JILL CORCORAN BOOKS

Why it take so long to hear back from agents and editors.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 14:17:00 +0000

So love this from Jill Corcoran Literary Agency's newest agent Eve Porinchak as a comment in the A Path To Publishing FB Group on why it takes so long to hear from agents/editors:

I've been in this group and reading all the posts for some time. I am a new agent with the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency, and interned with Jill for a year, reading all submissions. As a writer for the last 13 years, I know how very frustrating your situation is. Now that I'm on the other side, I'll share my thoughts: Just in the last few weeks, I have received hundreds of submissions. It takes SO much more time than I thought to get to them in a speedy manner, especially between other work duties and life events. I'm an efficient person…I read ms subs constantly, from my home, the doctor's office, on my phone before bed and upon waking. Still, I cannot imagine getting to all of them within a month or so. This weekend and next, Jill and I will be at conferences, and have two more next month. We are both traveling to NYC soon as well. So, unfortunately, sometimes reading queries is something we have to fit in. Fortunately, I LOVE reading them! I have no problem with people nudging me, especially because things can get lost in the shuffle, and I KNOW your time is valuable. I would definitely check the response times on the agent websites. And, yes, unfortunately many agents now say, "If you have not heard from us in XX amount of time, consider it a NO." I don't like this practice, but I totally get it, in terms of saving time (for them). Last thing…I have requested full mss that are just really really long, and it's taking me forever to finish them before getting back to potential clients. It's tough to read that many novels in a few weeks. I agree with the other commenters; be patient. The fact that you are getting requests for full manuscripts is a great sign. Keep on keepin' on!! Hope this helps.

Eve Porinchak, Junior Agent, Jill Corcoran Literary Agency

Eve Porinchak graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in PsychoBiology. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education from Colby-Sawyer College and attended medical school at the University of New England.

Eve has always worked with children in some capacity. She taught Pre-K through First Grade, with a specialty in reading, she worked as a state foster care case manager, teaches creative writing to incarcerated teens, and serves as an aid worker in Tijuana orphanages.

An active member of SCBWI for 15 years, Eve interned at the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency where she was recently promoted to Junior Agent.

Fun Facts:
Subject to change so don’t hold her to them! ☺

• Favorite Books: Monster by Walter Dean Myers, You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers, and The Stupids (That’s right, you heard me) by Harry Allard & James Marshall
• Favorite Movies: The Breakfast Club (Most brilliant movie in the history of movies), The Blue Lagoon (Hey, at least I can admit it), Kings of Summer (BTW, if you haven’t seen this indie gem, go - run, don't walk - to see it now. GO!)
• Dream Job: A Quality Control Tester at Cinnabon (For real, that's a thing!)
• Death Row Meal: Lindsey Leavitt’s grilled cheese, vanilla cupcakes, gummy bears, white wine, Cinnabon

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Jill Corcoran is looking for commercial concepts (your 1-3 line pitch gets me salivating to read your manuscript) written in stunning, accessible, penetrating prose. PB through YA, I am looking for books that are irresistible to their intended audience. I know this is not specific in content as I am more of a 'I know it when I see it' type of reader. If your book is for me my mind will immediately begin listing the editors I know will love your work and I will start daydreaming about readers raving and begging for more.

Eve Porinchak has eclectic literary tastes and is open to everything from picture books to young adult novels. She is currently looking for contemporary realistic fiction for teens that features unusual love stories with badass protagonists and cinematic writing.

From Eve: "Dark, edgy, psychological thrillers, gang-lit, realistic contemporary, mostly YA, but am open to anything. (I do love James Marshall's "The Stupids" after all!). Some of my favorite books to read over and over are: "True Notebooks" by Mark Salzman, "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers, "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn, "You Shall Know Our Velocity" by Dave Eggers, "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson, "This Is For The Mara Salvatrucha, Inside The MS-13" by Samuel Logan. I am NOT a fan of fantasy; however, I love the Hunger Games, so that is the closest to fantasy-ish I will read. Also a huge fan of true crime, and loved NPR's SERIAL. If your story reads like a Tuesday night episode of "Dateline", send me your pages!

HOW TO SUBMIT: Send cover letter and the first 10 pages pasted into your email to either Jill or Eve at query@jillcorcoranliteraryagency.com.
Please indicate in your salutation line if your query is for Jill or for Eve. You will receive an auto-responder to let you know your submission has been received. Jill or Eve will contact you (pretty darn quickly!) if we are interested in reading your full manuscript via email. If you do not hear from us in six weeks, please know we have looked at your work and have determined it is not the right fit for our agency.

What’s the difference between ‘new’ adult and ‘young’ adult? PLUS a contest!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 20:28:00 +0000

Guest post by Editor & Author of Writing New Adult Fiction Deborah Halverson, Writer's Digest Books (July 24, 2014), Sylvia Day (Foreword)

I bet the most common first question I field after telling writers that my new book is Writing New Adult Fiction is, “What’s the difference between ‘new’ adult and ‘young’ adult?” My answer usually starts with a single word: sensibility.

YA fiction has a youthful sensibility that matches the age range of its 12- to 18-year-old protagonists. Let’s leave the under-17s out of this, though, since it’s really the upper edge of teenhood that plays into this discussion. The way these older teens process the world and their place in it differs greatly from the way new adults do the same, and those differences play into how YA characters process their fictional world and react to it. Teens don’t have much experience with the world yet, so even when they are intellectually advanced, their emotional and social naïveté causes them to judge, act, and react differently than they will in just a few years, after they’ve lived through the hard stuff we throw at them in a YA story. These older teens are often desperate to get out from under their parents’ thumbs, or from under other authoritative oversight, and they believe that when they do, life will be so much better. They are an optimistic bunch—usually overly so, thanks to their inexperience. Their ability to put things into perspective is still budding.

NA fiction features 18- to 26-year-olds fully engaged in wisdom acquisition. They’ve got that freedom they dreamed of—only, now they carry the responsibilities that come with it. Turns out, it’s stressful living a self-responsible life when just about everything in your life is in transition. New social circles, new jobs, new living situations…. There’s lots of exploring and experimenting going on, lots of planning and reassessing plans and reassessing again. This is why NA fiction includes first forays into careers—that’s still a time of experimenting and assessing the Life Plan that they’ll settle into as adults with spouses, kids, and committed careers. New adulthood is also the time when young people use the wisdom they’re attaining to form their world view (which includes things like faith, political views, personal well being) and to establish their identities. They began identity exploration in their teen years but give it a serious work-through during this phase.

All of this plays out in a fictional character’s priorities, concerns, words, and actions, and in what the narrative focuses on (especially if that narrative is a first person point of view, which essentially puts readers inside the protagonist’s head). The things your characters talk about reveal their priorities and perspectives, and the way they act or react to situations makes those priorities and perspectives clear. A teen might think, “Is this what love feels like?”, whereas a new adult might say, “How do I behave when I’m with him? What do I want in a guy, in thisguy? What do I need from a relationship?” All of these things—point of view, dialogue, action, word choice—contribute to a narrative’s sensibility.

So that’s why I say that the key difference between NA fiction and YA fiction lies is their narrative sensibilities. Yes, the ages of the characters are different and the settings may be different too (think high school versus college), but it’s the way the characters process their experiences that define the category. Send a seventeen-year-old protagonist to college early and she’s going to interact with that world through the emotions and social filters of a seventeen-year-old. Thus, it’s up to writers to make sure all the elements in our stories sync—character age, setting, problems, coping skills—so that the story is believable to its readership. NA characters talk and act like new adults and face problems that would befall new adults. If you don’t, you’ve got a YA that feels preachy or an NA that feels too young. And of course what we want is a book that feels right on target for our chosen category’s audience.

Luckily, as abstract as narrative sensibility seems to be, you can actively sculpt it from many different directions, using techniques and strategies for tangible elements like dialogue, plot choices, characterization, and even setting. That’s how I filled up an entire book with NA-focused writing advice, and why I dare to believe that writers will find Writing New Adult Fiction applicable as well
as informative.

WIN a signed copy of Writing New Adult Fiction by Deborah Halverson!
In comments, let us know if you are writing YA, NA or both and then head on over to and join the A PATH TO PUBLISHING Facebook Group to talk with 1,600+ likeminded authors, editors, agents and illustrators: https://www.facebook.com/groups/apathtopublishing/

We will randomly choose one person who both commented and is an A PATH TO PUBLISHING Facebook Group member to receive a signed copy of Writing New Adult Fiction by Deborah Halverson! Winner will be chosen and notified via comments in this blog on October 15, 2014.

BIO: Deborah Halverson is the award-winning author of Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies, Writing New Adult Fiction, the teen novels Honk If You Hate Me and Big Mouth, and numerous books for young readers. Deborah was an editor at Harcourt Children’s Books for ten years—until she climbed over the desk and tried out the author chair on the other side. Armed with a Masters in American Literature and a fascination with pop culture, she sculpts stories from extreme places and events—tattoo parlors, fast food joints, and, most extreme of all, high schools. She is also the founder of the popular writers’ advice website DearEditor.com. Deborah speaks extensively at workshops and conferences for writers and edits adult fiction and nonfiction while specializing in teen fiction, New Adult fiction, and picture books. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and triplet sons. For more about Deborah, visit DeborahHalverson.com or DearEditor.com.

