promoting to book clubs

Recently, I received an e-mail from The Kid's Book Club Book website telling me about a new promotional opportunity they had. For $550.00 and 25-50 books, they will "bookblast" your book to their list children's book clubs.

Usually I delete e-mails with "great promotional opportunities" but as I had been signing bookplates for mother-daughter book club, it piqued my interest. Signing a bookplate for each individual girl and her mother had given me warm fuzzy feelings inside--it was lovely knowing that my book (especially The Year of the Dog as it has so much of my mother's life intertwined) was part of a mother-daughter bond. The idea of a whole mother-daughter book club discussing my book was pretty wonderful.

But while that is priceless, I'm not sure if I can plunk down $550. to be featured on someone's newsletter. To me, the best promotion is usually something you do yourself or is done without payment, out of enthusiasm or appreciation--that people respond to honesty. If you pay someone, there is always a degree of mistrust. So, I keep thinking there must be a better way, a way I can reach these groups and make them aware of my books without having to pay someone.

However, perhaps that is naive. What do you think? What would you do?

Bazaar Bizarre in Boston

This weekend, amidst our first snow, I attended the Bazaar Bizarre in downtown Boston at the Castle (pictured above). Its the ultimate in handmade crafty goodness! This year, despite the state of the economy, I was amazed to see the line to get in running about a block long. I had thought things might be slower this year, but that was not at all the case. I was chatting with a friend who had a table inside, and she said at all the craft sales she's done lately sales have been up compared to past years. Interesting. Maybe folks are just thinking more about how they spend their money, and trying to support local artists?

Anyways, here are some highlights. The place was filled with adorable tiny plush toys, silk screened t-shirts and handmade things of all kinds.

I've always loved looking at vast quantities of colorful yarn:



I LOVED these little guys. They are by an artist called Ashley Anna Brown, she calls them Fern Animals. I love the kitties in stripes!



These guys are by Soto Softies. The details on the owls are so lovely:





More plush goodness by Wren Handmade. I'm not a big into dolls usually, but these were so meticulously crafted and beautiful. I especially loved the pile of little coats:



And lastly, rows and rows of handmade soap by The Fuzzy Bunny. I bought the citrus basil, lilac, and white tea and ginger. Yum!



See the Bazaar Bizarre link above for dates in other cities. And support local artists this holiday season (including Grace at the RISD sale this weekend)!

Is there ageism in Publishing?

A while ago I received an anonymous email asking me if I thought there was ageism against older authors (let's say over 55), in publishing, specifically in middle grade and young adult fiction. From how the question was asked, it was clear that the author thought the answer was yes, and that she had experienced it first-hand.

My first instinct was to say no, because 99.9% of the time I'm reading manuscript submissions, I don't know the age of the author. Even if the author gives some hints in the cover letter (for example, by saying that he or she is a retired librarian), it wouldn't affect my judgement, because I don't generally read the cover letter before reading the manuscript. It's hard to say for sure, but I'd like to think that even if I did know an author's age, it wouldn't affect me either way, because it's the writing that I fall in love with.

However, the one time I have seen the author's age make a difference is in an auction situation when we're deciding whether we want to compete with other publishers for a project. When we make an aggressive offer on a project, we're looking to make an investment in the author's career--generally, we're not looking to publishing "one-off" books. And if we feel that the author may not have more than one or two books in them, we might not think it's worth the investment. However, I can't imagine that this would come into play unless an author was over, say, 75 or so.

An author's age may also make a difference in terms of Publicity. The publicist is looking to see how "media-genic" an author might be, and so, yes--I think in some cases, if an author is young (and attractive!), this might be taken into account. I think especially for teen readers, they like to think that the author is young and hip and cool, and in the age of social networking, they have easy access to information about the author in some cases. Then again, if an author is older, it may actually be a plus for publicity. For example, author Millard Kaufman published his first novel at age 90, and his age made for a great publicity hook, just as Christopher Paolini's young age did, too.

It was interesting that the email specified older books, because I don't think ageism affects picture books at all--in fact, having a "grandmotherly" or "grandfatherly"-aged author might actually be an advantage.

If you're an older author and aren't having luck getting a book published, I don't think you should or can blame ageism. Publishing is a difficult, competitive industry no matter what your age. And I think older authors have the advantage of having more of a wealth of life experiences to draw on, which gives them an advantage over younger authors. You need to focus on the positives, know your weaknesses, and keep working to improve. I do think that in some cases, older authors might have a disadvantage in writing contemporary YA novels, because it's hard to write authentic teen dialogue, and the farther away you are from your teen years, the more foreign their language may seem. However a 15-year-old or a 30-year-old can be just as guilty of writing inauthentic dialogue as much as a 60-year-old. And no matter their age, authors can find opportunities to be around teens, observe them, listen to their language.

