Tweet, Tweet: Do You Twitter?...

A few weeks after the SCBWI LA conference last summer, I was emailing with agent Michael Bourret and he mentioned something about being on Twitter. What is this Twitter, I asked? He sent me a link and I joined. (If you don't know what Twitter is, click here. There's even a video.) In a nutshell it's a micro-blogging platform. It's sort of the Facebook status update minus everything else on Facebook.)

For several months, I only followed a handful of people and had a handful of followers. Every so often when I was bored I'd search for new people and companies and newspapers to follow. Then I got an iPhone and now I'm becoming a bit of a Twitter fanatic. I stop myself from checking it all day long. I tweet (that's what you call the posts) at stop lights. I read tweets right before I go to sleep. It's a little like crack.

A few minutes ago I got a notice that F+W Media was now following me (that's my company) which only proves that, officially, everyone is tweeting. And, really, there is a great publishing presence on Twitter. Check out this ever-growing list of publishers, agents, publicists, and bookstores which I'm sure is not comprehensive. Off the top of my head I thought of four agents I follow who are not on this list. (If you want to find lots of publishing folks, also check out who I follow. You need to have an account to do so.)

For writers it's a quick and easy way to stay up on what your favorite publishers, agents, authors, and bookstores are doing. You can also follow The Onion, John Hodgman, Wil Wheaton and The Daily Show Producer Miles Khan, which are my personal favorites. Shaq, Britney and the like tweet as well. And, of course, me: http://twitter.com/alicepope.

Twitter is the new Facebook; Facebook is the new MySpace; MySpace is the new Friendster; and Friendster is so five-minutes ago.

My Session #2: Keeping Current Roundtable...

After the agent panel, I had a breakout session that was part of the Published Authors track called Keeping Current on Market Research: A Roundtable Discussion. Instead of doing all the talking myself, I started by asking the audience questions. I wanted to know whether they do anything different in terms of market research now that they're published. I wanted to know what their concerns are. And I wanted them to share information with one another--and they did. The audiences included several SCBWI RAs and authors like Susan Patron, Linda Joy Singleton, and Verla Kay.

Verla talked about the boards on her website that registered members can access, such as the agent boards and response time boards--really useful stuff.

We actually ended up talking a lot about promotion. We discussed MySpace and using it as a means to connect with readers. We talked about getting mentioned on blogs and doing blog tours, and in fact had an author in the audience, Tina Nichols Coury, who interviews tons of authors and illustrators on her own blog.

Someone mentioned Library Thing, a site where you can enter books and be connected to others based on the books you share--a way to find readers reading your own books.

I really enjoyed this session and felt like I learned a lot from the participants and got some ideas for CWIM. Thanks to all who attended and share information and asked great questions. Please remember to email me if you'd like a handout.

Saturday Morning Panel: Today in Children's Publishing...

Since I stayed up past two a.m. last night, I didn't make it to the first morning ballroom session on picture books with Arthur Levine, but I did end up having a serendipitious breakfast with illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg (who was sporting some great temporary tattoos of mermaids in support of her book Mermaids in Parade) and we talked about picture books, so I kept to the morning theme.

After some sub-par $8 oatmeal, I made it to the Today in Children's Publishing panel featuring Brenda Bowen of The Bowen Press and Walden Pond Press, Debra Dorfman of Scholastic, David Gale of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Dianne Hess of Blue Sky and Scholastic Press, Elizabeth Law of Egmont Books USA, and Allyn Johnston of S&S imprint Beach Lane Books. (Interesting to note the the majority of the panel have recently taken on their current positions and several--Bowen Press, Egmont and Beach Lane--are brand new imprints.)

Lin Oliver moderated the panel. One question she asked was What's different now in the industry--what defines children's publishing today?

Here's a little from each panelist:

David Gale: He said publishing now is more complicated and kind of schizophrenic, without rules. The picture book market is still soft. The cost of producing a book is more challenging--tighter P/Ls--it's more difficult to make books earn money on paper when they are trying to get them approved. There's a lot of contradiction, and publishing a book is more of a gamble than ever.

