It is my pleasure to announce that Steven Meltzer, Associate Publisher\Executive Managing Editor at Dutton Children’s Books, Dial Books for Young Readers and Celebra Children’s Books will be our Frist Page Critiquer for March.
Steve Meltzer has been in publishing industry for over 25 years and has served in a variety of positions and has been on many committees. Steve is the editor of many books for young readers including John Madden’s Heroes of Football:The Story of America’s Game; The Sydney Taylor award-winning, Hanukkah at Valley Forge by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Greg Harlin; The Every Cowgirl series by Rebecca Janni, illustrated by Lynne Avril; The Worst of Friends (an SLJ Best Book of the Year) by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain, illustrated by Larry Day; Useful Fools by C.A. Schmidt (a Booklist Best Book of the Year) and The Boy with Pink Hair by Perez Hilton, illustrated by Jen Hill. His series include Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol and the Dutton Winnie-the-Pooh books.
So you can see that Steve is oozing with expertise on everything involving the Children’s Publishing Industry and a wealth of knowledge to help us improve our skills.
You can follow Steve on Twitter: @stevepenguin
HERE ARE THE MARCH SUBMISSION GUIDELINES For FIRST PAGE CRITIQUES:
In the subject line, please write “March 2015 First Page Critique” and paste the text in the email, then attached it in a Word document to the email. Please make sure you include your name, the title of the piece, and whether it is as picture book, middle grade, or young adult, etc. at the top on both the email and the Word document.
Your First Page Word document should be formatted using one inch margins and 12 point New Times Roman font – double space – no more than 23 lines – only one page. Send to: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES: Your submission will be skipped over if you do not follow the directions for both the pasted email and the attached Word doc. This is where most people mess up.
DEADLINE: March 19th.
RESULTS: March 27th.
Please only submit one first page a month. Thanks!
Talk tomorrow
Kathy
Writing and Illustrating 
So what is this, a competition?
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By: trinitygrau on March 13, 2015
at 12:38 pm
couldn’t have a better crit guy!! yay Steve…..
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By: catugeau on March 13, 2015
at 1:50 pm
I am a little confused by the directions and want to make sure I do it correctly. Is there any clarification you can provide to the following: “paste the text in the email, then attached it in a Word document to the email.” I am used to pasting a word document such as a cover letter & manuscript into an email because agent/editors don’t accept attachments but think these directions are not the same. Please let me know as I don’t want to be skipped over. Thanks for all that you do for us writers. Laurie (lwarchol@maine.rr.com)
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By: Laurie on March 13, 2015
at 8:19 pm
Laurie,
You are pasting it into the email for the contest. If you are chosen, then I will open the Word document that is attached and send it to the agent or editor. When it is pasted into the email, it loses the formatting most of the time and I am trying to present you in the best light. I guess I am trying to split the baby. I shouldn’t be opening any attachments on my computer, but I figure most people would not take the time to send in a first page, just to pass on a virus.
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on March 14, 2015
at 5:45 pm
Excited about this opportunity! Thank you!
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By: Xina Marie Uhl on March 13, 2015
at 10:48 pm
I’m new at this. What’s the email address to send the first page to? Thank you.
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By: fannywrites on March 18, 2015
at 10:21 pm
Fanny,
You had me worried that I had forgotten to type in where to send. Whew! It’s there.
Your First Page Word document should be formatted using one inch margins and 12 point New Times Roman font – double space – no more than 23 lines – only one page. Send to: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.
Hope you join in with the fun.
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on March 18, 2015
at 11:21 pm
I don’t understand. Was everyone else rejected? If so, could you please tell me why mine was rejected? I’m new to all of this but I thought I followed your directions to the letter?
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By: Melanie Bailes on March 27, 2015
at 6:28 pm
Melanie,
No you were not rejected. I put all the names in a basket and draw out four names. Those four get sent in for critique. There isn’t anyone who would read all the first pages that are submitted. Please try again.
Kathy
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By: Kathy Temean on March 30, 2015
at 12:41 am