Article: "24 Agents Who Want Your Work"

Alerted to this article on writersdigest.com by Susan Hood. Thanks, Susan! 

The article (here is a link), "24 Agents Who Want Your Work," was posted on 11/10 and contains an "annual short list of literary agents who've confirmed they're open to receiving queries from new and established authors alike."

The list of agents includes ten who are interested in YA, six who are interested in middle grade works, and at least two in picture books.

So take a look, take a chance; maybe your agent is in the list!

Real Query Letters That Worked

If you are like me and find that writing the query is almost harder than writing the book, check out these new blog posts at Guide to Literary Agents Editor's Blog. Chuck Sambuchino is posting a number of successful queries and comments from the authors that wrote them. Make sure to read to the end and then scroll down for links to more.

Do you have any real queries that worked? Do you find writing queries difficult? Leave some comments below!

Great Resource! Editors A to Z

Award-winning author, Ellen Jackson, has devoted a section of her blog to profiling editors and what they acquire. She is adding an editor a week. So far she has Caroline Abbey (MG and YA - Bloomsbury) and Jenne Abramowitz (PB - Scholastic).

Visit the site here.

Meet the Editor: Samantha McFerrin

Samantha McFerrin will be at Jennifer DeChiara's Meet the Editor Evening on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 6-8pm.

Samantha McFerrin is an editor for Harcourt Children’s Books. She acquires and edits picture books and middle grade and young adult fiction. For picture books, her interest ranges from sweet to rhythmic to quirky to true. Novel subjects that grab her attention are unusual love stories, authentic urban fiction, action-packed stories for boys (though not necessarily sport stories), mysteries, magical realism, and stories told from a unique cultural perspective. She’s the editor of the Geisel Honor Award winner Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie; the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Just a Minute: A Trickster Taleand Counting Book by Yuyi Morales; and the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award winner In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

The cost of the evening is $125 for a critique of 10 pages which are submitted by email 2 weeks before the event. A maximum of seven people can attend. To register, send an email to Stacy. The event takes place in Jennifer DeChiara's office at 31 East 32nd Street in Manhattan.

Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest

Writing Great YA Fiction
No query? No pitch? No problem!

Serendipity Literary Agency, in collaboration with Sourcebooks and Gotham Writers' Workshop, is hosting its first Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition for a chance to win a one-on-one consultation with one of New York's leading YA literary agents!

If you've written a novel for young adults—or have an idea for one that you would like to write—we invite you to enter our contest. Simply submit only an enticing title along with the first 250 words from the opening of your original YA novel using the form below. There's no entry fee or purchase requirement.

GREAT PRIZES
The Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks and receive a free, 10-week writing course, courtesy of Gotham Writers' Workshop.

The Top Five Entrants (including the Grand Prize winner) will receive a 15-minute, one-on-one pitch session with Regina Brooks, one of New York’s premier literary agents for young adult books. They will also receive commentary on their submissions by editors at HarperCollins, Penguin, Harlequin, Random House, and Sourcebooks and receive a one-year subscription to The Writer magazine.

The Top 20 Entrants will receive autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.

JUDGING
YA literary agent Regina Brooks, along with editors at Sourcebooks, will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Dan Ehrenhaft, head Acquisitions Editor at Soucebooks Fire; Alisha Niehaus, Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin); David Linker, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Michele Burke, Editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House); and Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.

NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo
In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET), November 30, 2009.

IT IS EASY TO ENTER!
The contest is open to writers 13 years of age or older. Entrants will be judged solely on the title and the first 250 words of their YA novel—no additional material will be accepted. For an inside look at what the judges will be looking for, participants can refer to Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. There is no minimum word count for the submission. Only online entries will be accepted. And only one submission per person.

To enter, click here, and fill out the online form.

NaNoWriMo Spreadsheets

If you are starting NaNoWriMo tomorrow, you may want to have a way to keep track of your progress. Below are three different spreadsheets that range from very basic to additional bells and whistles.

Spacejock: Very simple spreadsheet for wordcount data.

Huckleberryhax: Basic spread sheet tracks word count per day and overall amount left.

Nidonocu: With a few more bells and whistles, this one also creates progress graphs.

If you've found one that you like better than these, please leave the link in the comments.

Happy NaNoWriMo!!

Come Visit the Children's Literary Cafe!

From the New York Public Library NOW:

The Children’s Literary Café
Children’s Center at 42nd
Street (Room 84)
Use the 42nd Street entrance

This informal monthly gathering of adults who are fans of children’s literature welcomes professionals, librarians, authors, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, teachers, and anyone else interested in the field. Seating is first come, first served.

These programs are for adults only.

November 7 at 2 p.m.
Cybils Kick-Off: Blogging in Style
Pam Coughlan of the sublime MotherReader children’s literary blog headlines a panel of representatives from the
greater Kidlitosphere to discuss the state of children’s literature online. The panelists will also predict what books might nab Cybil Awards, given each year by the online children’s literary community to kid and teen novels.

December 5 at 2 p.m.
Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: An Afternoon with Anita Silvey
When you think of the great children’s and young adult book experts out there, one name consistently comes to mind: Anita Silvey, who has devoted 35 years to promoting books that will turn the young—and families—into readers. Publishers Weekly says, “It would be hard to find a more authoritative voice.”