meet 8 (!) amazing MG and YA book editors

Calling all aspiring MG and YA novelists! This week and next, I am posting interviews with:

Molly O’Neill of HarperCollins
Brian Farrey of Flux
Joy Peskin of Viking
Anica Rissi of Simon Pulse
Madeline Smoot of CBAY Books
Miriam Hees of Blooming Tree Press
Reka Simonsen of Henry Holt
and
Jim Thomas of Random House

Come check out these truly awesome editors at --

http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k9/

How to Land an Agent

Wheras almost every debut author I've met this year got their book contract through an agent, and

Wheras most writers freak when they hear the word query, and

Wheras it's mind boggling to get started,

Let it be resolved that taking a class will de-mystify the process.

(I worked on bills for two legislative sessions in Honolulu...at least that's my excuse for this)

Anyway, if you're interested, Writer's Digest is offering a Webinar on How to Land an Agent.
www.writersdigest.com/webinars

Check it out!

Up next...a profile of a young, hungry agent that presented at last weeks SCBWI Handsprings Conference in New Mexico.

Win this Bag of Awesome

Don't miss out on your chance to win this fabulous bag of goodies donated by authors at the Feast of Awesome. 1. Visit their blog by clicking on the Feast of Awesome address above. 2. Enter a comment by midnight tonight. 3. Win! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Confessions of a Read-a-thon Grinch

Recently, my son’s school held a read-a-thon to raise money for a field trip. Every parent at the school looked forward to the big event. Every parent except me. And worse, I didn’t dare admit the truth. Shhhhh. I loathe read-a-thons.

I really do love reading with my children—at home by the fire in my comfy couch that is. Reading in a small room with thirty-seven others is less fun. It’s noisy. It’s cramped. Wearing pajamas to school adds another angle--humiliation. And then there's the menu--the dreaded green eggs and ham in honor of Dr. Seuss.

But this year was different. Someone gave me a bathrobe last Christmas. Hearing my son, Leif, read The Cremation of Sam McGee made me forget I was sitting on cold bricks. The eggs were colored with chlorophyll instead of food coloring. By lunch time, Leif had read over thirty books. He was so proud I almost forgot about the noise, the crowding, and my hard seat. Almost. But please don’t ask me to do it again next year.

Query Letters Part III

You're ready to find an agent, but...

Did you complete Part I and Part II? No?

Go to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect 200 dollars.

I'm serious. Don't start hunting for an agent until you've written a killer query.

Oh. You did that already?

Hooray!

Start the search at www.agentquery.com Here you can search by genre, which saves time. Some agents share their likes and dislikes, plus some of the books they represent.

publishersmarketplace.com lists agents that are actively seeking clients. The list changes often, so keep checking back. For a fee, you can subscribe to Publisher's Lunch. PL provides info on all the current deals between agents and publishing houses, including a short description of each book sold, which gives you a sense of an agent's tastes.

Writer's Digest's blog Guide to Literary Agents is another excellent resource. guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ The archives are chock full of interviews with agents. The blog also announces conferences where agents will attend.

Once you narrow down your list, the Google will lead you to other interviews with your prospective agent, which will help you refine and personalize your query letter.

Always check the credentials of your prospective agent at Preditors and Editors. anotherealm.com/prededitors/

Good luck!

Don't miss this contest!

The 2009 Debutantes, under the auspices of the amazing Saundra Mitchell, hold a monthly contest like no other. Just follow the link below, add a comment, and you're can win a bag of treats. There's goodies beyond your wildest imaginings, so don't miss out.

Query Letters Part II

Ack! It's been over two weeks since I wrote anything on query letters. Blame my To Do list. It's grown (or is that groan) to three pages!

So you've been to Nathan Bransford's blog about query letters (see previous post), and taken a stab at writing one. You've deleted the first ten tries, but number eleven isn't half bad. Or is it?

How can you tell?

If you don't mind making your query letter "public," you can have it critiqued for free at:

http://evileditor.blogspot.com

or at

http://queryshark.blogspot.com

For those who aren't up for a public critique, read through the archives to check out other writer's queries. You can see my attempt for My Invented Life here (You have to scroll to Face Lift 314 about half way down):

http://evileditor.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

It's bad. I know.

Did I mention that I suck at queries?