Here's to all of your publishing dreams coming true!

RESEARCHING AGENTS-Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:32:00 +0000

I am often asked, how does a writer go about finding an agent. Here is a short list of sites I compiled and recently updated. If you have more, please put them in the comments and I'll add them to the post.

Websites for researching Agents

AgentQuery : http://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx

Absolute Write: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22
Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents Blog http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

Literary Rambles (Agent In-Depth Reviews) http://www.literaryrambles.com/

Preditors and Editors: http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubagent.htm

For Kidlit - SCBWI Blueboards: http://www.scbwi.org/boards/index.php

QueryTracker: http://querytracker.net/

Lots of agent interviews, vlogs, blogs, twitters, etc all over the net. Google them and have fun researching.

Here's to all of your publishing dreams coming true!

Why I Reject a Novel Based on Your First Page

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:40:00 +0000

Someone asked me the other day if I nix a manuscript based on the first page. Truthfully, I do.

The first page indicates your voice and the quality of your writing. As an agent with a pretty full list of clients, I am looking only for writers who are as good or better than the writers I already represent. Why? Because my reputation as an agent is based on my ability to spot talent. I owe it to my clients to uphold the reputation they have helped me build, to the editors I work with and hope to work with so I do not waste their time, and to myself.

Here are a few examples of what I consider fantastic first pages that represent each author's voice and talent. As I typed them out I realized that one thing that stands out to me in all these examples is the specifics the authors use.....

From A MATTER OF SOULS by Denise Lewis Patrick, edited by Andrew Karre (Carolrhoda LAB)

The Colored Waiting Room

Elsie Timmons had gone through the wrong door. Maybe it was a mistake. All she knew was that her mama, Luther Mae, was hollering at the top of her lungs for her to "Bring her womanish behind back, right now!"

In fact, there didn't seem to be any other sounds at all on that late summer day in front of Dr. Baker's neat brick office building. Just the strange, trumpeting tone of Luther Mae Timmon's words.

"Girl, I said come back here!" Elsie had to turn around. Her mama's voice sounded shaky, that way it always did when Pap bought her a tiny sack of peppermints along with his paycheck, or when that big black phone would ring and she'd sit down hard, because somebody-some cousin or aunt, or uncle's first wife-had died.

Elsie had to shade her eyes; fall hadn't set in deep enough yet to dull the brightness of the Southern sun. As the automatic glass door began to shut, Elise could see her mother out there, slapping her thigh in frustration...no, it was fear! The navy pleats fanned in and out each strike, and Elsie imagined the nasty red welts that must be rising on her mother's Carnation-milk skin. Elsie put her brown hand on the door handle. She was torn, and just a little bit worried.

But before she eased her mother's mind, before she let herself go back to being the "sweet, levelheaded child" that everybody at Galilee Baptist said she was, she had to see.

From SUPER SCHNOZ AND THE GATES OF SMELL by Gary Urey, edited by Kristin Ostby and Kelly Barrales-Saylor (Albert Whitman)

My name is Andy Whiffler and I was born with a humongous honker.

I'm talking a nose so big it should have come with a warning label, a schnoz so enormous little people could use it as a sledding hill, a pie sniffer so massive that if someone was walking beside me and I turned my head suddenly to the left, I'd knock them out cold.

You get the idea.

The weird thing is that everyone else in my family has adorable little button noses. Noses so perfect they'd make a supermodel jealous.

There's a reason why I have a huge beak. When mom was pregnant with me, the pharmacist mixed up her pre-natal vitamins with a steroid for nasal congestion. The effect was disastrous. The steroid overstimulated a gland in my brain that made my nose grow and keep on growing. And I can never have a nose job because there's a major artery that connects from my nasal septum to my brain.

If I snip off my snout, I'm a goner.

Besides the lawsuit money, there's only one good thing that came from the ordeal-I have an amazing sense of smell. I'm talking super-power worthy. I was around the age of two when I first became aware of this talent. My earliest memory is sitting in the living room when a luscious aroma wafted into my nostrils.

Chocolate-chop cookies.

My nose told me the smell wasn't coming from our kitchen. I toddled out the door in my diaper and walked into the street. Since Mom was asleep on the couch and Dad was at work, no one saw me leave.

The sweet scent let me across a main highway, through an auto salvage yard, across a set of busy railroad tracks, and finally to the little white house with yellow curtains. The two-mile journey took me four hours to complete.

From DRAMA QUEENS IN THE HOUSE by Julie Williams, edited by Nancy Mercado (Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan)

The theater is lit up like an opening-night gala celebrating the first show of the season. It's graduation night, the second Thursday in June, and this gala is all about me.

JESSIE JASPER LEWIS...my name on the marquee in lights.

well, the marquee actually reads THE JUMBLE PLAYERS. But a dozen Japanese maples dotting the patio are sparkling with lights. All the windows in the old mansion part of the theater are twinkling, too.

And there IS a huge banner strung across the stage door that reads WAY TO GO, JESSIE!

My dad hops out of the front passenger seat and runs around to open the limo door for me.

My best friend Bits leans over me, letting out a huge sigh. "Oooooh! I never see it like this. I'm always inside by now."

"I know! It's gorgeous, isn't it?"

"Like Broadway!" From Bits that's the highest praise. "And tonight it's all for you!"

She gives me a shove.

I tumble out into the driveway. For such a tiny person-not even five feet tall-Bits sure is strong.

She slides out after me. "Let's go see what David's got to eat..." She's also skinny as a rail and always hungry. I'm always hungry, too. But when your five foot eight at fifteen that's a given.

Mom had gracefully alighted from the massive Hummer limo. I envy that grace. She and Bits are the same hight and so much alike you'd think Bits was her kid, not her niece. (My aunt Loretta looks like a linebacker.) Like Bits and unlike me, Mom has full control of all her limbs.

She grabs my dad's hand, and they lead the way towards the stage door.

Let me just say, that though we live a dramatic life, we are not accustomed to this extravagant mode of transportation. Okay, the truth is I've never ridden in any kind of limo before. And Hummers are-well, kind of disgusting. Plus, we live only two houses down from the theatre (572 steps to be exact), and my main transportation for going anywhere else has always been the city bus system. If it weren't for our tech director's other life running a limo service, we'd be in the theater van.

From BLIND SPOT by Laura Ellen, edited by Karen Grove (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Winter stopped hiding Tricia Farni on Good Friday.

A truck driver, anxious to shave forty minutes off his commute, ventured across the shallow section of the Birch River used as an ice bridge all winter. His truck plunged into the frigid water, and as rescuers worked to save him and his semi, Tricia’s body floated to the surface.

She’d been missing since the incident in the loft six months ago. But honestly, she didn’t come to mind when I heard that a girl’s body had been found. I was that sure she was alive somewhere, making someone else’s life miserable. Maybe she was shacking up with some drug dealer, or hooking her way across the state, whatever. But she was definitely alive.

Easter morning that changed.

“The body of seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni was pulled from the Birch River Friday night. A junior at Chance High School, Tricia disappeared October 6 after leaving a Homecoming party at Birch Hill. Police believe her body has been in the water since the night she disappeared.”

I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Tricia was a lot of things, a drug addict, a bitch, a freak, but dead? No. She was a survivor. Something—the only thing—I admired about her. I stared at my clock radio, disbelieving the news reporter. Ninety percent talk, AM 760 was supposed to provide solace from my own wrecked life that weekend. I thought all those old songs with their sha-la-la-las and da-doo-run-runs couldn’t possibly trigger any painful memories. I guess when a dead girl is found in Birch, Alaska, and you were the last to see her alive, even AM 760 can’t save you from bad memories.

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Follow the Money! A Freelancer’s Financial Life

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 17:34:00 +0000

Follow the Money! A Freelancer’s Financial Life by Jen Arena

Invoices, W-9s, royalty statements. There’s more to freelancing than just writing—sometimes it means dealing with the financial side. Last week, I went back over the past year to get a sense of where the money was coming from. How much came from the books that I dreamed up and my agent sold? How much came from my licensed writing? I broke it down into percentages below.

I won’t tell you how much I actually made, but I’m relieved it’s significantly more than what The Guardian recently reported an average writer makes in a year. (To make things simple, I figured this out based on what I booked this year. So for example, if a received an offer on a picture book in May, I included the entire advance even though I may not get paid part of that advance until a year—or more!—later.)

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers pubbing Sept, 2014

The breakdown:

Advances (3 books): 29.9%

Licensed writing (5 books): 29.7%

Flat-fee writing (2 books): 24.6%

Editing: 8.9%

Royalties: 6.9%

Here’s a little explanation of each category in case the terminology is unfamiliar.

