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A new opportunity at the SCBWI Summer Conference, these informal conversations with faculty members including agents and artist reps (Ginger Clark, Erica Rand Silverman, Tina Wexler, Kirsten Hall and Brooks Sherman) and editors and publishers (Krista Marino, Neal Porter, Sara Sargent, Melissa Manlove, Stacey Barney, Kat Brzozowski, and Reka Simonsen) are a big hit!

Attendees with agent Ginger Clark

Attendees with Publisher Neal Porter

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Sara Sargent is an executive editor at HarperCollins Children's Books. She's published Deb Caletti, Jennifer Echols, Julie Cross, Aaron Karo and Martina Boone, and she acquires everything from picture books through young adult.

YA editors are wondering what's next when it comes to trends. Books that are hitting shelves today were acquired 12 to 24 months ago. It's true that you shouldn't write to trends. Today's trends will be over when your book comes out. Also, books that aren't written from the heart won't be as good.

"My list is only as good as the books you write."

Sara started at HC a year ago to develop books teens really want to read. She wanted to know what made teens tick, and what drives their purchasing habits. "What could I do to make sure the books I was publishing today reflected the teens of today?"

Publishers were publishing books for millennials and Gen Z—the one that follows millennials. Here's some marketing data:

• First generation to be majority nonwhite
• Average attention span is 8 seconds
• They use on average five devices (phone, laptop, desktop, tv, table) 
• More tolerable of gender diversity than previous generations

Find her online at sarasargent.wordpress.com and on Twitter and Instagram as @Sara_Sargent.

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Moderated by Emma Dryden (standing, far left), the panel shares three books that they acquired (and why):

Seated, from Left to Right:

Stacey Barney, Senior Editor (G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin)

Kat Brzozowski, Associate Editor (St. Martin's)

Alvina Ling, V.P. and Editor in Chief (Little, Brown)

Melissa Manlove, Editor (Chronicle)

Neal Porter, Publisher (Neal Porter Books)

Matt Ringler, Senior Editor (Scholastic)

Sara Sargent, Executive Edtior (Harper Collins)

Reka Simonsen, Executive Editor (Atheneum)

Kate Sullivan, Senior Editor (Delacorte)

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What Hooks Jordan and Sara?

Jordan Brown is an executive editor with the imprints Walden Pond Press and Balzer + Bray at HarperCollins Children’s Books

Highlights from Jordan:

He asks himself, "What kind of books do kids need?" and "What kinds of things are desperately important to kids growing up today?"

Jordan is looking for books that "expand a kid's capacity for empathy." Characters who aren't all white, cis-gendered, characters who are different from readers.

Questions to ask ourselves as writers: "What does our character lack? What's their wound?"

He advises that "plot is intrinsically tied to character."

And he's looking for a narrator telling him a story, "a story that needs to get out."

Jordan also explains how the decision process works for him, and much more...




Sara Sargent is an executive editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she acquires picture book, middle grade, and young adult fiction.

Highlights from Sara:

Sara edits books for the same reason she reads them: "escapism"

She's excited about re-imagined fairy tales, is really into fantasy and likes stories that are

romantic

fantastical, and

transportive.

She's looking, for even on the first page, a "feeling of being well taken care of." That the author has a mastery of language. An atmosphere that immediately envelopes her in the world.

Sara also speaks of the challenge of not editing something into the familiar, allowing projects to keep the unique thing about them that captured her in the first place.

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#LA15SCBWI Editors' Panel underway

From Right to Left:

Moderator Wendy Loggia, executive editor at Delacorte Press/Random House Children's Books (primarily MG and YA)

Jordan Brown, executive editor with Walden Pond Press and Balzer + Bray at HarperCollins Children's Books

Allyn Johnston, vice president and publisher of Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Rotem Moscovich, senior editor at Disney-Hyperion

Sara Sargent, executive editor at HarperCollins Children's Books

Julie Strauss-Gabel, vice president and publisher of Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers

Alison Weiss, editor at Sky Pony Press

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"I like to tell authors that even if they’re not writing mysteries, they are writing mysteries. No matter what the genre, every book should have a component of mystery and suspense that makes readers want to keep going."
-Sara Sargent

Simon Pulse Editor Sara Sargent and I spoke about the value of attending the SCBWI Summer Conference, the importance of tension, her breakout workshops and Monday conference intensive and much more.

It was a great discussion, and if you'd like to meet and learn from Sara in person, join us at the SCBWI Summer Conference, August 1-4, 2014. Registration and information here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

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Author/illustrator Mary Zisk sent me the Christmas card she made. I added my name and my cute little red headed Conure, creatively named Baby at the bottom . Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and hope Mary doesn’t mind me jumping in.

This week we had a few more Kudos to send out. I thought I would share them with you.

