I’ve attended the Texas Library Association Convention many times, regardless of whether or not I had a book out that year. Once I was an assistant to a National Geographic author-speaker. The year my NF library book TURKEY IN THE NEWS came out, I pitched Read More
READ LIKE A WRITER, a teaching blog
AUTHORS, MAKE THE MOST OF A LIBRARY CONVENTION
April 17, 2014
Tags:
library conventions
6 Comments
Comments
Apr 19, 2014 12:20 PM EDT
Christine - Great advice! Thanks for this!
- Alexis O'Neill
Apr 19, 2014 6:04 PM EDT
Thanks Alexis! That means a lot coming from you.
- Christine Kohler
Apr 21, 2014 2:48 AM EDT
Christine;
I enjoyed reading your article. I am working on a YA biography. I have an editor and will be looking for an agent soon. I have thought about attending library conventions. You have offered great ideas! I also appreciated your article because my mother was a high school librarian and she loved the conventions!
- Annie Schneiderman Valliere
Apr 21, 2014 10:08 AM EDT
Thank you, Annie. I'm glad the article is helpful. Congratulations on your YA biography! Would you like to share the topic, publisher, and when it will be released? (If it is too early in the acquisitions process, I can understand if you don't want to share at this point.) If your book is still in the acquisitions or editing stage and it won't be out for a couple of years, then my best advice is to plug into SCBWI and volunteer at your local chapters' booth. This will help you build support with fellow authors for the year your book is released and you will be pitching it from your publisher's booth. Best wishes!
- Christine Kohler
Oct 31, 2015 4:13 AM EDT
Dear Christine,
I just saw your reply only now a year and six months later! Thank you for your support. I will let you know as things progress. I am still shoring the book up to show to agents.
Sorry for the delay in responding. Annie
- Annie Schneiderman Valliere
Nov 01, 2015 4:25 AM EST
Best wishes to you in your agent search! I am in that process now, too. I've had two agents at two of the top agencies, neither of which sold anything for me, and neither lasted with me longer than two years. (The second agent left agenting altogether.) So I have plugged along on my own. But one thing that computers and then internet has changed in our publishing industry is to flood editors and agents with manuscripts of hopeful authors. As a result, most publishers have had to close their houses to unsolicited submissions. The good news is more agents have set up shop. But like publishers, you have to research who would be the best agent for what you write, and to get your work in the hands of the editors best for your book.
- Christine Kohler