Hope everyone has a wonderful day and takes a moment or two to remember our fallen heroes. Thank you to all our troops who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.
A few weeks ago the NESCBWI had their conference and one of the workshops was, “Literary Agents Talk Trends in Children’s Publishing.” Theresa Milstein took the time to write up some of the questions to and answers from the three agents – Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency, and Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh and Otis. (I have written about each of these agents over the last year, so you can read them in the archieves).
Here is one of the interesting questions:
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR WRITERS TO HAVE AN ONLINE PRESENCE?
Ammi-Joan Paquette said if she’s considering a submission, she’ll do a Google search on the writer to see if they have a blog or website. She doesn’t think it’s essential, so it’s not a deciding factor for representation. But if it’s there, it’s a plus.
Sarah Davies warned writers to be aware of who’s reading their blogs. There are scouts looking for hot new talent. If there’s a link at the bottom of a query, she will check the blog. She suggested updating your blog frequently and not to write about rejections.
I will be touching on this in my talk about Social Media on Friday. You can read the rest of the questions by going to Guide to Literary Agents . We are having an agents panel on Friday and Saturday this coming weekend. But David Caruba is doing a State of the Market Report where he will share the results of his survey with close to 30 editors and agents that will make you feel like you have your finger on the pulse of the market.
If you are coming to the conference this weekend and you are smart, you will think of writing something up about one of the sessions, if it is well written and interesting, it could end up in Sprouts Magazine. Or you could send it to me to use on my blog – a great way to help promote yourself.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
PS: Thanks to Donna Taylor for making sure I did not miss the info on Guide to Literary Agents.
Writing and Illustrating 
You’re a woman who doesn’t miss a trick—suggesting we keep our minds on writing articles is an EXcellent idea! I’ll be keeping it in mind 🙂
:Donna
P.S. You’re welcome, but thanks for that wasn’t necessary 🙂 I know you appreciate the little things…
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By: :Donna Marie on May 31, 2010
at 1:16 am
Donna,
It’s my sales and marketing background that always has my mind looking for things to cause a buzz. Did you get your new issue of Sprouts?
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on May 31, 2010
at 1:34 am
Kathy,
I most certainly DID get it and was very excited about seeing my article in there. I just wish I’d told Leeza she could cut or re-crop the art to spread the two figures apart to allow for more text in between, but I didn’t, so she had to really shrink the art. It’s always AFTER the fact, right? lol
Great stuff, throughout the magazine, as usual (I’ve already read it from cover-to-cover!). A close friend of mine wanted to buy a copy ’cause my article is in there (isn’t that so supportive?), then when she saw Leeza’s “how-to” on assembling a dummy, she wanted that too! I’ll be showing her, after the conference, how I do it too. Anyway—another copy will be sold!
Donna
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By: :Donna Marie on May 31, 2010
at 4:55 pm
I may be a little *biased* here but I hear a lot of good things about the Market Report!!!!!!!
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By: David Caruba on May 31, 2010
at 2:24 pm
David,
I have heard that somewhere, too. You should have gotten the image you wanted.
See you soon,
Kathy
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By: kathytemean on May 31, 2010
at 4:25 pm