In my opinion, some of us may be guilty of ageism in Publishing, but I honestly don't think it comes into play very often. But I wonder if any of you feel differently or have had personal experiences to share regarding this issue. Because if even a little ageism exists, we should move toward eliminating it. Please share!

interview

I'm off to Arizona, back pain, chest pain and all.

Anyway, I'll be busy... I think. I'm just tearing myself out of a bad flare-up but I took it upon myself to take 3 times the amount of steroids so I should be in good shape (fingers crossed).

Until I get to post again, if you have a moment check out a great article fellow author Patricia Newman did on yours truly.

http://www.meghan-mccarthy.com/whowrotethat1.pdf

http://www.meghan-mccarthy.com/whowrotethat2.pdf

She has a lot of great interviews on her site so I recommend checking it out!
http://patriciamnewman.com/

Until I return!
meghan

Question of the week: Whats on your mind?

Anna: A new story idea. Organizing what to put on newly installed Ikea shelves (they are high enough that the kittens can't reach them). Figuring out what to make with the large variety of squash in our weekly vegetable delivery. Any suggestions? I've already covered stuffed squash, curried squash soup, and Bulgarian squash casserole...

Elaine: Trying to start work on the factual information that will accompany a collection of poems I began writing in late spring. I've had a hard time focusing on my writing in the last few months--and have to get myself into the groove again. I'm back to my brisk daily walk. I always feel better when I get some outdoor exercise. I hope walking will help clear my mind and help me focus on my writing better. I have to transfer tons of files from my old computer to my new one. My old computer is so outdated that I haven't been able to download files onto disks or a memory stick. (I think I'll just have to try one more time.) I've been making arrangements for the 45th reunion of my high school class (Bishop Fenwick High School Class of 1964). I've also been working on event plans for the PAS North Shore Council's 2009-2010 Speaker Series. I have already talked to two terrific children's authors/illustrators who are interested in being featured speakers.

Grace: The RISD Sale! It's a craft fair for RISD alumni and I have a booth this year. I'm going to sell books, prints and maybe cookies. I thought about cupcakes but the travel is so risky, cookies might be a better bet. If I have time to bake, that is. Anyway, I hope to see some of you there. It's:

RISD Alumni Holiday Art Sale
Saturday, December 13
10am to 5pm
Rhode Island Convention Center
1 Sabin St, Providence, RI
Booth #310

POETRY FRIDAY: The 2008 Cybils & Children's Poetry Book Reviews

I am serving once again as a member of the Cybils poetry-nominating panel. For this Poetry Friday, I thought that I would post links to the reviews of four of the nominated books that I wrote earlier this year for Wild Rose Reader.



For more information about the Cybils, click on the following link:
The Cybils 2008: The Children’s & Young Adult Literary Awards

Reviews of Children’s Poetry Books Nominated for a 2008 Cybils

The Monarch’s Progress: Poems with Wings Written & Illustrated by Avis Harley

On the Farm Written by David Elliott & Illustrated by Holly Meade

Stella, Unleashed: Notes from the Doghouse Written by Linda Ashman & Illustrated by Paul Meisel

The World's Greatest: Poems Written by J. Patrick Lewis & Illustrated by Keith Graves

Click here to see the list of all the children’s poetry books nominated for a 2008 Cybils.

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Since I’m no longer reviewing books for Blue Rose Girls, I thought that I would also include links to some of the other children’s poetry books that I reviewed for Wild Rose Reader in 2008.

• The Sun in Me: Poems about the Planet


• Fall into Poetry (Includes reviews of Douglas Florian’s Autumnblings and Steven Schnur’s Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic)


• Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees: School Poems


• Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems


• Poetry and Science, Part I (Includes reviews of Susan Katz’s Looking for Jaguar and Other Rain Forest Poems and Avis Harley’s Sea Stars: Saltwater Poems)


• Poetry and Science, Part II (Includes reviews of David M. Schwartz’s Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed…and Revealed and Leslie Bulion’s Hey There, Stink Bug!)


• Welcoming Spring...with Poetry (Includes reviews of Steven Schnur’s Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic and Douglas Florian’s Handsprings)


• Poetry Book Review: Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!
  

