SCBWI-Orange County/San Bernardino/Riverside

Editor's Day 2008

You are invited to an amazing Editor's Day on October 4, 2008! We will gather in the fabulous Big Red Barn at the charming Santa Ana Zoo. Each attendee will have access to the beautiful 20-acre zoo for free. Picture yourselves eating your lunch while strolling inside an exotic rain forest. How about taking a break next to the inspirational Amazon Falls? In addition to our fabulous location our guest speakers will be:

Editor's Day is packed with plenty of opportunities, including manuscript critiques, portfolio display, lunch with the editor, contests, book signings, and raffles. Don't miss out on this fabulous event to connect with industry professionals!

Our editors have generously agreed to do written manuscript critiques for attendees only. Are you loaded with talent? Each editor will have the opportunity to pick the most promising manuscript from the group they have critiqued, and the author will have the opportunity to meet with the editor to discuss their work.

Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008

Time: Registration 8:00am – 9:00am

Program 9:00am – 5:00pm

Location: The Santa Ana Zoo
The Big Red Barn facility
1801 East Chestnut Avenue
Santa Ana, California 92701
http://www.santaanazoo.org/

How do I register? Print out the form, fill it in and mail it with manuscript, promo sheet, contest entry and checks payable to SCBWI. CLICK HERE for Registration for SCBWI OC 2008 Editor’s Day at the Zoo.

Speaker Bios

Ben Barnhart, Editor at Milkweed Editions

Ben Barnhart is an editor for Milkweed Editions, where he acquires and edits fiction for both adults and children, who are not so different as they might like you to think. Some of the recent books Ben has worked on are:
Trudy by Jessica Lee Anderson
The Linden Tree by Ellie Mathews
Remember As You Pass Me By by L. King Pérez
River of Words, edited by Pamela Michael
Slant by Laura E. Williams

Melissa Manlove, Assistant Editor at Chronicle Books

Melissa Manlove is Assistant Editor at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She has been with Chronicle for four years. Some of the books she has served as editor for are Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai, Tools by Taro Miura, Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Cooper Edens, and Make a Wish by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Elisa Kleven. Melissa is passionate about all age groups and genres of children’s books, with the exception of religious topics. When acquiring, she looks for fresh takes on familiar topics as well as the new and unusual. More important than topic, however, is an effective approach and strong, graceful writing.

Molly O’Neill, Assistant Editor at Bowen Press HarperCollins

After spending almost five years working in Marketing, first at Clarion and later at HarperCollins, Molly recently shifted into an editorial role, joining Brenda Bowen’s new, imprint at HarperCollins as Assistant Editor. The imprint is seeking projects that are both literary and commercial, with particular focus on attracting new talent, publishing groundbreaking formats, and creating books with a global reach.

Topics of Interest;

• Cultural trends and global matters, such as their March 2008 (the only early book), My Space/Our Planet: Change is Possible, a book about using My Space to support causes.



• Literary Fiction. Bowen has published both Karen Hesse and Virginia Euwer Wolff, so the bar is very high here.



• Popular fiction. Examples include Tad Williams and Deborah Beale’s The Dragons of Ordinary Farm.



• Bold & Arresting picture books. Their first list has only author/illustrators, but they are also open to author texts for which they will find the best illustrator.



• Graphic novels. C.M. Butzer’s The Graphic Gettysburg.



• New talent/debut books.



• Innovative, groundbreaking approaches.

Julie Tibbot, Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Julie Tibbot is an editor for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She works on hardcover novels for Harcourt Children’s Books and handles paperback reprints and originals for the Graphia and Sandpiper paperback imprints. Some of her recent projects include DEAD IS
THE NEW BLACK by Marlene Perez, SAVVY GIRL by Lynn Messina, and THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF CHARLEY DARWIN by Carolyn Meyer. She is most interested in acquiring strong, commercial, contemporary YA fiction for paperback original publication. She also loves stories about kids living in unusual societies like cults or communes (or even just boarding school), rock n’ roll and rebellious teens, historical fiction set around the turn of the last century, and mysteries with a supernatural element.

Lin Oliver, Author and Executive Producer

Lin Oliver is the Executive Producer of Nickelodeon’s Wayside Series. She is the author of the Simon & Schuster middle grade series Who Shrunk Daniel Funk? Attack of the Growling Eyeballs.

Executive Director, after nine years as Senior Vice President of Television and Home Video at MCA/Universal, set up her production company, Lin Oliver Productions, first at TriStar Pictures, and then established independent offices. Most of her projects are based on children’s books, including the animated feature of E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan and the Showtime Family Film, Finding Buck McHenry, based on Alfred Slote's book, which was nominated for an Emmy. Presently in development is a new children’s television series, Wayside School, based on the popular books by Louis Sachar. In addition to her work as a producer and writer for television and film, she recently co-authored a series of books, Hank Zipzer: the Mostly True Confessions of the World’s Best Underachiever (Penguin Putnam, 2003), with Henry Winkler.

