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| Tri-Conference SCBWI Agent Panel |
Kitty and I attended the SCBWI Tri-Regional Conference in
Gettsyburg last weekend. For the first time, the regions of Eastern and Western
Pennsylvania, Delaware , Maryland ,
and West Virginia joined together
1. Write thank you notes:
If there was an agent, editor, author or illustrator who you enjoyed
meeting or talking with at the conference, send a handwritten thank you note.
Not an email or a tweet, an honest-to-goodness handwritten note thanking them
and letting them know you appreciated meeting them at the conference.
2. Type up your conference notes or if you jotted them on
your IPAD, decipher your scribble. An attendee’s head is filled with industry information after a
conference. If you wait a week, your notes may not make sense.
3. DON’T – and yes, this is a shouting – DON’T – mail out
your manuscript the moment you return home. Consider what the panel said about
your first page. Allow the criticism you received during the manuscript review to
percolate for a while. Sit down and make the suggested changes. DON’T send your
manuscript until it’s ready or as Jim Murphy so eloquently put it, “Your
manuscript doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough.”
4. Identify the agents or editors who you feel would best
represent your work. It is important to meet these professionals in person. You
get a good feel for their tastes and their personalities. That is why
conferences are so very important.
5. Research. Research. Research. Research the agents and
editors from the conference. Read books that they have published before you send
to them.
6. Check out publishers’ and authors’ websites and
guidelines. If you’re going to submit, read the guidelines and pay attention to
the rules before you submit.
7. Keep your query letter to the point. Tell the editor or
agent why you’ve targeted them specifically. Do not argue or become defensive
in your query letter. Keep your letter focused.
8. Stay in touch with other writers or illustrators you’ve
met at the conference. Think of your colleagues as fellow travelers who can
help you on your journey. You will inspire, encourage and share stories with
the people you met and make lasting friendships.
9. Challenge
yourself. Pick one weakness in your writing (plot, characterization, voice,
etc.). Go to the library. Read as many books as you can on craft. Study. Work
hard until this aspect of your craft soars.
10. Embrace social media. Expand your social network. If you
sign with an agency, you are expected to use these social networking tools.
Many of us fear the technology because it is new to us. Learn it and use it.
The Route 19 bloggers have been fearful to join Twitter for a long time now.
Kitty and I listened to some interesting conversations regarding social media.
Based on what I heard, I signed up for a Twitter account today.
11. Give yourself a deadline to submit to an editor or
agent. Don’t become a revision addict. Do not make excuses or procrastinate. Get
the manuscript ready and send it off. Be polite, have business sense and
believe in yourself and your work.
And if you do as Kitty and I have suggested, you will make
the most out of your conference!
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