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News:
April 17, 2012: I've had to update the Who's Moving Where page as I've heard news of three people leaving publishing (this is a coincidence, not a trend). I've also posted my answer to the question "Do Traditional Publishers Market Their Books?" as a short blog item, which I will be revising and expanding.
March 31, 2012: With lots of other things to distract me, including a revision workshop in Connecticut at the beginning of the month, I haven't been able to work on the Purple Crayon in a while.
I have now posted several bits of news on the Who's Moving Where page, and put a couple of new items on the Testimonials page on the editorial services part of the site.
I'll soon be busy with conferences and workshops for the spring, and am particularly excited about the "Revision Retreat and Critique Group Recharge" planned for the Highlights Foundation at the end of May. The weather should be beautiful, and we will have five nights there to work on manuscripts, learn revision techniques, and get more out of critique groups. Scholarships are available and there's a special follow-up visit available to critique groups who attend.
January 28, 2012: I've now finished updating all of the pages in the Award-Winning Children's Books section. I've now been maintaining this section, with its lists and resource links, for ten years. Suggestions for additional resources are always welcome.
January 23, 2012: The ALA announced many awards at their Midwinter Convention. I'm updating my Award-Winning Children's Books section, so far with the Newbery and Caldecott. I've also updated the Scott O'Dell Award page, since that was announced recently. I notice all of the Newbery titles are historical fiction, and all of the Caldecott titles are by male author-illustrators. Any other common threads? More updates to come soon!
January 12, 2012: I've updated my Manuscript Format Basics article.
There is also some new news.
And you can read about what I'll be doing at the April New England SCBWI conference--registration opens soon: an independent editors panel and submissions strategy consultations.
And don't forget--the ALA Midwinter Convention takes place in less than two weeks, and that means that I'll be updating my Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and other pages in my award-winning children's books section with all of the winners.
December 6, 2011: Big news of the acquisition of Marshall Cavendish's children's imprint by Amazon is on my Who's Moving Where page.
November 22, 2011: I've updated my list of National Book Award winners to include this year's winner, and links for more information about the "6th nominee" debacle.
October 16, 2011: Now up--a review of Cheryl Klein's Second Sight, a book that provides practical help with revision and insight into editors and the publishing business.
I've also updated my Conferences page with what I know so far of my 2012 schedule, notably including the Highlights Foundation "Revision Retreat and Critique Group Recharge" that Eileen Robinson and I will give at the end of May.
October 10, 2011: I've updated my Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market review--it now covers the the 2012 edition, which has some significant changes. And you'll find some new updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
September 21, 2011: There are new updates on the Who's Moving Where page.
September 13, 2011: I've added a new agent website case study, on Adams Literary, a "boutique" agency, to help you identify legitimate agents just by looking at their websites. It replaces a study of an agency that closed and links to two other studies of websites: Writers House (a large agency), and a shady agency that shall not be named.
As you may have noticed, I've also started using larger social media buttons on this and other pages. Please use them to let your friends know about The Purple Crayon on Facebook, Twitter, or other networks.
September 9, 2011: I've updated my Agent Resources page with links to the 2012 editions of US, UK, and Canadian market guides. I've also updated the Who's Moving Where page with a few items.
August 16, 2011: I've written a review of Sandy Asher's Writing It Right! How Successful Children's Authors Revise and Sell Their Stories, a fascinating collection of case studies showing how picture books, early readers, and novels were revised from early drafts to their final, published versions.
August 5, 2011: I've compiled a list of Social Media Resources to supplement a presentation that Emma D. Dryden and I are giving at the LA SCBWI conference.
August 2, 2011: The Atlantic Monthly did a piece on the boom in YA, but got their numbers wrong: find the correct information in my comment, YA Books Are Booming--but not That Much.
July 28, 2011: There are now "social sharing" buttons on this and a few other pages, including the home page. You can use these to Share a page on Facebook, Tweet about a page, give it a "+1" in the Google search results, or one of many other things (in a popup menu). Please use them to let people know about The Purple Crayon--and please let me know what you think.
July 19, 2011: I've posted the beginnings of a list of Ebooks and Children's Books Resources, which I created for a presentation at the Highlights Writer's Workshop.
July 7, 2011: I've updated the Who's Moving Where page, and also made some updates and corrections to my articles Getting Out of the Art File and Manuscript Format Basics.
And here's a video interview with me about the presentations I'll be doing on my own and with Emma Dryden and Eileen Robinson at the upcoming National SCBWI conference in LA.
May 24, 2011: I had a great time at the NE SCBWI conference in Fitchburg, MA, 10 days ago, where I gave a keynote and two workshops. I will be posting the keynote as I work through it for web presentation. For now, here is the beginning of my Children's Books in Hard Times: Resources page, which I will also be adding to as I put up my presentation.
Recently, the Idiot's Guide people interviewed me, asking 5 key questions, in Five for the Record.
And there are some updates on the Who's Moving Where Page.
May 4, 2011: My scheduling problem with the SCBWI National Conference has been resolved, and I'm now planning to attend again. Further details on the Conferences page.
April 24, 2011: I've posted a review of A Family of Readers, a wonderful guidebook to the world of children's books, useful to writers and others who want to dive into what's best in the field.
In a nod to our changing field, there is now a link to the Kindle edition of my book on the Idiot's Guide home page. And there are various other updates around the site, including a couple of new books listed in my Writing Guides page.
Aprll 5, 2011: I've updated the Who's Moving Where page, added new links and comments to a couple of the articles in my Self-Publishing section, and updated the pages in the Award-Winning Children's Books area to reflect some new editions. I've also started posting comments I've received from people about how my Complete Idiot's Guide has helped them, on the Reviews page.
March 9, 2011: Some new news on the Who's Moving Where page.
February 17, 2011: I've added an article by Sneed Collard, Just Say No to Bad Contracts, in which he explains when one should walk away from a contract. I've added a few tips and some additional resources to the article, which was originally published in the SCBWI Bulletin.
February 14, 2011: Sad news--Margaret McElderry, the last of her generation, has died at the age of 98. If you aren't familiar with her work as one of the great editors of the post WW II era, the link will take you to a profile I wrote of her.
I've also updated the Who's Moving Where page.
January 17, 2011: I've update the Lifetime Achievement, Pura Belpré, and Sibert award pages, and that completes the updates to the Children's Book Awards section.
January 11, 2011: And now I have added the latest awards to the Coretta Scott King Award page.
January 10, 2011: The awards have been announced, and there were some interesting surprises! One that jumped out at me was the interesting fact that there are 4 works of historical fiction among the Newbery Medal and 4 Honor books. So far, I've updated my Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal pages.
January 4, 2011: I've learned that the winner of the Scott O'Dell Award is Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer, so I've updated the Scott O'Dell Award page on the site. ALA awards, including the Newbery and Caldecott, are due to be announced soon, so watch for other updates in the Children's Book Awards section.
There's new news of editors moving and a new imprint on the scene on the Who's Moving Where page.
And I'm going to be on the faculty at the Highlights Chautauqua week this summer, so I've updated my Conferences page.
Older news: This goes all the way back to 1996, if you're interested.
About me and the work I
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