Who's Moving Where page, notably the departure of Elizabeth Law from Simon and Schuster.
January 7, 2007: Happy New Year! A busy time of the year for me, but I'm making sure that I keep up with the site. I've added Margot Finke's January "Musings": Rejection Letters: Can You Change Them Into Acceptances?.
And there is a new Purple Crayon Blog entry, with three Q&A's that started as simple questions and got more interesting in a follow-up, plus a link to a substantial article about trends by the CCBC.
Also, I want to let people know that I will not be posting the Caldecott, Newbery and other ALA awards winners on my Children's Book Awards page on the day they are announced at the upcoming ALA convention, as I have in previous years. I'm too busy, and there are more options for finding out about the awards for those who want to, in any case. I plan to reorganize that page to create separate pages for the different awards but I'm not sure when I'll get to that....
Older news: This goes all the way back to 1996, if you're interested.
About me and the work I
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