SUNFLOWER SCOOP
08.02.09
In This Issue:
1. Peoples
2. Newsy News
3. Look for the Weberosity
4. Awards
The Wild Wild West: Wrangling Words and Works of Art –Kansas SCBWI Annual Conference
Saturday, September 12, 2009
09:00 AM to 05:00 PM
KU Edwards Campus, 12610 Quivira Rd, Overland Park, Kansas
1. PEOPLES
SO I’M SCOOPIN’ AND TWEETIN’ AND WATCHING PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, AND THE DOG IS SLEEPING ON THE COUCH, ABUTTING ME. NOSE TUCKED UNDER HER PAWS, EARS FLOPPED IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. OH, SHE’S CUTE ALRIGHT. TOO CUTE. WITH HER EYELIDS FLUTTERING. THE LITTLE ITTY-BITTY TIP OF HER TAIL TWITCHING. YOU KNOW IT’S ALL JUST TOO DANG PRECIOUS TO LAST.
Orchard publishing director Kate Burns will join HarperCollins in October as its new deputy publisher of children’s books. She will report to publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh and will be responsible for the strategic and creative development of HarperCollins’ picture book and colour publishing.
At illustrated publisher Orchard, she was responsible for the award-winning Emily Brown book, the Rumblewick series and developing the publishing programmes of Charlie and Lola and Giraffes Can’t Dance. She was previously editorial director at Hodder.
Burns said: “I am relishing the prospect of growing the HarperCollins children’s picture book list in a challenging market, as well as working on the classic properties, which remain a cornerstone of every child’s literary inheritance. I believe HarperCollins with its dynamic vision for a digital future and strong commitment to children’s publishing is going to be a very exciting place to be. I am absolutely delighted to be working with Ann-Janine Murtagh again and over the moon to be joining the team.”
Meanwhile, Rachel Denwood has been promoted to fiction publishing director and will be responsible for developing the list. Commissioning editor Nick Lake has been appointed editorial director. He will work alongside editorial director Stella Paskins, who will remain responsible for older children’s fiction as well as authors such as Darren Shan, Diana Wynne Jones and Garth Nix. Lake and Paskins will report to Denwood.
Ann-Janine Murtagh said: “I am thrilled to be welcoming Kate Burns to HarperCollins Children’s Books. She brings wonderful creative vitality and a wealth of experience to the list. Along with our exceptionally talented fiction team we are set to build our very successful children’s publishing with energy, vigour and great style. Children’s publishing is at the forefront of innovation and change and we all look forward to exciting times ahead.”
Earlier this year, the publisher made two staff redunant at its children’s department: Gillie Russell, publishing director for fiction 11+, and Sue Buswell, publishing director (picture books). (BS)
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Anne Diebel will join the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group in the newly created position of senior creative director for Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers and Roaring Brook Press. She will oversee art direction and design for both imprints, filling the unoccupied position of art director for the Roaring Brook list and working with creative director Robbin Gourley on the FSG list. She was most recently art director at Disney-Hyperion Books for Children, and had been art director at Clarion Books. She starts Aug. 3. (PW)
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Jill Santopolo has been named executive editor at Penguin Children’s Philomel. She had been senior editor at Balzer & Bray. (RD)
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Fiona Simpson has been named editorial director of Aladdin at Simon & Schuster Children’s. She had been executive editor in the trade paperback and liscensing group at Scholastic. (RD)
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HarperCollins named Margot Schupf to the newly created position of digital editorial director at the conglomerate publisher’s Morrow/Avon/Eos group..
According to Crain’s NY, the experimental post will allow Schupf to explore backlist titles, work on digital promotions, and even develop digital-only books. Before joining HarperCollins, Schupf was an associate publisher at the company. (GC)
2. NEWSY NEWS
FIRST HER BREATHING GETS A BIT FASTER. THEN HER PAWS START TO TWITCH. THEN HAIRY BEAST IS RUNNING. WITHOUT GOING ANYWHERE. AND WHIMPERING. WITH HER EYES CLOSED. YOU GOTTA WONDER–WHAT THE HECK DOES A DOG DREAM?
Michael Stearns, a former editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books who recently left his agent position at Firebrand Literary, is starting a new endeavor called Upstart Crow Literary. Chris Richman and Danielle Chiotti, who worked with Stearns at Firebrand, are joining him in the new venture. (The company’s new Web site, www.upstartcrowliterary.com, will be live soon.)