Advances. This is the way many traditional book publishing contracts are structured. The publisher offers the author an advance against a royalty. The advance is a dollar amount and the royalty is a percentage of sales income. So, as a simple example, a publisher could offer a writer a $5000 advance with a 5% royalty. The copyright is in the author’s name, and sometimes the author will earn money years later on this book through royalties. The author may also earn money from subrights, such as translations, book club sales, etc. My books 100 Snowmen and Besos for Baby were advance/royalty contracts.

Flat fee writing. For a flat fee contract, the idea is often generated by the publisher and farmed out to a writer. The publisher offers the author a flat fee to write a manuscript, for example, $3000. Once the author completes the project, she’ll see no more money afterward. Sometimes an author will have the copyright in her name, and sometimes she won’t. Fair Is Fair and The Rainbow Mystery were flat fee projects.

Licensed writing. A license is a brand, like Barbie or Sponge Bob, or a movie, like How to Train Your Dragon. The licensor hires an author to write a book about characters it created. Like with a flat fee contract, for a licensed contract, the author is paid a set amount (for example, $3000) and doesn’t receive any money after that. The copyright is in the name of the licensor. Blondie: Rapunzel’s Royal Pony and Monsters University: Roaring Rivals were licensed contracts.

Royalties. Once a book earns out its advance (see above), the publisher pays the author royalties. Looking at that original example, on a book that costs $10, the publisher would need to sell roughly around 10,000 copies at the 5% royalty for the author to earn out her advance. (10,000 x .05 x $10 = $5000) I’m still earning royalties on my books Slinky Scaly Snakes and One Little Flower Girl.

Editing. In addition to writing, I freelance edit manuscripts for publishers, agents, and authors. Freelance edit jobs are a great way to smooth out the rollercoaster of writing, because they’re usually paid quickly and can be finished in a couple of days or a week.

What’s the takeaway? For me, the key is diversity. These five areas are ones that have worked well for me, but your five (or three . . . or six) may be different. School visits, for example, can be another way for children’s book authors to earn money, or teaching creative writing classes. By diversifying your sources of income, you spread out the risk. One year, you may do well with licensed writing and not so well editing, and the next year, those two categories may be reversed. Diversity is a great thing to add to your freelance career in other ways, too, such as writing for different age levels, writing different formats and genres, publishing with small publishers and large, or publishing traditionally and self-publishing.

Don’t let yourself be pigeonholed into just one category—you might surprise yourself with the different talents you have!

JENNIFER ARENA: Formerly an editorial director at Random House BFYR, Jen Arena has written over 50 books for kids under her maiden name, Jennifer Dussling, and under the pseudonym Tennant Redbank, including fiction and nonfiction, licensed and original. Some of the books she's written are Gargoyles, Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, Slinky Scaly Snakes, Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather, Fair Is Fair, Deadly Poison Dart Frogs, Gotcha!, and The Rainbow Mystery. Her books have been published by Scholastic, Grosset & Dunlap, DK, Scholastic, Kane Press, Two Lions, and Bearport Publishing and translated into French, Spanish, Korean, and Arabic.

Booklist called Jen's recent book 100 Snowmen "adorable and educational, too," and One Little Flower Girl, published by Scholastic, won an Oppenheim Gold Award and was featured on Martha Stewart's wedding website. She has a number of books coming to print soon including Besos for Baby with Little, Brown, Marta Big and Small with Roaring Brook/Macmillan, Lady Liberty's Holiday with Knopf/Random House and a biography for Grosset & Dunlap's Who Was . . . ? series. When she's not writing or editing, you can find Jen in her garden, on a volleyball court, or curled up with a good book. http://www.jenarenabooks.com/

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ACTIVATE YOUR STORY

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:45:00 +0000

I have been doing a lot of first 10 pages critiques lately, and I find myself writing…START YOUR STORY and ACTIVATE YOUR STORY on almost 100% of the manuscripts. Choosing where to start you story is so very important in grabbing your reader and willing him to keep reading, captivating him so he cannot put your book down.

Unfortunately, so many writers start in the wrong place. They start in what seems to me like they are talking to themselves, working out what is happening or who their characters are or what the back story is and putting that in the first chapters rather than starting where the book needs to begin. Starting right before everything changes for your main character.

Right before? Yes, I know you have heard so many times to start in the action, to start at the moment your character’s life is about to change, but by doing this we often do now know who your character is so we don’t care that their life is changing. We don’t care about who they are or what is their peril.

Don’t start by describing what is going on. Don’t start by having your main character ‘think’ about/tell us about all that is happening in their life. Don’t start with shot from a gun, waking from a bad dream, dialog of people fighting, random thoughts from your character that does not activate your plot and bring the character and the reader into the character’s world. Don’t write a passive, telling, descriptive beginning.

START YOUR STORY. Show your character in his world, interacting with other characters that give us a glimpse into who your character is, what problem is he facing and why this problem means something to him, and to us the reader.

In one of my favorite books, Gayle Foreman’s IF I STAY, Gayle does not start the book at the moment of the car crash. We first see the family together, we actually fall in love with the main character and her family so when the car crash happens, we are devastated along with the main character. Gayle starts the first line of the book with an intriguing sentence….a sentence that activates us to pay attention to this first meeting with the main character’s family. That foreshadows the doom and gloom to come:

Everyone thinks it is because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that’s true.

And then we are back in her world. A world where the main character is not telling us what is happening but shows us through other characters’ actions and dialog, as well as her own.

Look back at the first pages of THE HUNGER GAMES, SPEAK, LOOKING FOR ALASKA, DRAMA QUEENS IN THE HOUSE, STARGIRL, SWEET EVIL the list goes on and on.

These are captivating beginnings that establish voice, character, plot, setting without plunging us blindly into the ‘problem’, the ‘crisis’. They also do not bore us with little details that talk down to the reader to make sure they are going to ‘get it’, that make sure the reader knows everything they need to know so they can follow your story.

Often you have to finish your book so you can rewrite/re-envision your beginning. Often you have to toss out your first couple of chapters. Do not mourn those lost words. Thank them for helping you get started, for helping you understand where you book is going, for activating you to write rather than spend your years like so many wannabees saying I have a story I want to write but I just don’t know where to start. Congrats. You started. You got to the end. Now rewrite that beginning. Activate your story.

*originally posted in 2010. Still holds true:)

WRITING IS AN ART. PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 00:20:00 +0000

WRITING IS AN ART. PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS.

The word "Gatekeeper" regarding publishing is BS. I am not a gatekeeper as I am a woman/mother/wife/businesswoman (in that order!) that sees the opportunity cost of time with every client I work with, and Publishers are businesses that must make a profit (hello, are you a shareholder of any business that you hope will grow their stock price) and who invest not only time but a good deal of money In every book they publish...money includes but is not limited to rent, utilities, salaries of all 25+ employees that impact your book, development, production, marketing, conferences where they display and sell-in books to retailers, libraries, consumers, etc.

So enough with the gatekeeper argument. Don't blame agents and editors and publishers for not investing their time and money in your book. The books that are not chosen are books agents/editors/publishers did not see as a good investment of their time and money. It does NOT mean your book is not fantastic. It just means that the people you sent your book to did not choose to INVEST in it. And, if you choose to self-publish you are investing in yourself just as you invested your time and money to learn the craft of writing, and to write and revise your book. You are choosing to give up (opportunity cost) other things in your life that cost money and take time, to self-pub/market your book and in the end, there are no gatekeepers. Just choices.

FYI--I posted this on FB the other day but wanted to also post it here on my blog:)

Come on over to the A Path to Publishing Facebook Group to ask Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson, Literary Agent Jill Corcoran and over 2,000 other agents, editors, writers and illustrators your questions. Created by Martha and Jill, the APTP FB Group is a safe, smart, fun alcove for writers and illustrators to share and learn about the craft of writing and the book biz. This is NOT a place to sell your books but a wonderful forum for us all to advance our skills, our creativity, and our dreams.
www.apathtopublishing.com
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FIRST LINES FRIDAY-- First one:)

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 00:52:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of a fabulous first line. It truly sets the tone of your book and let's me know I am in for a great ride.

I often tell writers to read the first line, first paragraph, first chapter of books, tons of books...just the first....to see how those firsts effect them.

Then, go create a unique, enticing beginning.

First line from I'M NOT HER by Janet Gurlter, Sourcebooks Fire.

No matter how much I don't want to care, it's not easy being stranded all alone in the middle of a crowded room, like the ugliest dog at the animal shelter.

and first paragraph...

No matter how much I don't want to care, it's not easy being stranded all alone in the middle of a crowded room, like the ugliest dog at the animal shelter. Kristina shoved me into her shiny red Toyota like she's my fairy godmother, insisting I do the party "for my own good." But other than a few heys and disinterested stares, no one notices that I'm here. Before long, even Kristina forgets about me. Swept up by her friends and admirers, Kristina leaves me bathing in my own flops sweat.

I signed Janet Gurtler based on the first 50 pages of I'M NOT HER. There were no other pages back then but I knew Janet had a unique voice and a command of character. I wasn't wrong. Janet has gone on to selling 7 Contemporary YAs to Sourcebooks Fire.

