Books are Popping Out All Over!

October 4

 Junior Literary Guild Selection 

Horn Book— "an authentically childlike perspective"

  Kirkus— A a deft examination of 

the pressures of income inequlity

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PW star "dramatic and genuine"   

WSJ— "a valient struggle with temptation"

SLJ— "Starts a convrersation about right and wrong"

Betsy Bird— "This picture book . . . finally! 

  October 11

 October 11

 

 BOARD      +        BOOK

 BOARD      +        BOOK

 BOARD      +        BOOK

 BOARD      +        BOOK

 BOARD      +        BOOK

 BOARD      +        BOOK

Wow, listen: PEN granted us membership! However stringent its appraisal (anyone know?), we are boasting and toasting no matter. STNY salutes PEN's ardor and mission.Read PW's 5-17 Shelf Awareness on Monday's PEN GALA— at the Natural History museum, the Natural History museum!* 

Our Chicago BEA was extra productive last week (without our NYC competition congesting the place). We like to complain that the autograph lines disrupt a good meandering, but we like mixing with Authors, not only booksellers

Here's a special bulletin: STNY will reopen SUBMISSIONS This summer! Notice how we grant ourselves a 90-day window to do it.

*Here we reveal ourselves (as did PW), blithely omitting in New York City. 

Hachette Head on Amazon, E-Books, Bookstores

Arnaud Nourry, Chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre discusses last year's impasse with Amazon and the future for print and e-books

We welcome Mr. Nourry's perspective. We need his candor directed to e-book EARNINGS: What is the breakdown? For retailers, publishers, and authors. The conversation still circles PRICING, just like five years ago. Publishers virtually admitted that author royalties subsidized their investments building infrastructure for the new business. E-opearations are now established and running. Can we start talking about the author's value and livelihood?

STORYTELLERS! Let's Review

Q  Why do you read a story?                               A  To find out what's going to happen. 

We read to see how a conflict will be resolved.
Conflict creates story. Without conflict, no story. This #1 Fundamental bears chewing over.
Therefore
It is critical to track the ebb and flow of conflict in your story. If you can't, you have a problem. Your story might lag, side-track, lack focus, wobble, crash and burn. Whatever, without clearly delineating conflict and resolution, your story cannot gel with full force, if it can at all.
Therefore
If you chart your plot, make Conflict your very first column. Authors might consider location or action or relationships as more important to keep straight. They are not, not until your story is organized into a plot where conflict bounces up and down, start to concluding resolution.

Now, any questions?

And Those Foreign Editions

They just keep on a-coming! This is Ryan Gebhart's 2014 debut (Candlewick, Joan Powers, editor). 

The declining Euro, of course, means it is advantageous to use U.S. currency when negotiating money terms.

Have We Carried On . . .

. . . about the outstanding launch of Ame Dyckman's WOLFIE THE BUNNY, illustrated by growingly beloved Zach OHora (Little, Brown, with Alvina Ling and Bethany Strout editing)  No? Get a load of this!

☆ Horn Book

☆ Publisher's Weekly

☆ Booklist

☆ School Library Journal

What's more, look what New York Media Works wrote about last week's 90-Second Newbery Film Festival at the New York Public Library

Ame Dyckman and Zachariah OHora’s 

“Wolfie the Bunny” steals the show!
(Of course the Newbery is not one of the awards we are hoping for, but still....)

AND

It was an Amazon Editor's Pick

AND

No less a personage than NYPL's Betsy Bird called it "the most charming picutrebook published so far this year" in ye ol' Huffington Post.
AND
Look for reviews this Sunday in The New York Times, U.S.A.Today, and The Chicago Tribune

IN SUM

Ready the confetti! We have a hit!

The Schneider Family Book Award!

THREE CHEERS 

W I N N E R !

MLK

Maybe because of police racism these past months— rather, attention to police racism these past months, today we are especially appreciative of Martin Luther King, a great American.

2 0 1 5

H A P P Y    N E  W   Y E A R 

to our peeps and pals!

Let's kick butt!— except not today. Today let's to acknowledge the greatness of MARTIN LUTHER KING. 

What We Want, Writers....

Although STNY remains closed to unsolicited submissions, we do consider work by authors personally recommended by our writer pals and editors. The personally is important because it means we trust the source (whom we implore to aim high).

Big drag, we know, but thus tis.

We select manuscripts and authors for originality, excellence, and the strength to engage the present publishing establishment.

