{"id":3230,"date":"2014-03-03T07:53:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T13:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendymartinillustration.com\/wordpress\/?p=3230"},"modified":"2014-03-14T15:53:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-14T20:53:08","slug":"researching-right-home-kid-lit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendymartinillustration.com\/wordpress\/researching-right-home-kid-lit\/","title":{"rendered":"Researching the right home for your kid lit with Harold Underdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, on Facebook, generous kid lit aficionado, Harold Underdown, began a page entitled A\u00a0Webinar: Researching\u00a0the Right Agent, Editor, and\/or Publishing House.<\/a> I asked him about it and researching the right home for your kid lit.<\/p>\n

\"Researching<\/a>WM:<\/strong> It\u2019s exciting to hear you\u2019re hosting a webinar about researching the right agent, editor, and\/or publishing house. This is your first webinar. What prompted you to hold this class on-line?<\/p>\n

HU:<\/strong>\u00a0I was contacted by Carrie Pearson, who was organizing a series of webinars on the overall theme of \u201cFrom Manuscript to Submission\u201d for the Michigan SCBWI\u2014you can see more about it here: http:\/\/michigan.scbwi.org\/2013\/10\/20\/announcing-the-scbwi-mi-webinar-series<\/a>\/. My webinar is actually the third in the series.<\/p>\n

I was reluctant at first, as the webinars I\u2019ve experienced have either been Skype sessions, with possibly pixellated video, or glorified Powerpoints. But I was impressed by their format, which allows for the presenter to be seen in a video window while the presentation is displayed AND the audience chats via text. They use the text chat to gather question, which the presenter answers at the end. So it\u2019s a good format, and they provide support and training to the presenters.<\/p>\n

Both the support and being part of a series made this look like a good opportunity to try this out.<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong> Why is researching agents, editors, or publishing houses before sending out a manuscript a good idea?<\/p>\n

HU:<\/strong>\u00a0If you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll just be submitting at random, and may waste a lot of your time. You also may not know about all of the possible places to send your manuscript, or about changes that have happened since .<\/p>\n

Almost everyone has to do some research before submitting. My aim in this presentation is to explain the kinds of research that are likely to be the most useful, and how to go about them, and also to show some kinds of research that people may not know, such as how to analyze a catalog to learn about a publisher.<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you feel researching is an under-utilized skill among authors and illustrators?<\/p>\n

HU:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s a bit of a loaded question! No, I don\u2019t, not at all. In fact, I think that it\u2019s possible to do too much research, which is one of the issues that I will be addressing. But I know that authors and illustrators are always looking for more information about editors and agents and publishers, and my intention is to show them, from an insider\u2019s point of view, the best ways to go about acquiring that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked about most of this before, of course, at conferences, and much of what I\u2019m covering is also covered in my The Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to Publishing Children\u2019s Books (http:\/\/www.underdown.org\/cig.htm<\/a>), though in different form, and I\u2019ll be talking about using social media to do research, which wasn\u2019t really on option the last time I updated the book.<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong>\u00a0You will be touching on submission etiquette in this class. In your opinion, what are the top 5 red flags in a submission packet that turn off agents or editors?<\/p>\n

\"Researching<\/a>HU:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s tough, but here are five things to avoid:
\n\u2022 Carelessness\u2014bad spelling, poor punctuation, getting the editor\u2019s name wrong.
\n\u2022 Comparing your writing or illustrating favorably to such greats as Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, or Judy Blume.
\n\u2022 Telling us how much your children\/students\/grandchildren loved the story.
\n\u2022 Making statements that reveal how little you know about the agent or publisher (better to say nothing at all).
\n\u2022 Not following the guidelines. Professionals always follow the guidelines.<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong>\u00a0The webinar filled up almost immediately. That\u2019s wonderful for you, but sad for the people who missed out. Will you hold another session?<\/p>\n

HU:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s not strictly true to say that it filled up almost immediately. It was announced at the beginning of January as part of the MI-SCBWI webinar series, and they publicized it through the usual SCBWI channels. I also announced it on The Purple Crayon. At the end of February, I think they had 75-80 \u201cseats\u201d of the 100 they can handle filled. That\u2019s when I set up a Facebook \u201cEvent\u201d (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/402818103189026<\/a>\/), and the response to that led to the remaining seats being filled.<\/p>\n

However, people can still sign up for the archived presentation, and watch it as many times as they want over the three months after the webinar happens.<\/p>\n

Will we hold it again? That\u2019s not entirely up to me. As I said earlier, I think there\u2019s a good possibility I\u2019ll be doing other webinars in the future. Whether that will include an encore performance of this one or not, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong>\u00a0Is there any additional information you\u2019d like to add, either about the webinar or the submission process in general?<\/p>\n

HU:<\/strong> In addition to my book, people can find a lot of information about the submissions process on my website. I particularly recommend \u201cGetting Out of the Slush Pile\u201d (http:\/\/www.underdown.org\/slush.htm<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Thanks for asking good questions!<\/p>\n

WM:<\/strong> Thanks for visiting and for sharing your knowledge on researching the right home for your kid lit with us, Harold!<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

About Harold and the work he does: He’s a children’s book editor, working as a consulting or independent editor and writing teacher. Previously, he was Vice President and Editorial Director at ipicturebooks. Before that, he was editorial director of the Charlesbridge trade program, and have also worked at Orchard Books and Macmillan.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

He is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books<\/a>, now in its third edition. He gives workshops through Kid’s Book Revisions<\/a>. He speaks at conferences<\/a>, provides editorial services<\/a> to publishers and authors, and maintains the Purple Crayon<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to know more about him, please explore his website, or you can see a (very out-of-date) list of books he’s edited.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

____________<\/p>\n

If you found this post helpful and are interested in receiving notifications when more portfolio builder advice is posted,
\nsign up for my mailing list.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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