Elizabeth Law: She discussed the fact that a company is always looking for more growth and more cash. And with higher numbers come more pressure.

Dianne Hess: She said marketing is at the forefront of publishing now.

Debra Dorfman: She talked about mass market accounts (Toys'R'Us, Wal-Mart) trying to dictate to them what they should be publishing as well as designs for products and price points.

Brenda Bowen: She said everyone can get their material out there now--as opposed to 10 years ago--via the Internet.

Allyn Johnston: She said, during her days at Harcourt, everything was lumped together in terms of sales. Now, at her new imprint, she feels like there's a spotlight on the outstanding expenses and the pressures on e to sell when their debut list materializes.

Lin Oliver asked if publishers track what's going on online--and they definitely do. They all talked about ways their companies are trying to attract kids to books online, create book projects with interactive elements, finding readers on MySpace, etc. Social networking sites are definitely on publishers' radar it seems.

My Session and Why I Wish I'd Brought a PC...

I skipped Mark Teague's ballroom session to prepare for my first breakout, Keeping Current on Market Research: Websites, Blogs, Listservs & Networking. I checked my notes, practiced my intro, made sure there was no spinach between my teeth, etc., and went to check out the Westside room where my session took place (which was pretty rocking--big, fancy chandeliers, a stage).

When I viewed the setup, I realized I had no cord to plug my Mac laptop into the projector. The conference coordinator called the blue-shirted AV dude who kinda said that's a shame; there's a Mac store in the Mall. So I was just slightly freaking. Here it is, my first LA conference gig, I'm talking about blogs and websites, and I have no visuals; my week of collecting screen shots all for naught.

Then the audience (bigger than I expected and very patient) came to my rescue. Jennifer Bailey offered her zip drive and SCBWI Florida RA Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld offered her brand spanking new Cadillac of a PC. My heroes! Thank you both again for your help.

So, a bit rattled, I made it through the hour of PowerPoint. And it was fun. I wish we would have had more time for Q&A because I was getting some interesting questions. One writer asked how to get readers to her blog. I talked a lot about professional blogs and networking with writers and editors and agents, but not so much about readers. I suggested connecting with bloggers who are booksellers and librarians, who will in turn reach her readers. Tina Ferraro, half of the blogging duo behind YA Fresh, suggested utilizing MySpace. Her YA readers head to her blog for regularly contest or give-aways when she makes MySpace announcements. And in my informal Thursday night survey, other authors agreed--MySpace is great for connecting with readers; facebook more for connecting with other writers and people in the industry.

Stuff I've Been Bad at Lately...

• I continue to be a bad blogger. But I'm being a good editor! I'm hard at work on the 2009 CWIM (and a few of our other Market Books, too). I've been working on my great lineup of feature articles and interviews and of course updating listings (which seems to be a never-ending job). So I haven't been posting much lately.
  

• I've also been a bad monitor of MySpace. I logged into my MySpace page today after not doing so for months, and I had a bunch of friend requests and a bazillion messages. If you've written me or sent me a friend request and I haven't replied, I'm not ignoring you, I'm just über-busy. (I'm sure many an editor with a slush pile on her desk would say the same thing.) (Also note that I was shocked to visit my MySpace page and see that I'm 40. It's only been a few weeks and I'm still getting used to it.)
  

• I'm also a bad newsletter sender. Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter (if you don't and you'd like to, click here) may have noticed that I have yet to send my March CWIM newsletter. Well there are still eleven days left in the month, and on one of those days you'll find a CWIM newsletter in your inbox. That means I'll be posting lots of newsletter corresponding stuff on my blog next week, including an interview with my March Debut Author of the Month.
  

Albert Einstein said: If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

This is sort of what my desk looks like these days. Can you imagine what it's like inside my head?