We want writers to appreciate today's book landscape against the busy media background. We want

• Quick pacing
• Vivid images
• Bold storytelling

As to content, here are random present interests

• Malice, whether in murder or menace, in realistic urban or rural settings
• Complex villains with credible psychologies
• Poverty represented as a matter-of-fact background character in a story not about poverty
• Unsentimental characters who are not self-pitying
• Realistic stories that go deep into a character's day-to-day life inside non-European countries
• Non-fiction that posits a worldwide story

Our advice: do not pull your punches, these are not subtle times.

Pacific Coast Children's Writers Workshop

We and the virtually perfect Melanie Donovan of Knopf  (virtually perfect only because otherwise it would sound weird) joined a group of writers a couple weeks back in a beach-y condo complex on  what was said to be the beach— personally, we could scarcely look out the window.

Under review were novels and partial novels with subjects like the Russian Revolution, gay dads, suicide, savant talent, summer romance, a Fae, crime, a mermaid, time travel— perhaps 60% contemporary realism and 40% fantasy constituted our own collection. (No devil worship or gang violence, surprisingly.)

From our point of view, the workshop was a success: we requested a goodly number of manuscripts we and Melanie worked on. The all-important, all-determining revisions are underway. We are eager (not anxious, as it is misused) to see what results. Keep your eyes glued here to follow the story.

Our RED MAPLE AWARD Nominee

LOOK WHERE ZOMBOY IS GOING!

To claim The RED MAPLE AWARD!*

This is part of Canada's largest reader's choice award program— 250,000+ readers, a full ten percent of that country's population.

*This is us hoping. The winner will be announced..., be announced..., hmm... let's see..., in...  in... May. May?! The anticipation will be killing us, slowly. Look here for updates....

YALSA's A-Nominating!

THREE CHEERS for STNY's 

TWO 2014 ENTRANTS!

                  

Our Entry in the Xmas Books Sweepstakes!

SET 

YOUR

CLOCKS!

The sequel 

October 14! 

Last year, it was a Monstrous Parody of  Madeline, namely Frankenstein, BUT this year Illustrious Rick Walton and super funny Nathan Hale are coming at you with 

   a   h o l l y - j o l l y   m o n s t e r   f e s t !    

Be warned: you will laugh your head off. which is a plot point. Oh, you say? Didn't know? Well!  Better catch-up on your reading.

Attention Must be Paid!

Here we see 

the very hammy Ame Dyckman with seemingly reasonable Zach O'Hara at the Princeton Book Fair last Saturday. Ostensibly, Ame was signing BOY + BOT

(Knopf) and TEA PARTY RULES (Viking). Zach, we presume, signed his own creations, which therefore could not but be exceptional. Alas! As was widely reported, the two ungovernables were caught pitching one of their upcoming titles from Little, Brown. WOLFIE THE BUNNY is getting unusual pre-pub attention. But it cannot be ordered yet! Where's the royalty in that, we ask you?

Award Reward

GAIL GILES GIRLS LIKE US made the National Book Award long list. Hoooray! Ten titles. The short list, called the finalists, will be announced Oct 15. Five titles. The winner will be announced at the Nov 19 award dinner.

Hey, Look! Back in Print!

This super cool 1982, jazz-inflected recording of HONEY, I LOVE, poems by Eloise Greenfield was re-released! Jazz man Byron Morris serves up the grooves. Let's do a happy dance! HONEY, I LOVE is a classic. Harper has kept it in print T-H-I-R-T-Y  E-I-G-H-T  Y-E-A-R-S ! (You don't hear that everyday.) 

The recording comes from SHOUT! PRODUCTIONS, which is— guess where: J A P A N! A shout-out to SHOUT! PRODUCTIONS for bringing a beloved music-poetry mash-up, to a new generation. Arigato!

AND WE QUOTE

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs"  — ON WRITING, STEPHEN KING

Pen/Steven Kroll Picture Book Writing Award

And we're talking the SHORT LIST, too! (A very strong list this year.) The winner will be announced July 30. Naturally, the suspense is killing us.

The Simples Love the NYTimes!

Meet T HE   S I  M P L E S 

in this Sunday's NYT! 

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.”

A THIRD STAR!!

Gail Giles's GIRLS LIKE US 

 PW

SLJ

Booklist

GIRLS LIKE US, Gail Giles

A Limerick— Why not?

A rhyme of a different color!

There was a young man from Duluth

Who thought losing his hair was uncouth.
So he bought a toupee
And began to sashay
And I'm sorry to say that's the truth.

What Happens Before an Editor Makes an Offer?

Here an editor shares what happens in-house before she makes a book offer. A quick education.

