News and Information about me
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News:
February 8, 2010: I've added more news to the Who's Moving Where page, and started to update my Links pages, beginning with the Children's Books one. I'm not done with that one. It has many old links, and I'm happy to get suggestions for new ones.
One last reminder: Eileen Robinson and I are taking registrations for the February-May Kid's Book Revisions class.
January 30, 2010: I have finished updating the Children's Book Awards section; 2010 winners and honor books are now listed on the Coretta Scott King, Lifetime Achievement, Pura Belpré, Young Adult, and Sibert Award pages. Where I have come across them, I've also added links to useful resources; note in particular the Coretta Scott King Book Award Online Curriculum Resource Center, a great new resource created by the TeachingBooks.Net people, which features audio recordings of CSK authors and illustrators and other materials.
January 20, 2010: There is some news on the Who's Moving Where page.
I've also started to update the Children's Book Awards section, so far with the recent Scott O'Dell Award winner, the Newbery Medal and Honor books, and the Caldecott Medal and Honor books.
January 6, 2010: The hack mentioned below has been completely dealt with, and I've posted a blog note about it with details: How the Site Was Hacked, and Fixed.
I've also posted an interesting message I received from Donna Spurlock at Charlesbridge about what they expect of authors and illustrators when it comes to social networking. I'd asked for her comments as I prepared for a conference.
And of course there have been a few additions to the Who's Moving Where page over the last month.
Finally, Eileen Robinson and I are now taking registrations for a new session of our Kid's Book Revisions class, running from late February to late May. Full details can be found by following the link.
December 27, 2009: The Purple Crayon is under attack by a hacker of the "Cialis Canadian Pharm" species, who has succeeded in tricking search engines to show a spam page instead of the site's home page. Other pages are not affected and visitors coming to the site via links, bookmarks, or directly typing in the URL will not see this garbage. It's annoying but harmless; I'm aware of the problem, am working on it, and will post more when I get the problem completely solved. For now, just don't come to the site that way.
December 11, 2009: I've revised my "classic" article, "Getting Out of the Slush Pile," to clarify a few points and update some others. The changes aren't big, but I did read through carefully to make sure the whole piece is relevant.
December 5, 2009: I've been away from the site for some time, due to a death in the family. I'm now gradually catching up.
I've set myself up on Twitter. Please follow me there for more frequent news of Purple Crayon updates, news about my book, tidbits of publishing news, links, and opinion, and occasional news of my activities, such as conferences. I promise not to tweet about doing the dishes or picking up some milk on the way home from work.
And as part of getting back to the site, I've updated the Who's Moving Where page, and also finished the 2009 updates to my Award-Winning Children's Books section.
To support the site when you do your holiday shopping, the lists of books in that area could be useful, or take a look at this list of writer's how-tos I compiled. Otherwise, you can just start on the Purple Crayon Bookstores page, and thanks.
August 30, 2009: This has been a busy month for me, leaving me little time for the site. But I've made some updates around the site, most notably adding new editions of market guides to my Reference Books and Books about Agents pages. If you're shopping for the latest, note that some of them have yet to be released, though they can be preordered. I've also fleshed out my comments on the new edition of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market
More to come soon.
August 3, 2009: My big news is that I wrote a detailed article on The Acquisitions Process for the 2010 edition of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, which is now available. Since the book is out, I've posted the article on my site, and you can reach it via the earlier link. Please note that this is not a rewrite or expansion of my earlier piece on acquisitions: this is entirely new, and I've renamed the earlier piece Acquisition Basics.
There are also several pieces of news on the Who's Moving Where page.
And I have two bits of business: BookCloseouts is having a summer children's books sale. There are several thousand titles on sale: some junk, but if you browse around you'll find some good stuff. This is a good opportunity to get some books cheap, for your own reading or for use in a classroom or library. Also, Eileen Robinson and I are now taking registrations for the next session of the Kid's Book Revision class.
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 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.
Older news: This goes all the way back to 1996, if you're interested.
About me and the work I
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