SPOT LIGHT ON

Marlene Perez, YA Author

Marlene is the author of the LOVE IN THE CORNER POCKET, a teen novel about a love--and billiards—triangle. She is also the author of the forthcoming teen paranormal trilogy, DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK (Harcourt, August 08), DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND (Harcourt, October 08), and DEAD IS SO LAST YEAR (Harcourt, Spring 09), which will be edited by the fabulous Julie Tibbott. THE COMEBACK will be published by Scholastic/Point sometimes in 2009. Her first novel was UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT. In a series of papers for Honors English, a senior girl relates the difficulties of being blessed with a voluptuous body that began appearing in fifth grade. I also write mid-grade novels for Mirrorstone Books under the pen name Lana Perez.

Lunch with the Editor

At least forty winners of a random drawing will be seated at a speaker's table for lunch! Make sure to note your main area of interest on the registration form. The lunch list will be posted at the event. All other attendees are invited to lunch at a table with a published author or illustrator. *For a small fee lunch will be provided for attendees only. To protect the zoo animals, outside food may not be brought onto the zoo grounds. However you may bring your lunch and eat in your car or visit a local restaurant. A list of restaurants will be posted. There is also a small snack shack located inside the zoo.

Editor’s Manuscript Critiques

We will offer written manuscript critiques for attendees only. Each editor is given the opportunity to pick the most promising manuscript from the group they have critiqued, and the author will meet with the editor for further comments. The critique fee is forty-five dollars ($45). One manuscript title only, limited to ten pages (double spaced). For Middle grade and YA please send a one-page synopsis along with your manuscript. For a picture book critique please send the full manuscript. Please see Critique Guidelines.

Critique Guidelines

To submit a manuscript for critique please send your submission along with your registration fee and a separate check for forty-five dollars ($45) made out to SCBWI. Please don't combine the critique fee and your registration fee in the same check. Critique submissions must be postmarked no later than September 5, 2008. Please write “Critique” at the top of the manuscript. Include your name, address, email, phone number and type of manuscript (PB, MG, YA). This opportunity is open only to those attending Editor's Day. We are limited to forty manuscripts (ten pages double-spaced for MG or YA, full manuscript for PB). Register as soon as possible! Your critiques will be returned at the conference. We will post on the web when the spaces are filled. You are welcome to submit a different manuscript for the contest and for the critique.

First Pages – Editor’s Panel

Does your first page work? Will it get an editor's attention? Send along a copy of the opening page of your manuscript for our First Pages Panel. Prepare the page as you would for submission (no squeezing as much as you can on the page in 8 point type!). First Pages will be picked randomly, read out loud and critiqued by our editors.

Free Published Book Showcase

Would you like to join our attendees only published book showcase?
Bring your current published children’s book (1) and you will have the opportunity to display your book at the conference.

Free Illustrator’s Showcase

Would you like to join our attendees only portfolio display? Art must be appropriate for children's books & magazines and be presented in a book form with plastic sleeves for 8 1/2 " x 11" color copies of original art. NO original art. Quality reprints of your work only.

Free Illustrators’ Contest!!

Our Speakers will pick their favorite portfolio! The winner will win a pass to Editor's Day 2009. Attendees only.

Free Writers’ Contest – Win and You’re In!

Would you like to come to Editor's Day 2009 for free? Send us one manuscript (attendees only) for consideration in our "Win and You're In" contest. For picture books send the complete manuscript. For middle grade and YA, send the first two chapters and a synopsis. Please clearly mark the manuscript on the top of the first page "Contest Entry”, along with your name, address, email, phone number and type of manuscript (PB, MG, YA). There is no fee to enter. If you are sending a manuscript to be critiqued and would like to enter it in the contest as well, please send a second copy because they go to different people. Copies of the winning manuscripts will be given to each guest editor to read at their leisure. Attendees only. Writers' Contest entries must be postmarked by September 12, 2008.

Both writer's and illustrator's contests must have a minimum amount of entries for prizes to be awarded.

How do I register? Print out the form, fill it in and mail it with manuscript, promo sheet, contest entry and checks payable to SCBWI. CLICK HERE for Registration for SCBWI OC 2008 Editor’s Day at the Zoo.

How much does Editor's Day cost?

Please send a separate check for the critique. Write “Critique” on manuscript.
Writers' Contest entries must be postmarked by September 12, 2008

If you would like to apply on-line for SCBWI membership and save $10 by registering as a member,
visit: http://www.scbwi.org.

What is the refund policy? For a refund please email a written notice along with your name and address, check number and amount paid by September 15, 2008 to: CLICK HERE to e-mail Francesca Rusackas for a refund. A service charge of $30 will be applicable. No refunds for program changes. No refunds allowed if you are receiving a manuscript critique. No refunds after September 15, 2008.

Regional information: www.scbwisocal.org/htmls/orange_county.htm.
Questions call or email Regional Advisor Francesca Rusackas 909-860-8536 CLICK HERE to e-mail Francesca Rusackas or
Assistant Regional Advisor Q. L. Pearce CLICK HERE to e-mail Q L Pearce
Illustrators; email National Illustrator Coordinator Priscilla Burris at CLICK HERE to e-mail Priscilla Burris

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