No-Nonsense Development

Advanced Novel Writing Workshop

Knopf Associate Publishing Director Melanie Cecka and Scott Treimel are faculty for the 2014 Pacific Coast Children's Writers Workshop and Retreat. Get set to learn your head off. The workshop format is collegial  (attendees observe all critiques, e.g.) with professional face-to-face galore. Think of your growth as a writer. Get set to push it into hyperdrive. 

*  *  *  EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS MAY 28  *  *  *

Conception

Structure

Theme

Setting

Storytelling

Dialogue

Pacing for dramatic effect
Brewing tension
Plot Layers

Subordinating plotlines
Controlling the reader's experience

Narration: first person, third person— a lot to say (teach) on this one 

Character Stakes
The Antagonist
Interior Logic
More more mor

AND guess what— the venue sits on the Santa Cruz-Monterey Bay! 

Silly Song Saturday!

To market, to market
To buy sugar goods,
Home again, home again,
Bump into hoods.
Offering candy
To five gentlemen,
They demand, they demand,
Candy for ten!

Silly Song Sunday

A collection of verses should not be a compendium of zingers. That creates a clumsy reading experience. Likewise, a musical (recalling JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY, 1989) should not be two hours of show-stoppers. The audience, a reader, wants the equivalent of a palate cleanser: it sets off, and sets up, the razzle-dazzle of the big numbers. Mother Goose collections include light little-little rhymes for this reason, along with the brilliant entries, Hey Diddle Diddle, e.g. These balance the rest and make a better reading experience.

Hence,

A little lighty-light SILLY SONG  for the collection

One and Two and Three.
Count like that and see.
Numbers go and go,
So One and Two and Three.

An Important New Novel by Gail Gilles

blunt, honest, and absorbing... rewarding and powerful— PW *starred*

authentic and genuinely moving.  A respectful and winningly told story about people too often relegated to the role of plot device-bravo.—Kirkus

poignant... rewarding...gives memorable voice to underrepresented young women. —Horn Book
compelling, engaging, and raw voices — 
Booklist *starred*

THIRD PERSON NARRATION

Think of a 3d Person narrator as a camera. The narrator shoots with three lenses— for close-ups, mid-distance, and long-shots. Each has different merits we very rarely see exploited. Hence this post, a mini-instruction.

We love 3d Person narration because its detachment from the action can be a place "to rest", to perch beside the storyteller and mull over the characters and the vexations (we hope) they face. We love the analytic prospects available to a 3d Person narrator, which, were they to come from a 1st Person narrator may well feel obtrusive, out of character, telling not showing. It all depends on the narrative stance.

A 3d Person narrator can present or withhold information— from all characters' points of view.

A 3d person narrator can pull up close to a character and detail his/her inner thoughts and feelings.

A 3d person narrator can pullback to show the same character as a small player in a larger drama.

The effects of these shifting distances profoundly, subconsciously, play on the reader.

So what about limited 3d Person narration?

Have you ever seen a (very) indy art film where the camera fairly sits on the protagonist's shoulder? It creates, pretty quickly, unease. The viewer cannot see around the protagonist, know what others are up to: the viewer is vulnerable.

In the distant past, for reasons that presently escape us, we respected limited 3d Person— for some kinds of stories. But lately limited 3d Person narrators make us feel imprisoned in a point of view,  claustrophobic. The merit seems to be the relative ease limited 3d Person allows a writer: it is first person without a substantial character voice.

Questions? Comments?

Silly Song Sunday!

Jack and Jill was hard to hear our way through, because of the fancy ryhthmic breakaway. (Not a matter of counting syllables.) We saw this design perfectly executed by master technician Ogden Nash. Help us, gentle readers, determine if we need to rework or if Jack and Jill is finished. A mere Yes or No; and don't worry, we are professionals and can take it.

Jack and Jill

Start up the hill

But stop at the House that Jack built.

There was a mouse

That hid in the house,

Which terrified Jill

Who took to the hill,

Because, to her credit,

Jill remembered her original assignment,

Namely fetching a pail of water.

Back in the house

Still hiding the mouse,

Jack set out to jail

The pest in a pail,

And Jack,                               

Being adept at capturing mice—        

Well, most all house pests, really,

Looked high and low and caught her!

Viminy Crowe's COMIC BOOK

                                      

The latest from funny man Richard Scrimger, who teams with fellow Canadian Marthe Jocelyn for a raucous m-g from Tundra Books, part of R-H of Canada. Epic antics, silly scenarios, comics!

Silly Song Thursday!

This is our favorite of the Silly Songs. It leads the collection.

There was an ugly duckling

Who became a lovely swan.