Praise for I'M NOT HER

"Rich in characterization, Gurtler's novel wrestles with some serious issues and explores different means of coping (or escaping) yet manages not to be overwhelming or bleak. Just right for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jodi Picoult, this is a strong debut that attempts to answer the question, What does it really mean to live?" - Booklist

Check out Janet and all her books at her website: http://www.janet-gurtler.com/books.html

Need help with your story?

Looking for tips to prop up your middle with excitement?
Wish you understood how to show don't tell what your character is feeling?
Are even you sometimes bored with your own story?
Long to form your concept into words?

We can help you with all of that and so much more! View your story in an entirely new light. Recharge your energy and enthusiasm for your writing.

1st video (43 minutes of direct instruction + exercises for your own individual story)FREE

PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month includes 8 videos (5.5 hours) + 30 exercises total

You query an agent based on their ‪#‎MSWL‬ (Manuscript Wish List) and you get a rejection--my perspective on what the agent was thinking and how to turn this lemon into lemonade

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 02:34:00 +0000

So let me give you a little of what the agent was thinking and what positive reaction you

can have from this....

1) Agent was thinking he wants a certain book but although in your mind it is a perfect fit, in his mind he is looking for a certain voice/character/plot that is not the same as the ms you sent him, OR

2) (and this is hard to hear) perhaps your concept/writing/first pages are not as strong as you think they are.

You have a couple of choices...

1)you can keep querying if you believe you have made the query and pages the best they can be, OR

2)you can take this as sign that is time to relook and re-evaluate your concept, then your characters, then your voice, then your plot, and finally...the way your words form together on the page.

If you want to learn more, a discussion about this topic is happening right now in the A PATH TO PUBLISHING Facebook Group.

Come on over and join the conversation!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/apathtopublishing/

The A PATH TO PUBLISHING Facebook Group. was created by Literary Agent Jill Corcoran and Plot Expert Martha Alderson as safe, smart, fun alcove for writers and illustrators to share and learn about the craft of writing and the book biz. This is NOT a place to sell your books but a hopefully wonderful place for us all to advance our skills, our creativity, and our dreams.

A PATH TO PUBLISHING's goal is ensure authors and illustrators understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

There are 3 things that, for me, distinguish a great writer:

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 21:00:00 +0000

There are 3 things that, for me, distinguish a great writer:

1)VOICE

2)CHARACTER DEV

3)PLOT

in that order.

Be unique. Be yourself. Be confident.

Editor Jen Arena's Expert Advice on Writing Chapter Books

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 05:37:00 +0000

CHAPTER BOOK TIPS by Jen Arena, author of 50+ books and most recently line manager of Random House Chapter Books.

Most kids’ book authors gravitate toward a certain type of books when they start out, usually picture books, middle grade, or YA (young adult), but there are many other formats—easy-to-reads, novelty, board books, graphic novels, and, one of my personal favorites, early chapter books.

So . . . what is an early chapter book?

Have you ever seen Rainbow Magic, Junie B. Jones, Ivy and Bean, or Captain Underpants? Those are all early chapter book series. The thing is, few people write naturally for this level. Here are some tips if it’s a format you’d like to explore:

1) Early chapter books are short . . . but not too short. You still have plenty of room to develop characters, build the action, and have a satisfying climax and conclusion. Usually an early chapter book is between 5,000 and 12,000 words.

2) Make sure the problem that needs to be solved is clear early on in the story. A good rule of thumb is to reveal it by the end of the first chapter.

3) Since the audience for early chapter books is kids who are fairly new to reading, the reading level should be on the low side (above 1.0 and lower than 3.5). You don’t want to frustrate the reader and have them put down the book. This means shorter sentences and simpler vocabulary. How do you find out a manuscript’s reading level? In a Word document, run the Spelling and Grammar Check (under Tools) with your Preferences set to Show Readability Statistics. At the end, a reading level will pop up (it will say “Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level”).

4) Try to keep the plot fairly straightforward. Elements like a switch in the narrator or a flashback might end up confusing a reader.

One of the nicest things about early chapter books is that, more than almost any other format, these books work really well as a series. So if you like writing for this age level, there’s a chance you could end up doing a lot of them!

Jen Arena: Formerly an editorial director at Random House BFYR, Jen Arena has written over 50 books for kids under her maiden name, Jennifer Dussling, and under the pseudonym Tennant Redbank, including fiction and nonfiction, licensed and original. Her first book, Stars, was published in 1996, and has never been out of print, and some of her other titles are Gargoyles, Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, Slinky Scaly Snakes, Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather, Fair Is Fair, Deadly Poison Dart Frogs, Gotcha!, and The Rainbow Mystery. Her books have been published by Scholastic, Grosset & Dunlap, DK, Scholastic, Kane Press, and Bearport Publishing and translated into French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Jen Arena's most recent book One Little Flower Girl won an Oppenheim Gold Award and was featured on Martha Stewart's wedding website, plus she has a number of books coming to print later this year including books with Amazon Children's Publishing, Penguin Random House and Little, Brown.

When she's not writing or editing, you can find Jen in her garden, on a volleyball court, or curled up with a good book.

http://www.jenarenabooks.com/
http://jillcorcoranliteraryagency.com/clients/#/jen-arena/

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

HOW I READ A CLIENTS' WIP/REQUESTED FULL

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 23:31:00 +0000

As an agent, there is so much to read that there is the danger of primarily reading clients' manuscripts and requested fulls via queries, rather than published books. I've done it, other agents and editors tell me that they've done it, and writers, I wonder if you are doing the same regarding reading more unpublished than published words per month.

What I have found is that I am much more successful at choosing salable manuscripts if I stick to a discipline I discovered when I first started agenting, to always first read a fabulous, strong-selling published book in the genre of the unpublished WIP waiting on my e-reader.

For example, I have a client's WIP waiting for me that is contemporary boy mc. It is not a weepy book or a book in which anyone is sick, however I am reading THE FAULT IN OUR STARS right now (and LOVING IT!) because it is generally in the same genre and when I finish TFIOS, my taste radar will be on such a higher plane than if I simply started my clients WIP post Thanksgiving turkey leg. What I am saying here is that I am not comparing one book to the other, rather I am lifting both my conscious and subconscious reading eye so that when I go to read the WIP, I will more easily 'feel' its flaws as well as its shiny goodness.

Writers, I hope you are doing the same--reading well-written, strong-selling books that raise your game as a writer, as well as a reviser.

I'd love to hear what you are all reading, as well as genre.

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

WHAT IS A PLOT PLANNER & HOW DO YOU USE IT TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:54:00 +0000

We used the Plot Planner as a place to help you balance your intuitive impressions of your story with an equal counterforce: logic. The exercises are pathways to deepening your understanding of your story on all plot levels:

Thematic Significance

Dramatic Action
Character Emotional Development
Cause and Effect
Antagonists
Setting
Subplots
Secondary Characters
Beginning, Middle, End
Scene Development
Tension and Suspense

*****Time is running out to sign-up with literary agent Jill Corcoran and Plot Expert Martha Alderson for the 1st ever online, live Plot Whisperer Workbook Workshops evening chats beginning next Tuesday (1/7/14) from 5:45pm - 8pm PST for four weeks in January. Two daytime spots left beginning Thursday (1/9/14) 9:45am - 12 noon PST.

You benefit from:

1) being held accountable
2) receiving constructive feedback on your plot and concept
3) learning from other writers
join us and continue to deepen your plot and your understanding of your story concept with a comp analysis -- all ages, all genres, characters.

Each Workshop = 2 1/4 hours per week x 4 weeks for a total of 9 hours of Online Video Chat Face-to-Face with Literary Agent Jill Corcoran and The Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson. Each participant will receive weekly feedback as well as have the opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A Discussion.
SIGN UP NOW at apathtopublishing.com

Here is more on Plot Planners from Martha Alderson: Plot Planner: Plot your story using the universal story form for structure and impact.

A Plot Planner mimics the universal story and is the framework for developing a gripping story. Rather than creating a dry, episodic list of scenes to cover, arrange your story by cause and effect to best engage the reader.

Think of the Plot Planner as the route or map of the journey you envision for your story. When you first plan your plot, your route is likely to be sketchy with lots of gaps and dead ends. These gaps will smooth over and fill in as you come to know your story and characters better. Along your story's route, the plot elements of dramatic action, characters, and thematic significance will rise and fall, like waves cresting. The flow of these elements is like the flow of energy the Chinese call “qi” (pronounced “chi”). The qi is the mainstay of life force, inherently present in all things.

Within your story, the energy undulates. Although every story has its own energy, a universal pattern of energy rising and falling repeats itself. The greater your understanding of this stable format, the better able you are to determine where and when to allow the energy to crest, to make your story most compelling to the reader. Allow the energy of your story to direct the flow of your scenes. The closer you can re-create this pattern in your presentation to the reader, the stronger and more compelling your story. A plot planner helps you map your story's energy and direction.

DESCRIPTION

All great stories have a beginning, middle and end.

1. The Beginning

The beginning usually encompasses one quarter of the entire story. Most of us start out strong in the beginning, but struggle to keep the momentum going.