Upstart Crow started taking submissions this week, and the three agents are bringing all their clients to the new venture. Stearns and Richman will focus exclusively on representing children’s book authors while Chiotti will handle a range of fiction and nonfiction authors; Stearns said Chiotti will focus on women’s fiction, women’s interest nonfiction and YA.
Stearns said the agency’s list “runs the gamut” from new writers such as Jacqueline West and Matt Myklusch (deals for whom recently closed) to more established names like Deb Lund and Kurt Cyrus.
Asked why he struck out on his own, Stearns said he left Firebrand because he and the agency’s founder, Nadia Cornier, “had different ideas about how the ideal literary agency should be run.” Stearns wanted to create “a more author-focused, editorially minded, artisanal sort of agency, and so I set up my own shop.”
(PW)
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Having toured the U.S. last year, Australian author John Flanagan isn’t coming stateside for the release of The Siege of Macindaw (Philomel, Sept.), the sixth book in his Ranger’s Apprentice series. But beginning September 2, readers in 27 U.S. cities will be able to see a theatrical performance entitled “Escape to Araluen,” based on the first Ranger’s Apprentice book, The Ruins of Gorlan. A tour bus will travel throughout that month to schools, libraries and bookstores, starting at New York City’s Books of Wonder and visiting sites in Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673901.html?nid=2788&source=title&rid=2059779798
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Children’s book publisher Sylvan Dell, based in South Carolina, debuted its second-generation picture book e-books this week, and is celebrating the launch by offering a free trial of its 45 e-books. The new e-books include Auto-Flip and Auto-Read features; the text of each book can be listened to in either English or Spanish, and the publisher plans to add additional language options in the future.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673906.html?nid=2788&source=title&rid=2059779798
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Harlequin TEEN launches with titles by three New York Times bestselling authors in 2009. Rachel Vincent’s My Soul to Take (August) stars a teenager who discovers that she is a banshee. Intertwined by Gena Showalter (September) features a teen who learns that he has four souls living inside him. The protagonist of P.C. Cast’s Elphame’s Choice (October) is a young half human, half centaur who sets out to make her own way in the world. Cast is the author of the popular young adult House of Night vampire series with her daughter Kristin. Rachel Vincent has also penned My Soul to Lose, an eBook prequel to her launch title. It is available for free download at www.SoulScreamers.com.
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-29-2009/0005068388&EDATE=
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Reed Business Information is putting Publishers Weekly and its affiliated publications, Library Journal and School Library Journal, up for sale. The sale of the group is part of RBI’s strategy to divest most of its trade magazines in the U.S. Last year, Reed Elsevier, parent company of RBI, tried to sell all of RBI but dropped the sale when it couldn’t get the price it wanted in a depressed market for media properties. In a related announcement, Tad Smith, CEO of RBI US, has resigned. John Poulin has been named acting CEO and he will head the sales process. (PW)
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Sony is believed to be readying for launch a new version of its ebook Reader, which will include wifi access. According to industry sources in the UK the new device is being prepared for September sale in order to pre-empt the arrival in the UK of Amazon.com’s Kindle device.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/92887-sony-plans-to-launch-wifi-reader-ahead-of-kindle.html.rss
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In what New York Public Library (NYPL) director David Ferriero called a return to the scene of the “Google smackdown,” the sold-out November 2005 event where the initial lawsuits over Google Book Search were first debated, panelists yesterday took questions from Ferriero and audience members and defended the pending Google Book Search Settlement.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673684.html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=link
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Starting this fall, Barnes & Noble will offer customers the ability to search for books by Lexile measure, both in stores and online at bn.com. Lexile is a widely used reading measure, helping young readers develop literacy skills by selecting materials that match their reading level and interests. It is used at the school level in all 50 states and by more than 150 publishers.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673677.html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=link
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Barnes & Noble is partnering with AT&T to provide free in-store Wi-Fi access to customers at all stores nationwide.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673410..html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=link
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3. LOOK FOR THE WEBEROSITY
YEAH, I KNOW, THEY ALWAYS SAY, “CHASIN’ RABBITS”. BUT NOT HAIRY BEAST. I SEE ONLY THREE POSSIBILITIES: 1.) SHE COULD BE CLIMBING A TREE. YUP. YOU HEARD ME. THE DOG GETS A RUNNING START AND ZOOMS UP TREES. IN ACTUAL WAKING LIFE. SO SHE COULD BE PRACTICING IN DREAM LAND. OR 2.) MIGHT BE FANTASIZING ABOUT BEING UNLEASHED IN AN ICE CREAM FACTORY. IT’S HER FAVORITE TREAT. OR…
Interview with Miss Ruta Rimas, AN EDITOR ATTENDING OUR FALL CONFERENCE.
