I’ll be attending the New Jersey SCBWI conference June 4th and 5th, and hopefully gleaming tidbits of information about the publishing market as it stands, now. If you’ve never attended a writing conference, I encourage you to do so. SCBWI stands for Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They have conferences all over the United States (and other countries as well).
The reason I recommend attending a conference such as this is that you’ll learn up-to-date firsthand information about the marketplace, what editors and agents are currently looking for, writing advice, and sometimes for an extra nominal fee you can have a portion of your manuscript critiqued by a professional in the industry.
Published authors as well as people new to the craft of writing (and in this case, illustrating) attend these conferences. And it’s a great place to pitch your book to an agent or editor you’ve admired for awhile.
When I come back from the conference, I’ll outline some things I’ve learned.