2. The Middle

The middle is the longest portion of the project – one half of the entire story. It commands the most scenes, and is where many writers fall short. When the allure of the beginning is over, the story starts getting messy. Writers often know the beginning and the end of their story, but bog down in creating the middle. Crisis is the meat of the middle.

Place crisis – the scene of greatest intensity and highest energy in your story thus far – around the three-quarter point in your story, when your audience needs a recharge to combat fatigue, frustration, and irritation. Crisis is where tension and conflict peak – it is a turning point in your story. Crisis is developed through the scenes to provide the greatest impact in the energy flow of your story.

The crisis is the false summit of your case, where the audience can perceive the true summit. Here, your story’s energy drops after the drama of the crisis, giving your audience the opportunity to rebuild energy in anticipation of reaching the climax.

3. The End

The final quarter of your presentation represents the end, which comprises three parts: the build-up to the climax, the climax itself, and the resolution. The build-up to the climax represents the steps you take to lead the reader to envision how the story should end. The climax is the point of highest drama in your story, the crowning moment when the thematic significance of your story becomes clear to the reader. The resolution is your opportunity to fully tie together that significance and make your story complete.

PLOT PLANNER BENEFITS

A Plot Planner helps you visualize your story. Use a Plot Planner to place your ideas and sequence your scenes to greatest effect. A plot planner allows you to experiment with changes in the storyline or presentation to evoke stronger reaction and interest from the reader, and gives you a sense for how the story may be paced. A plot planner also allows you to collaborate with others to generate ideas for better developing your story and to solidify your understanding of the story's core elements, and helps ensure that you understand the story you are presenting. Importantly, the plot planner enables you to keep the larger picture of your story in full view as you concentrate on creating the story’s individual parts, helping you maintain paramount focus on crafting a story that will convey your core message to reader or audience in a compelling way.

CONSTRUCTING A PLOT PLANNER

I recommend building your Plot Planner on big pieces of banner paper, running horizontally. It takes up quite a bit of space, but serves as a continual visual reminder of the entire project.

The Plot Planner is merely a line that separates scenes filled with conflict and excitement (above the plot planner line) from those that are passive, filled with summary and back story, or heavy with information (below the plot planner line). Scenes are where the story plays out, where the action happens moment-by-moment in your presentation.

The external dramatic action of stories told in scene and filled with conflict belongs above the line, like the white caps on the sea’s surface as a wave swells toward the shore. Scenes that show complications, conflicts, tension, dilemmas, and suspense belong above the line. Any scene that slows the story’s energy belongs below the line.

By placing ideas above and below the line, you create a visual map for analyzing critical story information, presentation flow, and weaknesses in your story’s overall sequence.

The Plot Planner line is not flat – it moves steadily higher, building your story slowly and methodically as tension increases. Each scene delivers more tension and conflict than the preceding scene, with intensity building to your story's climax.

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

ON THE DEVALUATION OF WRITERS, BY WRITERS

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:17:00 +0000

Do you all get bookgorilla? This is an email with a listing of $3.99 and under books on kindle. bookgorilla does NOT set the prices, they simply report on the listing, offering a link to that price on Amazon. For a long time this was free to authors and publishers, but with demand outstripping supply, they now charge a reasonable amount to get your book seen by their subscribers. And yes, this is just one of many such services. Here is a link to how bookgorilla 'chooses' which books to include: http://www.bookgorilla.com/advertise

The newest proliferation of $0.99 for 8 book sets is now all the fad. Writers, I know there is a good marketing reason for capturing readers with our first 'free' book and then have them coming back for more, but now that the reading public can fill their e-readers with practically free 'bestselling' books, what is their incentive to pay you a fair price for your next book? And what is a fair price these days?

There is an article in the WSJ today that talks about clothing prices, "Looking for New Ways to Set Prices, Retails Take Cue From Customers". Here is an excerpt: "Now that list prices have grown so detached from what shoppers actually pay, some retailers are experimenting with new ways of determining what their goods should cost....It turns out customers are sometimes willing to pay a higher price than retailers would have otherwise charged. ...Pricing an item too low at the start can signal that it isn't worth much, Mr. Zhang [a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business] said. But the practice has led to a cycle of discounting that frustrates retailers and confuses consumers."

I get it, we all want our books to be read and with the voices of bloggers and twitter-parties often trumping professional reviewers when it comes to sell-through, getting your foot in the door/getting your ebook on anyone and everyone's e-reader is the first step to [hopefully] selling these buyers your second book. BUT, if your self-pubbed book is free, and, according to bookgorilla, John Green's THE FAULT OF OUR STARS ebook is worth $3.99, then all of us in publishing will need to downsize our houses, our food bill, our lifestyles because unless you are selling a heck of a lot of books, at $3.99 or 1/8th of $0.99 or at the golden 'price' of FREE, we have all just devalued ourselves to a point of below the already pitiful American minimum wage.

And according to the WSJ, we may be too late to change our consumers' mindsets. In a related article in today's paper, "Black Friday's Illusion of Discounts", Suzanne Kapner writes, "Retailers, having trained customers to shop for deals, are stuck with the strategy for now. Macy's tried to cut back on coupons in 2007. "Customers stopped shopping," said Macy's Chief Executive, Terry Lundgren, "so we knew that was a bad idea."

P.S. 11/27/2013, just received my bookgorilla email and FAULT OF OUR STARS is now $2.99, and DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell is $3.79. And these prices are not Author-induced. For this we have a little help from Goliath.

Kindle users! The Fault in Our Stars is currently just $2.99. Amazon's (literal) loss. Our gain. http://t.co/l34tSYhiqL
— John Green (@realjohngreen) November 27, 2013

WHAT IS A YA KINDLE SERIAL & HOW CAN YOU WRITE/SELL ONE?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 23:21:00 +0000

Kindle Serials are books published in episodes. When you buy a Kindle Serial, you receive all existing episodes on your Kindle immediately, with future episodes delivered at no additional cost. If you buy the book while it is still being serialized you get to read the story as the author creates it, and whenever you buy it you can discuss episodes with other readers in the Kindle forums.

Right now the only Young Adult Kindle Serial available for sale is Erin Fry's THE BENEFACTOR. Currently three episodes are available out of an estimated six total episodes, with new episodes delivered to your Kindle every week.

In January 2014, Amazon will be selling THE BENEFACTOR in its entirety in paperback for a higher price than the $1.99 serialized price.

How did Erin get this gig?
Erin and I were talking about Kindle Serials and she came up with a great idea that fit the format to a T. We presented it to Amazon and they jumped on it.

I think the key is to come up with a book that is enhanced by the episodic presentation. THE BENEFACTOR is a story about eight high school seniors who compete for a college scholarship on a reality show where do-or-die challenges require more than high SAT scores to avoid elimination. Each episode is an episode of the 'television show'.

I know that future Kindle Serials are NOT based on fictional television reality shows, but for THE BENEFACTOR I think there is no better format for this kind of book. A true opportunity for both author and publisher.

Does Amazon pay well for YA Kindle Serials?
I can't speak for any other deal than Erin's but I can tell you we were very happy with the advance and royalties that we all finally agreed upon.

Do you want to write a YA Kindle Serial?
I'd suggest coming up with fantastic concepts that are enhanced by the episode delivery format. Make a list of ideas and see how you can use the format to enhance your concept, and your writing. For more information on writing concepts and how to brainstorm them please read my post WHAT MAKES A BOOK SELL.

I'd also suggest you fork over the $1.99 and see why Amazon chose THE BENEFACTOR to be the first YA Kindle Serial, and what sets it apart from other novels.

THE BENEFACTOR by Erin Fry

They come from different walks of life, with different problems and different hopes and dreams. But they have one thing in common: they need a scholarship to college. And they’re ready to battle seven other contestants on a reality TV show to get it.

There’s:
Mei, a budding artist with a secret disability;
Henry, not in it for the money but for the chance to follow his true dream;
Lucy, a tough Texan from a new kind of family;
Tyrell, an injured football star with a sick sister at home;
Sam, a musician with no family to fall back on;
Allyson, a devout Christian with a good reason to pray;
Cassidy, a beauty with a secret; and
Hiroshi, a varsity swimmer who left behind his true love.

But only one contestant can win on The Benefactor. Who will take home the big prize? Tune in to find out.

Episode List
An additional episode will be delivered every week until the book is complete. New episodes will be added to the same book on your Kindle, keeping your place and retaining your notes and highlights. You'll be notified via email when a new episode has been delivered.

Episode 1: October 8, 2013. 54 pages. The eight contestants arrrive in California and compete in their first challenge.
Episode 2: October 15, 2013. 51 pages. The results of the first Elimination are revealed, and new alliances form as the contestants compete in their second challenge.
Episode 3: October 22, 2013. 47 pages. The contestants' true colors begin to show, as one person is sent home and the remaining six compete in the third challenge.
Episode 4: October 29, 2013. 49 pages. A devastating tragedy sends one contestant home.

Discuss the episodes with other readers in this book’s Customer Discussions Forum on Amazon.com.

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

HOW TO CREATE A PUBLISHABLE NaNoWriMo Book

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 14:23:00 +0000

Who of you are doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Who of you have done it before and created characters and a story you love BUT when you went back to revise the manuscript in December or January you realized what you had was a 50K word HOT MESS?

