Last Saturday I presented the workshop “The Business of Children’s Writing 101” with the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. We had a cozy class which allowed the participants to get some great one on one attention as they crafted their elevator pitches and queries in advance of the New England SCBWI spring conference. We discussed the journey of a book from manuscript to publication, defined Midlist, and learned not to defend our work in a critique. We even got to have a mini-workshop for those who had brought picture book manuscripts.
The afternoon brought a web hunt of great kidlit blogs, social media, and kidlit community events that I’ve listed below.
Most important—we discussed that craft comes first and that if you have trouble with your pitch or query it often means that your manuscript is not quite ready for prime time.
If you missed this class and would like MWPA offer this or other kidlit workshops again, please contact Josh Bodwell, Director of MWPA. Happy writing!
A Few Great Blogs:
Through the Tollbooth: VCFA students who do in depth pieces on craft.
Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Be Someone’s Hero, No Cape Required: Specific connections with literacy, student success, and educators.
Cynthia Leitich Smith, Cynsations: Clearing house of amazing info from the industry including guest bloggers.
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: In depth illustrations and illustrators, process, production, and more.
Jama Rattigan, Alphabet Soup: Reviews of food-based books, poetry.
Ingrid Sundberg: Great posts about story structure, screenwriting, and plot.
Pub(lishing) Crawl: Group of authors and industry professionals posting about craft and business.
A Few Great Kidlit Retreats/Resources:
Falling Leaves/Green Leaves from SCBWI Eastern NY
Picture Book Boot Camp with Jane Yolen
Creative Chaos 