http://terrypierce.blogspot.com/2009/01/mini-view-ruta-rimas.html
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The lovely illustrator, Claudia Rueda, recently shared a video of a short, moving interview with Eric Carle about his collaboration with Bill Martin, Jr. In turn, I want to share it with you at the end of this post. It made me think about the time I got to meet him. There is something so magical about Eric Carle; his joy and tenderness and generosity shine gently outward, infusing his art and warming his interactions with the many, many people who love that art.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/660000266/post/390047239.html?nid=2788&rid=2059779798
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The Betsy-Tacy children’s books were written between 1940 and 1955 by Maud Hart Lovelace, a resident of Mankato, Minn., a small city located in a rural area of the state famed as much for the blue tint of its rich soil as for being home to some of the country’s most respected children’s educational publishers. The series of 13 books about two girls named Betsy and Tacy, who live in the 1900s in a town called Deep Valley, are a celebration of turn-of-the-century smalltown life, family traditions, and enduring friendships.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6673832.html?nid=2788&source=link&rid=2059779798
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Abuse of Power: High School Admins Coerce Cheerleader for Facebook Password
http://mashable.com/2009/07/29/cheerleader-lawsuit/
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Making Your Writing Exciting At the Sentence Level
http://ow.ly/iuk4
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Cynthea Lu’s monster list of childen’s book editor interviews, blogs, and more:
http://www.writingforchildrenandteens.com/2006/06/29/107/monster-list-of-childrens-book-editor-interviews-blogs-and-more/
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Too much confidence among teenage students can be harmful. In a study that reinforces the danger of indiscriminately bolstering a child’s self esteem –whether the child earns that distinction or not –the results show a clear connection between overconfident students and low reading comprehension, and suggest recommendations for parents and teachers.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1729191/overconfidence_can_stunt_crucial_reading_skills_in_teens/
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The ebook war is a race to the bottom, apparently, with Barnes & Noble trying to out-do Amazon on DRM stupidity. A reader emailed B&N customer service to point out that their “free books” offer consists of 5 public domain titles that are no longer protected under copyright, yet are still locked down with digital rights management (DRM). Their response? “For copyright protection purposes, these files are encrypted and cannot be converted or printed.”
http://consumerist.com/5325921/bn-wraps-public-domain-books-in-drm-to-protect-authors-copyrights-what
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Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds or 68%. http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/314426/reading-cuts-stress-levels-by-68.html
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Sony Pictures Animation and IMAX Corporation officially unveil plans to release Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs in Imax 3D simultaneously with the movie’s release on September 18, 2009. Written for the screen and directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is based on the popular kid’s book of the same name written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. (CYP)
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PBS Kids launches season two of the animated series Martha Speaks with five new episodes premiering Monday-Friday, September 14-18 at 7:30a and 3:30p (check local listings). The first new episode finds Martha’s adored and tattered napping chair winds up on the set of Antiques Roadshow, but will appraiser Noel Barrett recognize its true value? Ten additional new episodes will air on PBS Kids after January 2010, including a two-part Presidents Day episode, Martha in the White House, airing on Presidents Day, Monday, February 15. Additionally, January will also see Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will release of new books based the Martha Speaks TV series. (CYP)
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It had to happen. Following the success of Quirk Book’s bestselling transformation of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice into, well, a zombie novel, Del Rey Books announced plans to turn Pride and Prejudice and Zombies into a graphic novel. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel will be published in 2010
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6672931..html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=link
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J.R.R Tolkien Estate Sues to Block The Hobbit Adaptation
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/adaptation/jrr_tolkien_estate_sues_to_block_the_hobbit_adaptation__122817.asp
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Last week, Jeffrey P. Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, offered an apparently heartfelt and anguished mea culpa to customers whose digital editions of George Orwell’s 1984 were remotely deleted from their Kindle reading devices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/technology/companies/27amazon.html?_r=2
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The issue isn’t that Amazon has erased material from people’s Kindles, or de-ranked gay and lesbian writers, but that it can.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ulin28-2009jul28,0,6189272.story
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Samsung’s announcement that it plans to release an e-book reader called Papyrus means it is at least the seventh company to hop on the digital-book bandwagon.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/03/samsungs-new-e/
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Pretty darn fascinating: Mourning the Death of Handwriting
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1912419,00.html
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I don’t get it: Slang some girls use as endearment can be disturbing to adults.
http://www.jacksonville.com/skirt/2009-07-27/story/slang_some_girls_use_as_endearment_can_be_disturbing_to_adults
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Illustrators! How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web. (F8)
http://www.linesandcolors.com/2007/05/31/how-not-to-display-your-artwork-on-the-web/
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What kind of book becomes a Harlequin TEEN?
by Natashya Wilson, senior editor, Harlequin TEEN (CYN)
http://yabooknerd.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-harlequinteen-guest-blog.html
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From 4 eyes to fashionable: New frames blur stigma for kids who wear glasses
http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1134513..html
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Borders, you are damn dumb.
http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/borders-non-blogging-contract/
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/07/27/borders-against-blogging
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A musing on the printed book.