NaNoWriMo can be a blast and a great exercise. But it can also be the first draft of your next publishable novel IF, in my opinion, you preplot your book so when November 1, 2013 rolls around you know what your book is about, where it is going, who your characters are, etc.

So how do you preplot with only a couple of weeks to go? How do you create that roadmap and those characters that are as real to you as you write as if they are sitting in the room with you, pushing your keyboard keys to make you tell their story?

My best piece of advice, get to know THE PLOT WHISPERER and use The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories

Seriously, look inside this book, read the reviews, and see how much it can help you! This book is NOT theory...it is a fill in the blank, step-by-step path to your NaNoWriMo manuscript.

Also, WATCH Martha for free on YouTube - Learn the 27 Steps to plot a story from the beginning to the end at How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? http://www.youtube.com/user/marthaalderson

Good luck! And I can't wait to read your REVISED NaNoWriMo book later in 2014!

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

KENN NESBITT's new PB in NY TIMES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 20:08:00 +0000

KISS, KISS GOOD NIGHT is today’s New York Times’ board book roundup!

Kittens, lambs, bear cubs, bunnies and chicks all snuggle their way to sleep with the help of their mothers in “Kiss, Kiss Good Night.

Kenn Nesbitt gives this big-format board book, with its shiny padded cover and dusky nighttime vignettes, a narrative in jaunty couplets: “When cuddly cubs begin to doze, / their mothers stroke them on the nose, / then grumble softy in their ear. / In Bear, that means ‘Good night, my dear.’” Tiny children will love the comforting sentiments, and older ones may find themselves memorizing the ingenious rhymes." Cartwheel Books/Scholastic

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/09/18/books/18childrens-slides.html

Children's Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt is the author of many books for kids, including Kiss, Kiss Good Night, My Hippo Has the Hiccups, Revenge of the Lunch Ladies, and many others. His poems have appeared in numerous bestselling anthologies, including every book in the popular Kids Pick the Funniest Poems series, and anthologies with nearly two million copies in print. His work has been published in hundreds of school textbooks around the world, as well as national television programs, and numerous children's magazines. Kenn travels the country, visiting over 60 schools each year, sharing his wacky brand of poetry with kids nationwide, and helping to create a new generation of poetry lovers. His website, www.poetry4kids.com is the most visited children's poetry website on the Internet.

MEET THE JILL CORCORAN LITERARY AGENCY TEAM

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 16:10:00 +0000

Jill Corcoran, Agent

In August 2013, after 4 years agenting with the wonderful Ronnie Ann Herman of the Herman Agency, I decided to strike out on my own and create the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency.

I am lucky to be starting not only with Ronnie's support and blessings but also with the clients that I signed while at Herman Agency.

I represent Picture Books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult plus a select list of adult non-fiction.

Prior to becoming an agent, I worked at Mattel, LA Gear, Leo Burnett Advertising and my own company, LAUNCH! New Product Marketing. With an English degree from Stanford University and a Marketing and Finance MBA from the University of Chicago School of Business, I have marketed everything from Barbies to Disney toys, Kellogg's cereal to LA Gear shoes. But when I started writing books for children, and then agenting them, I knew I found my true calling.

I am also a poetry anthologist. Winner of the American Library Association 2013 Notable Books for a Global Society Award, my anthology Dare to Dream … Change the World features work from thirty renowned contemporary children’s poets, including Ellen Hopkins, Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer, Bruce Coville and former Children’s Poetry Laureate J. Patrick Lewis. Each pair of poems in the anthology was inspired by someone whose actions made a difference, not only in their own lives, but in the lives of people all over the world. Subjects form a culturally diverse mix ranging from Jonas Salk to Steven Spielberg, from Christa McAuliffe to Michelle Kwan, with brief descriptions of their lives included. The collection,also garnered the California Reading Association’s 2012 Eureka! Silver Honor award and was named a Best Books of 2013 by Bank Street College of Education.

Taryn Fagerness, Foreign Rights

Taryn Fagerness specializes in representing foreign rights on behalf of North American literary agents. The Agency also represents a select number of authors domestically.

Before opening her own agency in March 2009, Taryn Fagerness spent five years as the Subsidiary Rights Manager and an Agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. She’s sold hundreds of books to foreign, audio, and film markets, including work by Lisa See, Amy Tan, Neal Shusterman, Charles Mann, Irvin Yalom, Keith and Brooke Desserich, Cayla Kluver, Chloe Palov, Matthew Dicks, Kimberly Derting and many more. She has experience selling subsidiary rights for New York Times bestselling authors, first time authors, and everyone in between, in nearly all genres including literary fiction, thriller/suspense, commercial fiction, romance, history, self-help, business, and children's. She has exceptional relationships with foreign co-agents, foreign publishers, and scouts, and she handles all aspects of selling foreign rights from international fair-going to submission, negotiating, and tracking titles through publication and beyond.

The territories to which she sells are: Albania, Arabic, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Catalan, China, Czech, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latin America and South America, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and British Commonwealth, Ukraine and Vietnam.

Taryn Fagerness Agency does not accept unsolicited submissions.

Kasey Poserina, Contracts Manager

Kasey Poserina most recently worked at Simon & Schuster as a Contracts Director where she handled all aspects of contract drafting and negotiation for the following imprints: Free Press, Touchstone, Howard Books and Simon & Schuster Audio. She was at Simon & Schuster for two years.

Prior to working at Simon & Schuster, Kasey was the Associate Director of Business Affairs at Trident Media Group, a large (and very busy) literary agency in NYC. There, she worked with over 10 literary agents reviewing and negotiating book publishing agreements, audio publishing agreements, publishing agreements with British and foreign language publishers, first serial licenses, film agreements, author collaboration agreements and the like. She worked at Trident Media Group for almost 6 years.

WELCOME TO THE JILL CORCORAN LITERARY AGENCY

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:57:00 +0000

After 4 years agenting with the wonderful Ronnie Ann Herman of the Herman Agency, I have decided to strike out on my own and create the Jill Corcoran Literary Agency.

I am lucky to be starting not only with Ronnie's support and blessings but also with the clients that I signed while at Herman Agency.

My new website www.JillCorcoranLiteraryAgency.com will grow and be updated, but for now I wanted to welcome you all to The Jill Corcoran Literary Agency.

RESEARCHING COMP BOOKS

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 15:40:00 +0000

1. Do you know what books are comparable to your WIP?
2. Do you know your target audience?
3. Do you know if your book has already been written, and if it has, did the book sell well?
4. If yes, why? If not, why? Was it recent? Is that comp book out of print? Why did it go out of print?
5. Is there room in the market for your WIP?

These are a few of the questions I ask myself when I look at a submission, especially a submission I am considering representing. These are questions you should have fully researched before you send out queries, and even more importantly, before you spend years writing a book.

Why? Because there is an opportunity cost of time and money for consumers, agents, editors and publishers for every book we read. My choosing to rep your book means I will not be repping a book by a person who happened to write the same plot/characters/unique twist that your book has. Perhaps that book is better, perhaps yours is. BUT, if that book is already out on bookshelves and is selling well, or not selling well, I/consumers/editors/publishers will not spend their time and money buying your book.

Below is a short list of sites I compiled for the SCBWI Agent Workshop I held in Bakersfield, CA last fall for researching comp books. I am sure there are many more, and I am sure my readers will help fill in the missing gaps in my list.

Websites for researching comp books

Perma-Bound (Accelerated Reader)
Publisher, year, reading level, interest level (age), # pages, # words, reviews. For example, here is my book DARE TO DREAM...CHANGE THE WORLD.

Amazon Advanced Search , Indiebound, B&N online, etc.

Publishers Marketplace $25/month. Also shows which editor bought the book and which agent sold it.

Website with catalog from every publisher: Early Word. Scroll down and find the catalogs listed on the left side. Lots of other great info here.

Here's to all of your publishing dreams coming true in 2014!

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

Photo Credit: William Wegman (American, b. 1943). Reading Two Books, 1971. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Robert and Gayle Greenhill, © William Wegman

BOOK MARKETING & SELL-THROUGH

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 21:02:00 +0000

So it is one thing to sell your book to a publisher, it is another for the book to sell-through to readers.

Be it the Big 5, the next size tier of publishers, start-up publishers or self-publishing, how is YOUR PUBLISHER helping to sell-through your book to readers? What have they done that you know increased your sales?

And for both traditionally published and self-published authors, what are YOU doing that you KNOW has directly increased your sell through to readers?

Remember, distribution in many ways is now more than ever a facet of a marketing plan. So distribution counts, promotional $ that resulted in sales (sadly some doesn't) counts, publicity counts (though not always easy to see direct sales but they do come), school visits, book signings, speaking at conferences where your book will be sold, social media, etc. What is CONTRIBUTING TO SELLING THROUGH YOUR BOOK TO READERS?