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have reviews of J. Patrick Lewis’s Under the Kissletoe: Christmastime Poems and Harriet Ziefert’s Hanukkah Haiku.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

discipline

So the holiday season has arrived and I've found it hard to stay focus on work. This is the time of year that I love and hate being a freelancer. I love it because I can make my own schedule--I can dedicate a day to make the cookies and crafts that I am dreaming of--and I hate it for the same reason. It is hard to make myself do "real work" (meaning something that I will get paid for!) when there are so many other things I'd rather be doing.

This is something even more evident as I've embraced the writing side of my career. Becoming an author has been more a result of persistence than calling. I rarely have characters whispering in my ear or find myself in a dream-like reverie of mystical creation. My writing is usually just me, unromantically pegging away.

In the past, I used to wonder if this sort of non-magical creative method was somehow a reflection of my work. If the trumpets did not blare while I wrote, was what I wrote unworthy? However, as time passed, I slowly accepted that this plodding process was just my way, for better or worse.

And right now,unfortunately, it is for worse. It is hard to face trudging through writing when I'd rather decorate cookies. I've gotten so self-indulgent that I've decided to try Linda Sue Park's method of writing two pages a day, without excuse. We'll see if it works. If not, I'll have to ask for some discipline for Christmas.

my december newsletter

I just sent out my December Newsletter, which included a free, downloadable cookie tin label and the reminder that my bookplate promotion ends DECEMBER 7th.

Please sign up for my newsletter HERE.

Kazoo activity sketches

Last week I posted some photos of an activity I was working out for a new book proposal (see here), here are the sketches that resulted...

NCTE/ALAN

Instead of my usual summary post, I've made an Animoto video--now with text! Enjoy.

"The Connecticut Adventure" and other horrors

When I was a child, I assumed our books in school would be boring and I don't remember any exceptions. The text was dull and the illustrations were ugly. The books even smelled different from the books we got at home as presents.

I thought that this had changed until I saw a new social studies book -- THE CONNECTICUT ADVENTURE was its name. I think the title says it all.....but just to be clear: this was no adventure story. It was just as boring as old-style social studies books. Our history is so interesting; I remember as a child being not only fascinated by the Revolution (liberty! freedom! all those grown-ups dressing up and dumping tea into the Boston harbor!) but really believing in all the American ideals we learned in school: checks and balances, liberty, justice, equality, all that....how I learned it, I'm not sure. Maybe from those same boring books, maybe from what my teachers told me. I do remember one teacher explaining, when someone asked about "all MEN" being created equal that the idea of "men" had been gradually expanding since the Declaration of Independence, and that the Constitution had been written so that it could expand. That made sense: it was during my childhood that the Civil Rights Movement was starting to succeed, it was a hopeful time. But then all that progress seemed to stop and like many people my age, I lost my pride in my country during the Vietnam War era -- but I've always been glad I had it as a child.

So I was a little taken aback when I was flipping through one of Adam's books and our history was told ONLY in terms of all the terrible things the colonists and later Americans did. Of course, they did those things. But they did also try to form a new nation, based on ideas that were radically different from any other endeavors going on at the time....growing up ashamed of your country (as I think many people born after, say, 1960?) have is a sad way to feel. I've certainly hated feeling that shame for all these years!

Obama's election has made me believe in America again -- to think that maybe our system really can work the way it was meant to. I wonder if anyone else feels the same way? And if now, we can not only "form a more perfect Union" but put some of the hope and pride we feel into our textbooks, too.

santa claus parade

My visit in Montreal coincided with their Santa Claus Parade, which I was excited to go see. Even the cold Canadian morning weather could not freeze my excitement. And how could it? My first glimpse of the parade was the float with... unicorns! (Did I ever mention I was a big unicorn girl in grade school?) Anyway, the parade was the perfect harbinger of my holiday cheer. And now, I want to do a book about a Santa Claus parade. It was such fun to see children's book characters like Alice, come to life,



a walking Christmas dinner,


oompa-loompa-ish ornaments,


and, of course, Santa!


Anyway, if I don't make a book about a parade, someday I would like to be in one. What do you say--a Blue Rose Girls parade? I'd be happy to be the one to throw the blue roses from the unicorn.

My new blog: Painting Bunnies

As I mentioned in the last question of the week, I've just started my own blog (at last I finished the design, phew!). I'll be posting a lot of the types of posts I do here at BRG; paintings in progress, process oriented posts, updates about new books and events. Come stop by sometime! Here is the link.

Getting crafty

As I mentioned before here, I've been working on a proposal for a sequel to my soon to be released book, What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? A Green Activity Book About Reuse. So I've gone back to my teacherly roots and pulled out my craft supply bin...