—Oh! The goings-on.

We love this verse because it summarizes our work world, but also because it reads horribly-horribly-horribly-horribly, the rhythm simply sucks*. You read it and did it not sound flat-dull-what-is-his-problem-anyway? That is because you read it wrong. 

The entirety turns on the "—Oh!" with the dash *preceding* the line. That is a clue for how to read the verse. This is no arcane rule; the leading dash derives its meaning within the context of the Silly Songs' punctuation scheme… it is the only time a dash precedes a line, signaling something special. 

That is the kind of close reading good poetry (stay calm: we do not presume the Silly Songs qualify) rewards.

So, how do you read The Ugly Duckling? There is speed going into "—Oh!" but a significant pause follows. "The goings-on" is to be read as befits the particular character of the phrase. Who uses the phrase, anyway? We do of course but we already know how to read The Ugly Duckling. The intonation of "the goings-on" is a combination of exasperation, affection, superiority, wonderment— the tone that might accompany an amused shaking of the head, as in Good grief, what next?

We are happily to recite/perform Silly Songs. If asked nicely. Fees are reasonable.

*merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.


‡‡‡  Relative to How To Read a Poem, take a look at Ashley Bryant reading Eloise Greenfield's Way Down in the Music. It inspired the peculiar working of The Ugly Duckling.  ‡‡‡

Lulu and Ben Simple

Toy prototypes for J.C. Phillipps's THE SIMPLES LOVE A PICNIC 

Silly Song Sunday!

This is the church
And this the steeple.
You can go in,
Just don't fall asleeple.

In the mid 90's, the late, beloved CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW read— as a friend, not as a Harper honcho (vulgar word vis-a-vis Charlotte)— our Silly Songs. Famous genius editor Charlotte called them verses, not poems, so we do too, never having asked the difference. Charlotte noted our good ear and playfulness throughout (phew!) and commented specially on This is the church. Unlike many Silly Songs, she wrote, it has a true emotional center. We filed the letter under Writing Is Hard.

ZOMBOY!

Wouldn't you know it, the new kid in school is undead. Uh-oh, here come the angry parents: "No Zombies in Our School." And now the bullies are starting in on him, too. True, the Zomboy is not too brainy, and his body does in fact drop pieces, but his staunch alliesBob and Evil-O (Olive spelled backwards) have him covered— kinda. HarperCollins Canada just pub'd this bright, even sparkling, middle grade title. Richard Scrimger is nearly the most entertaining writer we know.

DAY OF DAYS!

WE   (heart image here) THE SIMPLES LOVE A PICNIC + Julie Philipps!

 

Silly Song Sunday!

I'm a Little Tea Pot

I'm a little tea pot

In a snit.

Folks call me hothead

When I have a fit.

If your water boiled

You would, too!

So tip me over

And pass the moo.

** This one is best when sung, like the song, adding a good deliberate pause before mooing the "moo".

ANOTHER FIRST TIMER!

This (these?) just in, and excellent buzz is a-building. Ryan Gebhart's debut also got a tip of the Tyrolean hat last month— German rights sale. We expect THERE WILL BE BEARS to enable many translators to ply their trade before 2014 ends.

Silly Song Sunday!

Little Jack Horner

Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner

Eating his poor mother’s pie.

He stuck in his thumb—

And Mum struck him dumb:

Children! said she, with a sigh.

a new GAIL GILES novel!

We add with delight that Gail's first review— GIRLS LIKE US pubs May 28— is . . .  drumroll . . . a PW *STAR*. We love Gail! (And PW.)

Gail Giles. Candlewick, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7636-6267-7

Following graduation from their high school's special education track, two girls become wards of the state and are placed in an apartment where they live independently and cook and clean for their neighbor/employer, an older woman named Elizabeth. Sharp-tongued and aggressive, Quincy is defensive about her learning difficulties and the physical scars left by the source of her brain damage, "when my mama's boyfriend hit my head with a brick." Sensitive Biddy, who describes herself as having "moderate retardation," overeats to mask past traumas, which include having given up her baby. Giles's (Dark Song) background teaching special education students informs this blunt, honest, and absorbing story about two young women overcoming challenges that have less to do with their abilities to read or write than with how society views and treats them. In short, alternating chapters, the girls narrate in raw and distinct voices that capture their day-to-day hurdles, agony, and triumphs. The "found family" that builds slowly for Quincy, Biddy, and Elizabeth-with no shortage of misunderstandings, mistrust, or tears-is rewarding and powerful. Ages 14-up. Agent: Scott Treimel, Scott Treimel NY. (June)