Here are a couple of things I did and what my publisher Kane Miller/EDC did for my book DARE TO DREAM...CHANGE THE WORLD that I know contributed to book sales. I am probably forgetting a bunch of it and don't even know all of the many things my publisher did but here is what I know/remember:

Flew to EDC/Usborne Sales meeting and gave a speech to their top salespeople.
EDC/Kane Miller created stickers and postcards for the book.
Signed books at ALA National and Mid-Winter
Created a website with detailed info about the book and the contributing poets daretodreamchangetheworld.com
Created an online chat with a few poetry contributors and teachers of poetry and writers of poetry plus gave away the book.
Had an extensive and truly fantastic Curriculum Guide created and gave it away for Free.
Created the Annual Dare to Dream...Change the World Poetry Contest for Kids and my fabulous publisher provided the prizes of a Grand Prize of $1,500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for a library of their choice + the 30 top poets will be published by Kane Miller Books in a free e-book! They also created double-sided 4-color handouts for the contest as well as stickers and postcards for the book.
Kane Miller worked with the GIRL SCOUTS OF AMERICA to involve Girl Scouts in the contest http://forgirls.girlscouts.org/cool-contest-alert/
EDC's Trade Department featured my book in their catalogue and tried to hand sell it to as many accounts as possible.
EDC's home sales unit hand-sells the book at fairs, school book fairs, to libraries, etc
While I could not go to BEA, IRA, NCTE, etc, the book was prominently featured in the EDC/Kane Miller booth.
I tweeted, facebooked, pinterested, tumbled.
EDC/Kane Miller facebooked and tweeted.
EDC/Kane Miller entered my book for awards and reviews and these are what I have received so far:

Winner of the 2013 Notable Books for a Global Society Award!
This award is given by Children´s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and is not only a tremendous honor, but also a significant factor in library collection decisions. According to the chair, the committee "... really appreciated the uniqueness of this book and the contribution it makes toward global and diverse children's literature."

Dare to Dream...Change the Worlds was chosen as a 2013 California Reading Association’s Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Honor Award Book!

The California Reading Association Eureka Award celebrates and honors nonfiction children’s books and assists teachers, librarians, and parents in identifying outstanding nonfiction books for their students and children.

Publishers Weekly
Inspired by coverage of the 2011 uprising in Egypt, literary agent Corcoran gathers 30 poems from Lee Bennett Hopkins, Alan Katz, Joyce Sidman, and others. Themes of social justice and possibility run through the poems, with roughly half paying stirring tribute to activists, artists, and iconoclasts, from Anne Frank and Jonas Salk to Steven Spielberg and the founders of YouTube. Jepson’s crisp collagelike illustrations present a gently textured backdrop. Julia Durango’s ode to author/illustrator Ashley Bryan is paired with a powerful evocation of the notion of grace by Tracie Vaughan Zimmer (“It’s bitter words swallowed/ before they push past/ the gates of angry lips”). Bruce Coville’s closing poem, “Ripples,” reads like a call to action: “No one acts in isolation/ And no act leaves the world the same./ Words and gestures ripple outward,/ What shores they reach we cannot name.” All ages. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Beverley Faher
The thirty poems in this anthology are inspired by the lives of those who through a discovery, invention, or dedication to a craft changed the world. And so you have a poems to celebrate Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, Michelle Kwan's efforts to attain Olympic gold, Temple Grandin whose unique mind conceived of a method to herd cattle, Christa McAuliffe whose dream to teach from space was so tragically snatched from her, and Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim and their vision of YouTube as a way of sharing videos online. Contributors include Alice Schertle, Marilyn Singer, Denise Lewis Patrick, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen and J. Patrick Lewis. Brief biographical information is provided and incorporated into the handsome illustrations thus making it nonintrusive. This is an impressive collection to share with children and encourage them to dare to dream.

CITY BOOK REVIEW, Reviewed by Murphy, Age 6
This book is full of poems about kids that changed the world by dreaming. My favorite poem is “And Then There’s Air”, about people who dream of flying. They wish to fly with birds, bats, and butterflies. Even though I love it, I feel sad about the poem because I can’t fly with the birds. The poem was written by Marilyn Singer, and the page has birds flying above the trees on it. It is a pretty picture. My second favorite poem is “Martha Graham Charts a Path” by Carol M. Tanzman. This poem is about a girl who learned to dance, even though her father said dance wasn’t proper, her mother said she was too old, and her teacher said she was too short, too clumsy, and too slow. It made me happy that she finally learned to dance and didn’t give up. There are many other poems. There are poems about athletes, artists, a movie producer, and even a teacher named Christa who tried to go up into space but died before she got there.

“Poetry about kids who had a dream and grew up to live the dream.”

I would recommend this book to people who like poetry. I like this book because there were lots of kinds of people. I liked the illustrations because they were pretty and colorful. It would be better if there were more poems because then there’d be more pictures. I want you to live. I want you to learn. I want you to dream!

I know there is a lot more I could have done like school visits, NCTE, IRA, BEA, etc, but I chose not to do that for family reasons. We all have to know our limitations and strengths.

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

RENEE TREML SHORTLISTED FOR THE AU CBC CRICHTON AWARD!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:53:00 +0000

HUGE CONTRATS to Renee Treml who has been shortlisted in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Crichton Award for One Very Tired Wombat.

The Crichton Award is for a debut illustrator and ‘aims to recognise and encourage new talent in the field of Australian children's book illustration’.

Below is a sneak peak at Renee's newest work pubbing Sept 2013 from Random House Australia, Colours for Curlews.

SUPPORT LIBRARIES--WRITE A POEM!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:12:00 +0000

Annual Dare to Dream Poetry Contest for Kids

Grand Prize winner receives $1,500
worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for
a library of their choice
+
the 30 top poets will be published
by Kane Miller Books in a free e-book!

A wall full of poetry from third graders at Island Lake Elementary in Shoreview, MN for the
Dare to Dream...Change the World poetry contest!

BUY THE BOOK

The Dare to Dream … Change the World Annual Writing Contest for Kids aims to promote literacy, poetry writing, and nonfiction research while inspiring students to follow their dreams.

It’s based on the award-winning Dare to Dream … Change the World which pairs biographical and inspirational poems about people who invented something, stood for something, said something, defied the naysayers and not only changed their own lives, but the lives of people all over the world.

CONTEST DETAILS

WHO: For students in 3rd through 8th grade.

WHAT: Following the format of the book, students will write a biographical poem and non-fiction paragraph about someone who not only dreamed, but who took action and made the world better.

HOW: Send your entry by e-mail todaretodreamchangetheworld@gmail.com, subject line of “DARE TO DREAM Writing Contest.” Be sure to include your first name only, your e-mail address and your parents’ e-mail address.

Official rules at www.daretodreamchangetheworld.com

DEADLINE: April 30, 2013

DOWNLOAD A FREE CURRICULUM GUIDE

The POETS of DARE TO DREAM...CHANGE THE WORLD
(bios of poets at http://daretodreamchangetheworld.com/index/)

Ellen Hopkins, Jane Yolen, Joyce Sidman, J. Patrick Lewis, Marilyn Singer, Georgia Heard, Alice Schertle, Lisa Wheeler, Julia Durango, Lee Bennett Hopkins, David L. Harrison, Elaine Magliaro, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Hope Anita Smith, Carol Tanzman, Joan Bransfield Graham, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Laura Purdie Salas, Curtis Crisler, Alan Katz, Rose Horowitz, Hope Vestergaard, Jacqui Robbins, Janet Wong, Stephanie Hemphill, Kelly Fineman, Denise Lewis Patrick, Joyce Lee Wong, Jill Corcoran & Bruce Coville.

My hope is that Dare to Dream…Change the World can spark a paradigm shift from resigned to inspired!

Winner of the 2013 Notable Books for a Global Society Award!
This award is given by Children´s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and is not only a tremendous honor, but also a significant factor in library collection decisions. According to the chair, the committee "... really appreciated the uniqueness of this book and the contribution it makes toward global and diverse children's literature."

Dare to Dream...Change the Worlds was chosen as a 2013 California Reading Association’s Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Honor Award Book!
The California Reading Association Eureka Award celebrates and honors nonfiction children’s books and assists teachers, librarians, and parents in identifying outstanding nonfiction books for their students and children.

REVIEWS:
Publishers Weekly
Inspired by coverage of the 2011 uprising in Egypt, literary agent Corcoran gathers 30 poems from Lee Bennett Hopkins, Alan Katz, Joyce Sidman, and others. Themes of social justice and possibility run through the poems, with roughly half paying stirring tribute to activists, artists, and iconoclasts, from Anne Frank and Jonas Salk to Steven Spielberg and the founders of YouTube. Jepson’s crisp collagelike illustrations present a gently textured backdrop. Julia Durango’s ode to author/illustrator Ashley Bryan is paired with a powerful evocation of the notion of grace by Tracie Vaughan Zimmer (“It’s bitter words swallowed/ before they push past/ the gates of angry lips”). Bruce Coville’s closing poem, “Ripples,” reads like a call to action: “No one acts in isolation/ And no act leaves the world the same./ Words and gestures ripple outward,/ What shores they reach we cannot name.” All ages. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Beverley Faher
The thirty poems in this anthology are inspired by the lives of those who through a discovery, invention, or dedication to a craft changed the world. And so you have a poems to celebrate Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, Michelle Kwan's efforts to attain Olympic gold, Temple Grandin whose unique mind conceived of a method to herd cattle, Christa McAuliffe whose dream to teach from space was so tragically snatched from her, and Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim and their vision of YouTube as a way of sharing videos online. Contributors include Alice Schertle, Marilyn Singer, Denise Lewis Patrick, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen and J. Patrick Lewis. Brief biographical information is provided and incorporated into the handsome illustrations thus making it nonintrusive. This is an impressive collection to share with children and encourage them to dare to dream.

