A content explosion - is how Rubin Pfeffer, partner at East West Literary Agency, former president and publisher of Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, and a leading speaker at the recent Florida SCBWI conference in Miami, described the current world of children's publishing - digital books, hard print and self publishing. E books are at about to surpass print books and are at about 50% of new publications. By the end of 2013, it is estimated that
65% of American children will have access to or own a digital reader.
Wow! ipads, nooks, droids, and kobos...and cell phones.
Mr. Pfeffer suggests that new technology creates new content... and this is good for writers.
Another lead speaker, famed children's writer Bruce Coville, (MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN), pumped up the crowd with his topic,
"Ripples in the Pond and Why What We Do Matters." Don't be afraid to write, branch out and extend yourself. Expose yourself in your writing. Let it flow.
Writers from Florida and around the country heard from agents, editors, and great authors including Ellen Hopkins, (CRANK), and Toni Buzzeo (STAY CLOSE TO YOUR MAMA). Toni related how she arrived home from a meeting and announced that a writer friend had her own writing cottage - and her husband built her one! Well, her writing cottage in Maine is fabulous but we don't need a cottage - we need to focus on craft, learning craft, skill and persistence.
I drove home across Alligator Alley plotting my year's writing schedule, hopefully with renewed focus, craft and persistence.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Seasonal News and Current Market Trends from the Sunshine State
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Sounds like a great conference, Eileen! Thanks so much for sharing! (And wow, how cool would it be to have a writing cottage?)
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was a great conference. And have you seen Laurie Halse Anderson's writing cottage? That must be the one. It's spectacularly cozy.
ReplyDeleteA lot of writers seem to have writing cottages. You can explore Roald Dahl's online at roalddahlmuseum.org. Except he always called it a hut which sounds more manly. It's actually very cool; you can click on images of objects he really did keep in his writing hut, like his own artificial hip joint that had to be replaced; apparently the doctor told him it was the largest hip joint he (the doctor) had ever seen, as Dahl was 6'6".
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ReplyDeleteI heard the same speech from Bruce Coville at the Rutgers conference in October. It was entertaining, thoughtful and inspiring.
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