At Balzer + Bray, Sara Sargent has been promoted to associate editor. It is well deserved and everyone who has had any contact with Sara knows what a great editor she is and we wish her the best in her new position.

Wendy Grieb just signed a contract to illustrate her first picture book!  Wendy was featured on Illustrator Saturday.  Click Here to View.

Anne Hoppe will join Clarion Books as senior executive editor on January 23. Previously she was executive editor at Harper Children’s.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: authors and illustrators, Editors, inspiration, Kudos, Publishing Industry Tagged: author/illustrator Mary Zisk, Illustrator Wendy Grieb, Kudos, Sara Sargent, Sr. Executive Editor Anne Hoppe

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What’s The Next Big Thing? Ultimately, No One Knows

So, what’s hot right now? Which manuscripts are selling faster? What would you love to see? Editors and agents hear these questions at every writer’s conference, and I wouldn’t be surprised if after a while these start to get a little tedious.

Many times when I heard these questions tossed at an editor during the conference, they toss this answer back, “what have you got?”

I mean, I can understand. If a writer is to slave away for years on a manuscript, wouldn’t it make sense to maximize her chances of success by working on something that has a better chance of getting accepted? Wouldn’t it make sense to work on something… popular?

But remember, we aren’t sewing dresses here, baking cookies or making toys.

Writing is an art, and arts wouldn’t be arts if everything was this neat and tidy. Art doesn’t always make sense. And is that such a bad thing?

If you’ve been a part of this business long enough, whether as a writer, an agent, or an editor, you learn quickly, that in our industry, there are no guarantees.

Frustrating?

I’d say, exciting!

Think of the possibilities. Look to your heart for answers. Be brave.

When J.K. Rowling first had a vision of a boy with glasses on that train she was stuck in, do you think she wasted her energy worrying about trends?

Still, during the opening of last month’s free craft weekend run by the New Jersey SCBWI and organized by our new RA Leeza Hernandez, agents and editors graciously shared what they knew.

Dystopian and paranormal stories, especially those featuring shape-shifters, such as werewolves, have oversaturated the marketplace and are really “a tough sell right now,” most panelists agreed. It seems many editors are yearning to read something closer to reality these days.

“We’ve been talking a lot about just contemporary, realistic stories,” said Jenne Abramowitz, a senior editor at Scholastic.

“Every time I go to lunch with an agent, I’m asking for a realistic contemporary,” said Sara Sargent, an assistant editor at Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins).

Sara also mentioned that “genre mixing” and all sorts of “mash-ups” evoke some curiosity in the marketplace right now.

“Fantasy is just perennially popular,” she said, adding that she likes stories that feel “very epic” and “adventurous.”

Agent Rachel Orr of Prospect Agency said it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on the culture, not to chase trends, but to have a feel what’s happening in contemporary society, which includes music, film, news, and more.

“Be aware of what’s going on in pop culture, even outside the book culture,” she said.

In the end, though, all the panelists seemed to agree that no one wants a story that tries too hard to please.

“We’re seeing so many books that feel so familiar,” said Sara Sargent. “Give me something new and fresh, something we haven’t seen. It’s so freeing for you guys. You don’t have to chase trends right now.”

“Trends don’t really matter at all,” said Ted Malawer, agent with Upstart Crow Literary. “Yes, we’re seeing too much dystopian, too much paranormal, but what’s unique about your book? If it’s something that you can walk into Barnes & Noble and see on the shelves already, that’s where we’re going to run into a problem.”

The biggest thing editors are looking for is “having an author and a character you can grow,” said Paula Sadler, an editorial assistant at G.P. Putnam’s Sons. “If you [as an editor] love the kid, you love the kid, and you’ll follow that kid to the end of the earth.”

Of course, it’s only human to wonder, what’s the next big thing to take the YA world by storm?

“Everyone is very excited to see what the next big thing is going to be,” said Paula.

Maybe it will be your story. 

Katia Raina is the author of “Castle of Concrete,” a young adult novel about a timid half-Russian, half-Jewish teen in search of a braver “self” reuniting with her dissident mother in the last year of the collapsing Soviet Union, to be published by Namelos. On her blog, The Magic Mirror, http://katiaraina.wordpress.com Katia talks about writing and history, features interviews, book lists and all sorts of literary randomness.  

Right now, Katia is gathering participants for a new challenge for those who’d like to do better next year in sticking to their goals and making their dreams happen. To participate in the “31” challenge – and the giveaway – visit here and leave a comment telling me about your project and committing to working on it 31 minutes a day, every day in January. http://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/dreaming-up-a-new-challenge/

Thank you Katia for another great article from the November Craft Day.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: Advice, article, demystify, Publishing Industry Tagged: Jenne Abramowitz, Katia Raina, Paula Sadler, Rachel Orr, Sara Sargent, Ted Malawer

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