Children’s Books Beating the Recession?

What’s the state of children’s publishing?

Harold Underdown, The Purple Crayon website, has reported on the economic turmoil in publishing of late 2008 and into early 2009.

Publishing, especially books for kids, is on the upswing? So say a couple of postings:

• JIll Cocoran, Literary Agent at the Herman Agency pulls out quotes from Border’s statements on their rebuilding efforts and finds hope.
• Cocoran also send readers to The Wild Rose Reader for a report on an independent book store surviving, no, thriving against competition from Barnes & Noble.

Other Stories

• This is a bit late, but funny. 3 Reasons Why the Easter Bunny should NOT be Your Marketer.
• You write, but you don’t have a blog? Don’t want a blog? Then you need a Google Profile, so people can find some information about you online, information that you control. How easy is it to set up?
• NYTimes article on book advances. What percentage of books actually earn out their advance?
• Why First Reads or First Pages critiques at a conference is like the American Idol of Manuscripts.
• The UT-Austin Library has Norman Mailer’s laptop! What do they plan to do with it?
• Alan Gratz SHOULD be writing. Instead, he’s sword fighting? AND playing at harp? At the same time?
• Everything I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned from FolkSongs?
• And Janni is talking to characters again. What advice is she giving to heroes?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

To Market, To Market

Find yourself doing more marketing lately? Me, too. With the publishing layoffs in December and the market skittish, we need to market smarter. Here are some articles I’ve found interesting:

• Updates on Who’s Moving Where from Harold Underdown’s Purple Crayon site.
• 10 Tips to Getting Book Referrals
• It’s Not a News Release if There’s No News

And, in the upheaval, several former book publishing professionals are seizing the opportunity to move to independent book publishing professionals, looking at the opportunities and the silver lining in all that’s happened lately:

• Kara LaReau, former editor at Scholastic and before that, Candlewick, opens a creative consulting firm and has this advice on keeping a writer’s journal.
• Former publicists at Harcourt Children’s Books, Sarah Shealy and Barbara Fisch have opened a publicity and promotional company, Blue Slip Media. What talent! They were creative and efficient in everything they did for Oliver K. Woodman.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win