Pitch your picture book!

Have you attended a Twitter pitch party yet?

Well, on June 24 one is coming especially for you Picture Book folks!

On June 24, from 8am–8pm EST (that's 5am to 5pm for us), agents and editors will be trolling their Twitter feeds for pitches that make them want to "Favorite" your 140-character pitch. If your pitch gets a "Favorite," then you follow that agent/editor's submission guidelines and it will jump to the head of their line.

Here's the scoop: click HERE!

It's a fun and easy way for your work to find its way into the hands of agents and editors, if you're lucky, and great experience going through the process in a whole new way.


Have fun, and Tweet your way into an agency or press!

Follow Along at the #SCBWIWWA Annual Conference

Hip Hip Hooray! Today is opening day for our 20th Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference!! For those of you who are joining us we have a rich & full day of programming! Make sure you check your schedules for information about the day!

If you are missing the conference (and we're missing you!) you can follow along on the Update for live blogging (with session highlights, photos & more!) all weekend & also on Twitter (#SCBWIWWA). Happy Conference Day Everyone!!!

Twitter interview of Greg Pincus

I'm interviewing our favorite social media expert as part of the faculty preview for the #scbwi LA conference.

To follow along, you might check out http://tweetchat.com. Type scbwi as the hashtag you're following.

(You'll need a Twitter account to log in. Surely you have one of those by now!)

Twitter-iffic Stuff!

I don't mean to keep honking the Twitter horn, but if you aren't on Twitter, you're missing out! So many interesting people, articles, and chats! I was following #askagent chat last night, because Elizabeth Law of Egmont Press (who was at our April SCBWI conference in Redmond) was chiming in.

Here's a question from a writer during the chat, "If the novel you want to sell has a lot of competition in the market, how would you make it stand out in submitting to editors?"

Elizabeth's answer, "That's easy. Want your manuscript to stand out in competitive market? Write a great book. I'm not kidding!"

Another Twitter find is this article, entitled "When Books Could Change Your Life. Why What We Pore Over At 12 May Be The Most Important Reading We Ever Do." .

Good stuff! You can find the SCBWI Western Washington here.

Should You Copyright Your Submissions?

Great post to check out on KidLit.com about copywriting submissions and agent plagiarism.

I found this through Twitter, where you can find many of our local authors, SCBWI fellow members, and several speakers from our April conference. You can find the SCBWI Western Washington here: http://twitter.com/scbwiwwa.

Twitter: the go-to buzz-builder for authors?

You'll no doubt remember the great information Lisa Schroeder shared with us in December about life as a novelist. She posted last week about how Twitter helped her launch CHASING BROOKLYN. If you're still thinking about joining the fray, this will probably make you take the leap.

While you're getting started, you can find Lisa here: http://twitter.com/lisa_schroeder. And you can find the SCBWI Western Washington here: http://twitter.com/scbwiwwa.

Meanwhile, here's a piece by Harold Underdown (author of the Idiot's Guide to Children's Publishing) on social networking and online promotion, and what authors are expected to do these days.

Get ready for October with social media guru Greg Pincus

You can start getting to know our October guest speaker before his airplane even lands at SeaTac... he's definitely not hard to find online! Here are a few places to look:

• his social media blog, The Happy Accident,


• his children's literature blog, GottaBook,


• and on Twitter at GregPincus.

In September, Greg will be offering a series of FREE webcasts with Mark Blevis that will give book publishers, publicists, authors, illustrators and enthusiasts social media savvy for outreach and promotion. If you can't wait for him to come to Seattle or just want to get a head start on the topic, check them out here.

He also co-hosts the weekly kidlitchats on Twitter (Tues 9pm EST), which you can read more about here. Transcripts of past kidlitchats can be found here.

Greg is a smart, funny, and all-around nice guy, and we can't wait to welcome him to the Pacific Northwest and introduce you in person!

Jolie's tweets from last night's meeting

The good news is, Jolie tweeted last night's meeting with Elana Roth, marking all her posts with the #Chinook hash tag.

The bad news is, that is also the hash tag that people use when discussing a certain type of military helicopter. Still, to get a quick recap of Elana's points about plot (and some German dude's link to a Chinook cargo copter image), read the tweets here.

Anatomy of compelling tweets

Deb Ridpath Ohi is awarding "Golden Marmots" to agents, editors, and authors who hit the bullseye with their tweets. If you're wondering how to do this well, check the Golden Marmots for inspiration (and you can nominate people, too).

#Kidlit chat transcripts

If you've missed these industry-related "chats" on Twitter (and yes, I am using air quotes here because actual chats using actual chat room technology are a better experience, people), you will love the transcripts Greg Pincus is posting on his site.

Here's the link.

Notice how the transcripts are getting longer as these things catch on. Apparently I am the only one in the world who's still hung up on '90s-style chats. Excuse me while I polish my hipster glasses and practice my ironic poses. Oh, the '90s. You were so sweet and tasty.

Please note: Greg will talk with us about social networking at our October meeting. You won't want to miss it.

School Library Journal Book Club Call

Found this on Twitter:

sljournalLast call: YA/kids authors who do *free* 20-min bk club visits via Skype Send name/URL to slj[at]reedbusiness[dot]com. Deadline: Mon 7/20

Translation: If you are a YA or children's author willing to do free 20-minute book club visits using Skype (a free, voice-over-Internet telephone service), send your name and Web site to slj@reedbusiness.com by Monday, July 20.

If you want to follow School Library Journal on Twitter, you can find them here.