Before I can turn a craft into a spread in the book I of course need to test it out. This week I did some bubble painting with a kazoo. These are the days that I think I have the best job ever. And perhaps the wierdest. Here are some pics.

Mixing the paint with dishsoap and water:



Place kazoo in soapy paint and blow bubbles:





Print bubbles onto paper:



So much fun.

National Book Awards, and WABI SABI video

Greetings from San Antonio! It's such a beautiful city. I'll try to write about NCTE/ALAN next week, because I'm still in the middle of things (NCTE just finished yesterday, ALAN starts today), but I wanted to share a few photos and videos from last week's National Book Award ceremony. I attended for the first time, and was both excited and intimidated. First of all, it was black tie, so I needed to dress appropriately. Second of all, I knew the majority of attendees would be on the adult side of the industry--in fact, at the Hachette Book Group table, I was the lone representative of the Young Readers division. But we were hosting Young People's Literature judge Holly Black and her husband Theo, so I knew they'd be some familiar faces there.

(unfortunately, I didn't take a good picture of my dress, but it was black chiffon, knee length, with a beaded waist)

Here is our dessert:

And here is a video of committee chair Daniel Handler announcing the winner:

[video to come--I'm having some technical difficulties]

Congratulations to winner Judy Blundell for What I Saw and How I Lied. Although she's published perhaps a hundred or so books under pseudonyms, this was the first time she's published under her own name. She gave the sweetest, most sincere thanks to her editor David Levithan, thanking him for "Giving me my voice." (Of course I remember how the editor was thanked!)

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. Check out these great interviews with the Young People's Literature nominees from a while back in PW.

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I received some unbelievable news right before the awards--Wabi Sabi debuted on the NY Times Best Seller list at #8! This is my first NY Times bestseller, and I must say, it was unexpected. I'm still in shock.

Speaking of Wabi Sabi (and I often do, don't I), remember that video I mentioned, the one we were filming when I almost lost the art for a second time?

Well, it's finally ready to be viewed. Check it out here.

I think it turned out quite well! And a last little coincidence that links this with the National Book Awards is that I ran into the filmmaker who interviewed Ed at the award ceremony, he was helping film material for Publisher's Weekly.

Anyway, that's all for now. Looking forward to all of the great ALAN presentations. Until next week! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Question of the week: How are you procrastinating?

Anna: Right now I'm obsessing over designing the blog I'm going to start. Yes it is work related, but hardly the most pressing thing to be working on right now! I seem to always want to do the project that does not have a deadline attached.

Alvina: I've been logging onto Facebook and reading people's status updates more than usual...oh, and I'm still watching those doggies on the Puppy Cam. They've gotten so big and active!

Grace: I've been consumed with the idea of candy making. I want to try making my own truffles or candy canes even though I am not particularly confident at how successful I will be. I blame the Martha Stewart magazine I leafed through the last time I was in the bookstore.

Elaine: I haven't exactly been procrastinating--I've started preparing for Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I've been cooking up batches of reduction sauce for the turkey gravy. It's a long, involved process--roasting turkey parts with vegetables, then cooking them in a pot, then straining the stock and cooking it down until its almost as dark as bitter chocolate. I've done it three times this week. It's a lot of work--but the gravy will be tasty, rich, and so delicious. My husband says it's the best part of the Thanksgiving dinner.

Libby: Well, I think my last post answers that question. And that's only one example! I tried quitting my browsers, so I'd have to start them each time. Didn't work. Unplugging my modem (have to contort myself into a yoga-like pose to reach it) does. It makes me pause just long enough to control the impulse. I've also been perfecting the Pad Thai recipe -- when I can get it to come out perfectly three times in a row, I'll post it here.

How famous are you?

This easy and completely non-scientific test may surprise you.

Type your first name into Google -- if you're super-famous, or have an unusual first name (the bias of this test!), you will appear in the list of suggested names. Alvina is the only person I know personally who does.



The most famous author I could think of appears after you type her first initial followed by a period.

But here's where it starts to get fun and (to me, anyway) encouraging and interesting, too: type a space and the first letter of your last name (or maybe the first two letters) and if you have had a few books published, and a Web site, you will probably appear somewhere near the top of that list! Exception: if a celebrity with lots of Web sites and blogs has the same first name and initial. I can't even bring myself to write the name of the celebrity who hogged a slot that should properly belong to one of the BRGs.

But my other author friends all appeared.....and (this really surprised me!) we were only two places lower ("less relevant," as Google has it) on our lists than really famous authors like Jerry Spinelli and Linda Sue Park were on theirs! Did your name show up on this ______(first name) and __(last initial) list? I only tried ten authors, maybe it's just coincidence that they all -- famous, a little famous, and (like me) not at all famous - ended up in about the same spot on the list. All about equally relevant, according to Google.