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2009/07/express/the-revenge-of-print
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A matter of months before his authorised biography of Roald Dahl was due to be published, Donald Sturrock has had to go back to the drawing board after the discovery of a cache of more than 300 letters that the late author exchanged with Charles Marsh, the man he described as his closest friend. The letters span more than 20 years and touch on everything from politics and illness to sex, marriage and why he started writing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/5933886/Roald-Dahl-proves-a-man-of-a-great-many-letters-for-his-biographer.html
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Finding a Publisher and Falling in Love: A Convivial Comparison , notes on a talk by Cheryl Klein
http://cherylklein.com/findingandfalling.html
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! We are seeking high quality photographs of your literary tattoos for an upcoming book. Send us your ink! Submissions are open to all kinds of literary tattoo work: quotations from your favorite writer, opening lines of novels, lines of verse, literary portraits or illustrations. From Shakespeare to Bukowski to The Little Prince in a Baobab tree, if it’s a literary tattoo and its on your body, we want to see it. http://community.livejournal.com/literarytattoos/590480.html
Be sure to let ME see it first. (F8)
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What is historical fantasy?
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=49234
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JK Rowling has promised Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe that there will be no more adventures for the boy wizard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/5834872/JK-Rowling-promises-Daniel-Radcliffe-no-more-Harry-Potter.html
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I often have a hard time finding picture book info, but here’s a new picture book blog: Monday: Picture Books Past Tuesday: Illustration Wednesday: Writing Thursday: Real Kids Friday: Book Business (F8)
http://www.picturebookparty.com/
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Here is a truly evil waste of time. Heh heh. (F8)
http://100scopenotes.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/create-your-debut-ya-cover/
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Ben & Jerry’s is considering launching a library-themed ice-cream flavour, after a campaign by a New Jersey librarian gathered thousands of supporters.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/30/ice-cream-libraries-ben-and-jerrys
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Which is the right path to success? (CYN)
http://shrinkingvioletpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/07/choosing-your-own-path..html
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“The controlling belief is the primary belief that ‘pushes’ the character. It shapes and colors every action and reaction that the character does and serves as the motor or engine that motivates the character.” (CYN)
http://acrowesnest.blogspot.com/2009/07/mary-characters-controlling-belief.html
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Hello. Would you like some gold? Agent Don Maass Explains Your Tools for Character Building.
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Agent+Don+Maass+Explains+Your+Tools+For+Character+Building.aspx
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Self-Editing One Step at a Time: How to Identify Dragging Narrative (QT)
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2009/07/self-editing-one-step-at-time-how-to.html
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A high school student today filed suit here against Amazon.com for pulling George Orwell books off its Kindle electronic reader — destroying the homework he’d already completed. Good for him.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/07/lawsuit_filed_over_amazons_big.php
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Should you grant exclusive reads to agents? http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2009/08/exclusives-stink.html
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Oh, this is interesting. About writing series’.
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2009/07/writing-series-does-familiarity-breed.html
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Do your own podcast.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2009/07/30/5-steps-to-make-your-own-author-podcast/
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Illustrators…..wanna talk about it? http://paulschmidstudio.blogspot.com/2009/07/zwerger-two.html
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Got a grammar problem?
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/
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Not kid. Not lit. Too fascinating, though.
http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/30/3d-pavement-art-by-edgar-mueller/
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4. AWARDS
…MOST LIKELY IT’S ANOTHER BAD LSD FLASHBACK.
Joseph Medicine Crow is a 95-year-old Crow Indian who went into battle wearing war paint beneath his World War II uniform and later emerged as an acclaimed Native American historian. He will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom next month. But this same gentleman wrote a book, Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond (National Geographic, 2006) which was named a 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award winner by the American Indian Library Association. (CYN)
“I still pinch meself when I wake up of a morning…Who ever thought I’d be a children’s author—let alone a best-selling children’s author? I feel I should still be driving a truck, or (working as) a longshoreman.”
—Brian Jacques
If you liked this, it was edited by Lisha Cauthen: lishacauthen.wordpress.com
