Rutgers 2009 One-on-One Plus Conference

Susan, Ellen and Tiffany deep in research.

Laurie, Jodi and Susan gear up for our One-on-One Success Story: Karen Rostoker-Gruber.

Karen Rostoker-Gruber is an award-winning children’s book author and a Conference Council Member. She inspired us with her success story and reminded us what an honor it was to be one of the 83 people chosen out of hundreds of applicants. Yay!

Vivian Grey, author, Council Chair and Founder of the RUCCL One-on-One Plus Conference inspired us with her story of marching past tanks in 1969 to meet with Rutgers’ President Mason Gross. To his credit he responded, “There is no better time for us to have a conference for young readers.” Vivian was honored for her contribution.

After Vivian’s welcome, I met with my sweet and talented mentor Gretchen Hirsch, Associate Editor at Simon & Schuster. She was so helpful that the 45 minutes were gone before I knew it and it was time for a panel discussion. Thank you so much Gretchen. :o)

The Panel Discussion was on: “Staying Power in Children’s Literature.”

Moderator: Rachel Orr, Agent , Prospect Agency

Panelists:
Emily Sylvan Kim, Agent, Prospect Agency
Margery Cuyler, Publisher, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books
Peter Catalanotto, Author/Illustrator
Colin Hosten, Digital Books Coordinator, Disney Publishing Worldwide

Emily Sylvan Kim and Rachel Orr

The first topic of discussion was about what was the single biggest challenge in creating staying power in an author’s career?

Emily reminded us that the book going out has to be the best it can be. If the first book doesn’t do as well as expected, it will likely make it hard to be successful with the second book.

Margery felt that digital books will increase staying power in the future. She also commented that 50% of sales at Marshall Cavendish come from the backlist, so if you write a good book it will have staying power.

Peter reminded us to be timeless and not write to trends, stressing that we have to write what is important to us. His suggestion for our writing was to return to the feelings of our youth, not what causes the feelings. It is the feelings that are timeless.

Colin also felt that good publishing is good storytelling. The way you do it (digital or print) doesn’t affect the strength of a story. It’s about making an engaging connection with the reader.

Peter Catalanotto and Margery Cuyler

Other bits of wisdom pointed out during the panel discussion:

*Margery told us to know what age our inner writer was. If you know that, then we are more likely to do your best writing for the correct age group.

*Peter said not to forget, when working with books for younger children, we are writing to please two different audiences. Kids don’t buy or review books. The buyer is a wall-they are not the audience.

Colin Hosten

Another component of the discussion was about technology. Margery felt it was very important that she learn everything she can about new media. She is very excited about how it can be used in education with things like links in eBooks. Peter thinks that technology doesn’t have to be your thing. In fact, he’s still amazed that when he pulls a tissue out of the box, another pops up to take its place LOL! He cautioned us to spend your time being the artist that you are. Emily reminded us that the technology is also a plus when searching for an agent. There is lots of info out there. Peter followed up with…”you get an agent so you can have someone else do all that technical stuff.” :o)

Then it was off to lunch with the Editors (agents and awesome published authors too).

I had lunch with Connie Hsu, Assistant Editor at Little Brown Books for Young Readers.
Michele Burke, Associate Editor at Knopf & Crown Books for Young Readers.
Stacy Cantor, Editor at Walker Books for Young Readers.
Gail Carson Levine, author of sixteen books and best known for her Newbery Honor Award book ELLA ENCHANTED.

I also had the pleasure of touching base with some other great people like Tina Wexler, Agent for ICM and Jenne Abramowitz, Editor for Scholastic Trade Paperbacks/Club Originals.

Gail Carson Levine and Me *swoon*

I had to get her picture because the boys are big fans of her books, especially the THE TWO PRINCESSES OF BAMARRE.

After lunch we broke off into our tables for our 5 on 5 sessions. I was delighted to have my table moderated by Courtney Bongiolatti, Associate Editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. She was the the moderator at one of my tables at the Writer’s Intensive in NY last year and she does a fantastic job.

In addition to spending more time with my mentor Gretchen Hirsch, I also was able to take in the advice of…
Karen Chaplin, Editor at Puffin/Speak Books
Diane Landolf, Random House Children’s Books
Elana Roth, Agent at Caren Johnson Literary Agency
Kate Sullivan, Assistant Editor at Poppy, an imprint of Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Lastly, the whole gang got together for the last event of the day (unless you count a bunch of us talking a mile-a-minute in Jodi’s mini-van on our way back to the hotel!) Our Keynote speaker was the lively, funny and thoughtful Judy Freeman. She started off with a quote from the book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney…”What will you do to make the world a better place?” What a lovely way to start. :o)

Judy led us through a long list of books worth loving and a few that were not. (She has awards for those.) She’s also been working for James Patterson and is creating an amazing website called ReadKiddoRead.com. Be sure to stop by and check it out.

After the conference we all wandered around the lobby a little while, exchanging thoughts and good-byes. It was a wonderful conference, but now it’s time to reap the benefits of a battery recharged. A big thanks to all the wonderful folks at Rutgers, all the mentors who shared and all my fellow mentees…like Judy reminded us…Madeleine L’Engle had 27 rejection letters for A WRINKLE IN TIME.