POETRY FRIDAY: Defending Walt Whitman

Another Poetry Friday in November—and here’s another Sherman Alexie poem for you. It’s a poem about basketball and American Indian boys and God and brown skin and muscles and athletic prowess and hair and young veterans of foreign wars…and a bearded Walt Whitman observing it all. Who else but Alexie could write a poem like this?

From Defending Walt Whitman
by Sherman Alexie

Basketball is like this for young Indian boys, all arms and legs

and serious stomach muscles. Every body is brown!

These are the twentieth-century warriors who will never kill,

although a few sat quietly in the deserts of Kuwait,

waiting for orders to do something, to do something.

God, there is nothing as beautiful as a jumpshot

on a reservation summer basketball court

where the ball is moist with sweat,

and makes a sound when it swishes through the net

that causes Walt Whitman to weep because it is so perfect.

There are veterans of foreign wars here

although their bodies are still dominated

by collarbones and knees, although their bodies still respond

in the ways that bodies are supposed to respond when we are young.

Every body is brown! Look there, that boy can run

up and down this court forever. He can leap for a rebound

with his back arched like a salmon, all meat and bone

synchronized, magnetic, as if the court were a river,

as if the rim were a dam, as if the air were a ladder

leading the Indian boy toward home.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have a bunch of original list poems I posted for Tricia’s Poetry Stretch this week.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Brimstone Soup.

distracted yet again

Well, it seems that my distraction continues. I went from making music (had to give that up because my friend needed to borrow my mic - and YES I went through withdrawal) to watching the X-Files nonstop. Ugh! I can't believe it's over! Now what? I miss that show so much and it's been yanked from me... or rather, I finished watching all the conspiracy episodes.

This leads me to wish something would happen with my sci-fi novel. Perhaps I should write another. This time it can be about ... aliens! I'm kidding. Sort of. Maybe. Maybe not.

Another distraction has been, believe it or not, the recent booksignings I've embarked on. There are booksignings and then there are BOOKSIGNINGS, which involve things such as wine and white cloth covered tables and fancy little food items on fancy little plates. Yeah, those are the ones I've been doing. And somehow I always get sandwiched between two very successful adult authors. They're either bestselling or famous or both... and then there's me. I wonder what I'm doing at those things? At the last one I was frightened of the sushi that was served and the other little meat sandwiches. I also asked for a beer when almost everyone else was drinking the bubbly. Oh well. The good part was that these other authors have been great to talk to. They don't seem to mind that I'm out of my league at all! And the attendants have also been very welcoming. As much as I like to whine about doing these things, one can't complain too loudly about the upper east side signings. So if you're out there organizers, I'll do another... as long as I'm warned about the attire. I recall that I did one last year and wore unacceptable shoes. Peter Brown was there as well, which made things more fun. He said he was not allowed to go in the time before because he wasn't wearing a tie. Hmm. Go figure. Anyway, the one I did this week was fine to go to in jeans... I THINK.

meghan

Uncanny or just paying attention?

I'm writing a novel now based on a real person -- very little is known about her, so it's mostly made-up; but the clues that I find to her real life are tantalizing and fascinating. The uncanny thing, though, is how real pieces of her life, mine, and the novel intertwine.

Some examples:
*She was born in Bermuda, I've never been there -- and I was just visited by some BOTM fans who live there. (Of course, I took advantage of this and asked them to describe what they remembered of it from when they were around 5 -- her age when she left.)
*In the book, there's a scene of her letting some rabbits out of their hutches -- one of the girls (9) described how someone had just done that to HER rabbits and how sad that made her
*a good friend of mine just moved to a neighborhood of London where she lived for awhile
*when I was wondering how rabbits reacted to being picked up and liberated, Adam was looking after someone's pet rabbits so I got to try it for myself....well, that's not a coincidence. I went with him to feed them because I was writing the book.

Then there are lots of similarities between her life and mine, both in childhood and adulthood, similarities that I didn't know about when the story came to me. It often seems when I'm writing something that the information I need just sort of comes; Maybe there is nothing uncanny about this at all. Probably there is always lots of information around and when I'm writing something, I just pick up what I need for the story, as though my mind is a radio tuned to a station, the book station.

It's fun --and also the test of whether or not I'm into something, because it's hard to UNtune it. I'll start reading, and find that I'm not concentrating on it, I'm still thinking about MY book. Or book to be: right now, it's still a ms.