Not Alfred Hitchcock!

Nope, just funny-funny Julie (J.C. Phillipps) illustrating the hapless Simples family picnic.  THE SIMPLES LOVE A PICNIC is the funniest book in the universe and that's a fact. If you do not hasten to buy it at once, well, we will not be responsible for the consequences.

February 17, 2015

Absolutely fab, right? But eight months from publication. Sigh. However will the Caldecott committee endure the wait?

Publishers' Margins

We lost the source for the following quote, our bad, but it confirms our long-held, oft-asserted position that EBOOK ROYALTIES ARE TOO LOW. We repeat the sourceless quote, anyway, because we know it is accurate. 

"Bedi Singh, chief financial officer of News Corp., which owns HarperCollins Publishers and the Wall Street Journal, last month told analysts that margins are around 75% for e-books, about 60% on paperbacks, and about 40% on hardcovers." (Emphasis ours.)

Publisher are not entitled to 100% of the extra ebook margin— not by historic author-publisher standards and practices, not by Publishers claiming to be authors' partners, not by what is fair. The present 25% net royalty publishers pay constitutes an out-and-out grab at authors' income. It is that simple. Hence our complaint: publishers won't share! (Kinda like the 1%, come to think of it.)

"An Instant Classic"

What a quote! Also, "An absolute stunner". For the full Philadelphia Inquirer RAVE REVIEW click. 

And you? Did you read GIRLS LIKE US by Gail Giles, pictured in an STNY office? If not why not? Buy it! Hurry! Never ignore the classics.

If You Want to Get Serious

Ready for straight-up feedback from industry pros? Hone your craft, boost your odds of publication. Apply by June 28 for up to two in-depth critiques, on your partial OR full MG/YA novel, from Knopf executive editor Melanie Cecka and/or “editorial” agent Scott Treimel, STNY president. Seewww.childrenswritersworkshop.com for details and exclusive interviews. Intimate, in-depth. Teen feedback. Scott Treimel says: “When I can sit with a writer and share my analysis of where and how to improve a story—it is the most fun thing in the world to me.”