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Aspiring Authors Attend WriteOnCon Conference--at Home
Without incurring travel expenses, lining up childcare, and battling crowds, more than 11,000 aspiring children's and young adult authors attended WriteOnCon, a free online writing conference held from August 10-12. From the comfort of home, they were able to log onto the conference's Web site and view blogs, vlogs, panel discussions, workshops, and live streaming presented by literary agents, editors, and published authors.
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ABC and ABA to Present Merger Plan in September
It's been over a year and a half since the Association of Booksellers for Children first began exploring the possibility of merging with the American Booksellers Association as one way of securing its future. Now that possibility is moving a step closer, with the release of a merger plan early next month, and a vote in October.
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A 'Reckless' Road Trip for Cornelia Funke
Next month, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will release Cornelia Funke's Reckless, the first book in a new series that offers a dark twist on the fairytale world imagined by the Brothers Grimm. To launch the series, Little, Brown is sending Funke on the road -- and not alone.
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'Smart Chicks' YA Author Tour Ready to Roll
It's quite the big deal: 18 authors, 12 days, 11 cities. Kicking off on September 13 in Austin, Tex., and wrapping up on September 25 in Brampton, Ontario, the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour is entirely organized and funded by the participating paranormal romance writers.
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Columbus Zoo Mixes Animals and Books
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Columbus, Ohio, has launched a children's book publishing program, with the mission of extending the zoo's reach to children everywhere. The nonfiction books, which will be written by local authors, will tell stories about actual animals at the zoo, as well about special programs there.
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Pfeffer Challenges SCBWI to Join the Digital Age
In his keynote speech at the annual SCBWI conference last weekend, industry veteran Rubin Pfeffer urged the organization to transform itself into an ebook publisher as it approaches its 40th year, posing the question, "What does it mean to be relevant in the digital age?"
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A Visit to Harry Potter World
A sign welcoming visitors to Disney World in Orlando claims it's the place "where dreams come true." Not so for Harry Potter fans: their dreams are coming true a few miles away, at a new attraction inside Universal Orlando Resort’s Islands of Adventure theme park called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. My family and I visited WWoHP just six weeks after the park's June 18 grand opening.
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SCBWI Embraces Both Change and Tradition at Annual Conference
The 39th annual Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference kicked off on July 30 with a celebratory parade of the organization's 150 regional advisors, across the stage of the grand ballroom of the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, to cheers and applause from the audience.
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Artists on the Rampage—for Charity
When a giant robot and genetically altered frog do battle and destroy an entire city, there are going to be eyewitnesses. That’s the concept behind Eyewitness Reports, a charity artwork auction to benefit 826LA, part of Dave Eggers’s 826 nonprofit organization.
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S&S Unveils Two Digital Initiatives
]Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has announced two new digital reading ventures: the online serial novel Loser/Queen by Jodi Lynn Anderson, and the release of the first iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app in the U-Ventures series.
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Kids' Books at Comic-Con: A PW Photo-Essay
As PW reported, movies -- from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to projects starring superheroes -- got major attention at Comic-Con, held this past weekend in San Diego. Many children's publishers, authors, and artists were also at the show, promoting everything from paranormal novels to books about classic superheroes and Snoopy.
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Scholastic Close to Testing E-book Distribution Platform
Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Book Club and E-Commerce divisions, spent last week's conference call on year-end results providing a few details on Scholastic's plans to develop a proprietary e-reading platform that will sell children's e-books from Scholastic and other publishers. Newman said they expect to begin the pilot test for the program by the end of the calendar year. The service will feature proprietary e-reading software that initially will be able to be downloaded to PCs, followed by Macintosh and "ultimately every device," Newman said. The program will begin with 2,000 "carefully curated" titles and Scholastic will experiment with various prices, Newman said.
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Distribute Zest Books
Zest Books, a San Francisco publisher of books for teens, has moved its distribution to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The new distribution arrangement will be effective in January 2011.
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The Digital Revolution in Children's Publishing
In March, Anna Quindlen wrote in Newsweek, "Well, what is a book, really? Is it its body, or its soul?" Publishers of all stripes are struggling with that definition, including children's publishers.
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Why? Publishers Answer Booksellers' Questions
Booksellers and publishers may be in the same business, but they don't always understand life on the other side of the fence. Here publishers address frequent bookseller queries about everything from book club paperbacks to a perceived dearth of middle-grade fare and age-appropriateness.
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Fall 2010 Children's Announcements
Several big series are coming to an end this fall (Ellen Hopkins, Catherine Jinks, Terry Pratchett, and Mo Willems), but the season is also bursting with new books from Blue Balliett, Peter Brown, Doreen Cronin, Tony DiTerlizzi, Jennifer Donnelly, Richard Peck, David Wiesner, and many more...
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Brown Named President of Klutz
Scholastic has hired Matt Brown, co-founder and "play czar" at strategic innovation company big BOING LLC, to head up its Klutz division. Brown joins Scholastic as president of Klutz and a senior v-p at Scholastic Inc., a new role occasioned by the recent retirement of Klutz co-founder John Cassidy, and the departure earlier this summer of Debra Lande, who joined Klutz as publisher last year.
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In Brief: July 15
Jon Scieszka promotes his new series, Spaceheadz; Carolyn Meyer "dons" a gown for her Young Royals signing, and the worm from Diary of a Worm participates in a July 4th parade in California.
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People: July 15
Reka Simonsen will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group as executive editor, Casey McIntyre has been promoted to publicist at Penguin Young Readers Group, and Connie Hsu and Kate Sullivan have been promoted to associate editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
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Lotz Named Managing Director of Walker Group
Karen Lotz, president and publisher of Candlewick Press, has been named joint group managing director for parent company Walker Group and will become sole managing director in July 2011.
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