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

The Dare to Dream ... Change the World Annual Writing Contest for KIDS!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:56:00 +0000

BREAKING NEWS!

The Dare to Dream ... Change the World

Annual Writing Contest

for students grades three to eight will launch January 25th!

Grand prize winner receives $1500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for a library of their choice

the top 30 poets will be published by Kane Miller Books

in a free e-book!

The Dare to Dream … Change the World Annual Writing Contest for Kids aims to promote literacy, poetry writing, and nonfiction research while inspiring students to follow their dreams.

It’s based on the award-winning Dare to Dream … Change the World (Kane Miller Books, 2012), which pairs biographical and inspirational poems about people who invented something, stood for something, said something, defied the naysayers and not only changed their own lives, but the lives of people all over the world.

CONTEST DETAILS

WHO: For students in 3rd through 8th grade.

WHAT: Following the format of the book, students will write a biographical poem and non-fiction paragraph about someone who not only dreamed, but who took action and made the world better.

HOW: Send your entry by e-mail to daretodreamchangetheworld@gmail.com, subject line of “DARE TO DREAM Writing Contest.” Be sure to include your first name only, your e-mail address and your parents’ e-mail address.

Official rules at www.daretodreamchangetheworld.com

Download a FREE Curriculum Guide for Dare to Dream…Change the World at www.daretodreamchangetheworld.com

DEADLINE: April 30, 2013

The winner of the Dare to Dream … Change the World Annual Writing Contest for Kids will make others’ dreams come true by earning $1,500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for either their own school library or a library of their choice.

Additionally, Kane Miller will make 30 student writers’ dreams come true by professionally publishing their work. Kane Miller will publish these top entries in an e-book that will be free for all to read, for all to be inspired.

Ellen Hopkins*Jane Yolen*Joyce Sidman*J. Patrick Lewis* Marilyn Singer

Georgia Heard*Alice Schertle*Lisa Wheeler*Julia Durango*Joyce Lee Wong

David L. Harrison*Elaine Magliaro*Hope Anita Smith*Carol Tanzman*Alan Katz

Rose Horowitz*Hope Vestergaard*Jacqui Robbins*Jill Corcoran*Denise Lewis Patrick*

Joan Bransfield Graham* Laura Purdie Salas*Curtis Crisler*Kelly Fineman*
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer*Stephanie Hemphill*Rebecca Kai Dotlich*Janet Wong*
Lee Bennett Hopkins*Bruce Coville

Teacher-Grants and Authors—Why We Should Care: Part 4 of the #CCSS Curriculum Guide Series

noreply@blogger.com (Jill Corcoran) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 02:21:00 +0000

Teacher-Grants and Authors—Why We Should Care

One of the things I hear from teachers is, “I’d love to teach your book, but my district has absolutely no money.” As a sixth-grade English teacher in California, it’s a situation I know well. Budgets are frozen, and where we once had department or library funds, we now have nothing. We haven’t even THOUGHT about purchasing new textbooks for years now.

But as an author and a teacher, it’s important to know that there ARE ways to get money for books: grants. I know, I know; you hear that word and think of research and forms and painstaking writing.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Recently, I fell in love with Jill Corcoran’s book, Dare to Dream . . . Change the World. Having worked for nearly a decade in educational publishing and developed curriculum for many companies, I couldn’t wait to use the poems in that book as the backdrop for an awesome poetry unit. A friend and I developed a teacher’s guide for it (insert link) and I was all set. Except I needed more books. I needed a grant and I needed it quickly.

Where do I find grant money?

My school is great about letting teachers know about grant opportunities. Our local rotary club and even some businesses give out yearly grants. The grant that I applied for was through Delta Kappa Gamma Society that awards money to women educators. But there are also TONS of grants available online. Check out this site: http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers. Teachers request money for a certain project and people who want to support teachers donate to those projects they think are worthy. It’s really easy.

But isn’t writing a grant difficult and time-consuming?

It took me about half an hour. I just described what I wanted to do. I came up with a catchy title and then laid out why I wanted these books and why students were going to benefit from them. I had to put in a few prices and do a little math but then it was done. Two weeks later, I had the money I needed to buy enough copies of Dare to Dream. . . Change the World to use in my classroom.

And here’s another cool part. Some companies, like Kane-Miller (Dare to Dream’s publisher), have MATCHING GRANT programs. Kane-Miller matches 50% from the first dollar, however when you reach the $200 mark, you benefit from free shipping. To find out if a book’s publisher has such a program, it’s a simple phone call to their distributor. For Kane-Miller the number is 1-800-611-1655.

But I’m an author, not a teacher. So why do I care?

It’s good to know about some of the grants available in your area. Know if your publisher offers matching grants or discounts for teachers. So when a teacher says, “I love your book but I don’t have enough funds to get a class set,” or “I’d love to have you come speak at my school but we don’t have the money,” you can immediately say, “Have you thought about applying for this grant?” and you might even have the form available for them!

In addition, consider having a well-written, CCSS-aligned teacher guide for your book. We’ve seen recently how influential teachers and librarians are when it comes to promoting kid’s literature. Every step you can take to make your book more classroom-friendly makes it that much more likely that a teacher will look at your book over the competition.

This post was written by Erin Fry, Teacher, Curriculum Creator and Author of LOSING IT, Amazon Children's Publishing

"Fry has a great ear for middle school dialogue, and her light, humorous touch will ensure that readers keep turning the pages until the uplifting conclusion." School Library Journal

CLICK HERE to read Part 1 of the #CCSS Curriculum Guide Series

CLICK HERE to read Part 2 of the #CCSS Curriculum Guide Series

CLICK HERE to read Part 3 of the #CCSS Curriculum Guide Series

Sign up for A PATH TO PUBLISHING online face-to-face writing workshops. Wether you choose the NOVEL TRACK or the PICTURE BOOK TRACK, our goal is ensure you understand concept, plotting, character development, scene development, action and emotional arc development, as well has how to pitch your work to agents, editors, and readers.

JILL CORCORAN BOOKS

Why it take so long to hear back from agents and editors.

What’s the difference between ‘new’ adult and ‘young’ adult? PLUS a contest!

RESEARCHING AGENTS-Updated

Why I Reject a Novel Based on Your First Page

Follow the Money! A Freelancer’s Financial Life

ACTIVATE YOUR STORY

WRITING IS AN ART. PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS.

FIRST LINES FRIDAY-- First one:)

You query an agent based on their ‪#‎MSWL‬ (Manuscript Wish List) and you get a rejection--my perspective on what the agent was thinking and how to turn this lemon into lemonade

There are 3 things that, for me, distinguish a great writer:

Editor Jen Arena's Expert Advice on Writing Chapter Books

HOW I READ A CLIENTS' WIP/REQUESTED FULL

WHAT IS A PLOT PLANNER & HOW DO YOU USE IT TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING?

ON THE DEVALUATION OF WRITERS, BY WRITERS

WHAT IS A YA KINDLE SERIAL & HOW CAN YOU WRITE/SELL ONE?

HOW TO CREATE A PUBLISHABLE NaNoWriMo Book

KENN NESBITT's new PB in NY TIMES!!!

MEET THE JILL CORCORAN LITERARY AGENCY TEAM

Jill Corcoran, Agent

Taryn Fagerness, Foreign Rights

Kasey Poserina, Contracts Manager

WELCOME TO THE JILL CORCORAN LITERARY AGENCY

RESEARCHING COMP BOOKS

BOOK MARKETING & SELL-THROUGH

RENEE TREML SHORTLISTED FOR THE AU CBC CRICHTON AWARD!

HUGE CONTRATS to Renee Treml who has been shortlisted in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Crichton Award for One Very Tired Wombat.

The Crichton Award is for a debut illustrator and ‘aims to recognise and encourage new talent in the field of Australian children's book illustration’.

SUPPORT LIBRARIES--WRITE A POEM!

Annual Dare to Dream Poetry Contest for Kids

Grand Prize winner receives $1,500 worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books fora library of their choice+the 30 top poets will be published by Kane Miller Books in a free e-book!

My hope is that Dare to Dream…Change the World can spark a paradigm shift from resigned to inspired!

The Dare to Dream ... Change the World Annual Writing Contest for KIDS!

Teacher-Grants and Authors—Why We Should Care: Part 4 of the #CCSS Curriculum Guide Series

Grand Prize winner receives $1,500
worth of Kane Miller and Usborne books for
a library of their choice
+
the 30 top poets will be published
by Kane Miller Books in a free e-book!