Agents and Editors

[guitarbabe]

Wow, March is just the time for writer's conferences!

Oh, Stacer and Chimera (all of yas), so you write children's books too? So, do I. Well, I'm trying to anyway. I call them 'Twisted Tales' and they're fairy tales twisted (that was a little bit self-explanatory). I came up with them in an elementary school cafetera, trying to get a kid to eat (he lived on a feeding tube, so of course he was NEVER hungry). But everytime he took a bite, I'd plunge into some crazy story, and if he stopped, I'd stop. The kids were desperate to get him to eat just so they could hear the rest of the stories. They even got in trouble for staying in for lunch recess.

My friend was even going to help me illustrate my books, but he got way too busy (he's an illustrator for some TigerWoods video games).

So, are you going to the UVSC one, Chimera? I have to check the dates on all of these things, so I can decide which ones I'll be able to go to. My teacher (what?--my teacher?--that's what sitting on the rug and listening to stories all day does to me), anyway, my supervisers are going to wonder why I'm suddenly running off to these March things?

Hey, do you think they'll count going to kindergarten as still being a student? I would love to turn stuff into HarperCollins as requested material.

Steph...ur, guitarbabe

[Parker]

I wasn't kidding, and I wasn't talking about UVSC's conference in March:

Mid-winter Symposium on Books for Young Readers

Saturday, January 28, 2006
8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Provo City Library at Academy Square
Provo, Utah

The first annual BYU Mid-Winter Symposium on Books for Young Readers will feature Katherine Paterson, two-time Newbery Medal Winner; Eric Rohmann, Caldecott Medal Winner; and Kimberley Heuston, award-winning author and teacher.

This event is sponsored by Brigham Young University’s Department of Teacher Education, Harold B. Lee Library, Bookstore, Division of Continuing Education, and the Provo City Library at Academy Square.

Space is limited, so register early!

You have to register by Friday, BTW, and it costs $79.

As to info about the summer writing conference, Eric, it's not posted yet.  I see Chris Crowe at the library quite a bit, and I chat to him about it when he comes in--that's where I get my info.  When they do post info, it'll likely be here:

http://ce.byu.edu/cw/writing/

[Chimera]

Oh, Stacer and Chimera (all of yas), so you write children's books too?

I tend to write more Young Adult (YA) and middle grade (MG), but actually I've done it all. (Do you like how I'm slowly teaching you all the abbreviations? Now you'll be able to understand my posts.)

I took a picture book (PB) class and wrote several picture books, then like two actual "Writing for Children and Young Adult" classes, then in both my uppergrade writing classes I wrote children's/YA , and in EUOL's scifi/fan class I started a YA fantasy novel I'm still working on. (Which is a class you might consider taking. Several of us on the board have, and then you could get all his info about how to break into scifi/fan in his lectures.)

So, yes, I've written picture books. But my first love seems to be upper YA (like for 16 year olds and up).

[Chimera]

I wasn't kidding, and I wasn't talking about UVSC's conference in March:

Mid-winter Symposium on Books for Young Readers

This is new. They have a symposium of the same name that they do in the summer--perhaps it has done well enough that now they've decided to do a "mid-winter" one as well.

[stacer]

Heh, I'd totally carpool with you if it wasn't already a 20 hour drive between us. But if you go, I'll go.

[Chimera]

To which? LTUE or the UVSC forum?

[stacer]

I'm also considering coming up for LTUE, but don't get your hopes up. It kind of depends on gas prices or if some friends want to carpool to Provo.

Heh, I'd totally carpool with you if it wasn't already a 20 hour drive between us. But if you go, I'll go.

(Sorry, just realized it was unattributed.)

But for that matter, I think I'd rather go to UVSC.

[Chimera]

That settles it. If you will go, I'll go. I mean, it's only $35 for me. And--I'm pretty sure I can get my friend Paul to come (you know stacer, the one starting his own publishing business). I'll be able to convince him that this is the sort of place he needs to go to network and get his books out--because it's true. So, I'm almost guaranteed to have at least one helper with gas money.

[stacer]

Oo, cool. I'll have freelance money in by March, so I think it'd be a great time to get out of town--the rain will not have stopped yet in Seattle, and I'll be aching to see the sun again. Let's plan on it.

[MsFish]

Definitely worth the $400.  

Um, their website says $144.  Please tell me it's not actually $400.  

[guitarbabe]

Yeah, that's what I'm confused about too. $400? That's pretty steep for me, but I just looked it up and it's $135 if you're not a student and you're an early bird. I just looked up that BYU one too, Parker. That one IS $400? It looks nice...if you have the funds. You'd probably get some pretty good connections there too. Maybe another year (if I ever strike it rich).

Oh, and thanks for the acronym lessons, Chimera

[Parker]

Yeah, the summer BYU writing conference (the week long one), is indeed $400.  But if you live in the area, it works out to being a fantastic price for what you get.  (If you have to fly in, on the other hand, then that nulls out the get-out-of-travel-expenses bonus.)  But you get five four hour days of being in a class with an established YA author of the genre of your choice.  That alone is worth the networking right there.  I went last year and was in Tracy Hickman's class, and I feel like if I'm ever in the position to ask him for a cover quote, I could comfortably do so now.  But in addition to that, you get to meet all sorts of other authors at the breakout sessions, and you hear from editors first hand, get to add the "requested materials" line to the outside of your envelope . . . lots of bonuses.  If you're serious about writing as a business, look at it as an investment.  It's worth the money, no doubt about it in my mind.

[guitarbabe]

Oh, you threw in Traci Hickman! A weak spot. I totally believe you that it would be a good investment, but I'll probably have to take these investments one step at a time. I DID sign up for the World FantasyCon. It was completely unlike me...spending money, that is. But who knows? I'll do some more investigating.

[MsFish]

It's worth the money, no doubt about it in my mind.

Yeah, I'm sure it is worth the investment.  But I can't do this one and the others, then.  I just simply don't have the cash.  I'm starving myself to try to get to them as it is.  That really really sucks.  

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Where do you find it? I did a basic search on Amazon and came up only with the Children's and the General.

Ah. We just bought it in the bookstore when it came out. Which was in 1994, apparently. ISBN 0-89879-692-X --Amazon shows 39 used & new from $0.01!!!

So the stuff in it will be out of date, but a lot is probably still useful. You won't want to get names and specific publishing houses' guidelines from there though. The Novel & Short Story Writer's Market is probably good for that. And then there's online sites like ralan.com that have good info.