The Business of Children's Publishing

Editors, agents and publishers discuss 'the best industry in the world'

Aspiring writers and illustrators, librarians, and lovers of children's literature crowded into the Niemann Media Theatre in Hedberg Library Oct. 1-2 for the Business of Children's Publishing event held by the Center for Children's Literature at Carthage. The event featured guest speakers including an author, illustrator, publisher and editor. Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions about the publishing industry, get books signed, and talk informally with the speakers.

"Publishing is such a different type of industry," said Anita Eerdmans of Eerdmans Publishing. "Over and over again you're inventing ways to do things the right way."

"Publishing is such a different type of industry," said the event's first speaker, publisher Anita Eerdmans of Eerdmans Publishing Company. "In publishing, every season is different. Every product is unique. So over and over again, you're inventing ways to do things the right way, sell them the right way. It's a challenge. It makes it fun, makes it creative, keeps you on your toes."

Like all of the speakers, Ms. Eerdmans was invited to give conference attendees a glimpse into her job and daily responsibilities. Her company publishes 12 to 16 new children's titles a year, and 120 adult titles. A big part of her job is examining the big picture, she said: "Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?"

"I feel like I have the best job in the world, in the best industry in the world," she said. "It's work that's rewarding. It's meaningful. It's creative. I never get tired of talking to people about children's books or talking to people who are knowledgeable in the industry."

'We have to fall in love'

Literary agent Quinlan Lee, of Adams Literary, explained the role of an agent. "We're the middle man. We connect authors and illustrators who are our clients with publishers and editors. We help our clients find the perfect home for their work."

Adams Literary exclusively represents children's book writers and artists. "We really love debut authors, we love first-timers," Ms. Lee said. "We love an author that no one's heard of, but we know everyone will hear of."

Literary Quinlan Lee of Adams Literary talks to aspiring writers over lunch. "We have to fall in love with somebody's work before we're going to take them on as a client," she said.

The agency receives more than 6,000 submissions a year, she said. "We want to have our door open to the unpublished, the unsolicited manuscript, but on the other hand, it's worse than drinking from a fire hydrant," she told the crowd. "It is the hardest and best part of our job. The best part is when you read something and you can't stop reading it. The worst part is that there are so many, and you know there's a person behind every single one of them."

"We have to fall in love with somebody's work before we're going to take them on as a client."

Ms. Lee advised aspiring writers to "grab us early. If you don't have the voice that, from page one, draws us in, then I'm going to have a hard time reading on, and I'm going to have a hard time convincing an editor to read on."

A tough audience

Editor Wesley Adams, of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, echoed Ms. Lee's advice: Grab an editor early with a good "elevator pitch" in your query letter, he said. In other words, be able to summarize your book in one sentence — something you would say to an editor, publisher or reader if you were riding in an elevator and had just moments to hook them.

"If you can't sum up your manuscript in one sexy sentence, you may well have something a little bit wrong with that manuscript," he said.

He detailed a typical day in the life of a book editor, marked by constant e-mails, phone calls, meetings and interruptions. "I'm telling you all of this to give you an idea of how easily distracted editors are," Mr. Adams said. "We love to fall in love. We love to say yes. But it's harder and harder for us to do that because of the market. ... Given what I have to deal with day to day, I need authors who want to get into the business, and are in the business to help me do my job.

"I work in children's books because I believe in the unique power the reading experience can hold for a young person," he said. "They are a tough audience, and as a children's book editor, I live in fear and awe of them. As I wade through my manuscripts, I'm looking for the book that can have that transformative power for the kid reader."

'I would read hundreds of books a year'

Author Kevin Luthardt

The event also featured Isabel Warren-Lynch, an art director with Random House; illustrator Kevin Luthardt; Scottie Bowditch, a marketing manager with Penguin Young Readers; Iris Yipp and Rose Joseph, owners of Magic Tree Books; and award-winning nonfiction author Ann Bausum.

Ms. Bausum has written eight books for children, including Freedom Riders, named a 2006 Notable Children's Book, Booklist's Best Youth Nonfiction Book of 2006, and 2007 Sibert Honor Book. She told the aspiring writers in the audience to write about their passions. For her, that was history. "I wrote the children's books about the chickens and the rabbits. ... The reason I like to write nonfiction is that somebody already thought up the plot," she joked.

Before getting published, she made studying the children's literature market a full-time job. "I checked out every book on the new books shelf that came in, and did that for years," she said. "That was how I learned what it takes to write a really great nonfiction book. I would read hundreds of books a year, and I heard other authors say that, too."

Bausum's book Muckrakers: How Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, and Lincoln Steffens Helped Expose Scandal, Inspire Reform, and Invent Investigative Journalism won the 2007 Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction and was a 2008 Notable Children's Book (American Library Association). Muckrakers was also a finalist for the 2008 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. Ms. Bausum also won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 2005 for her book With Courage and Cloth.

Carthage student Cassidy Reinhard, '12, a studio art and marketing major from Gurnee, Ill., attended the event to learn more about children's publishing. "I really would like to combine my art and marketing degrees somehow and thought this would be really informative," she said. "The speakers have all been so different. It's neat to hear about them and their different perspectives, and how everything works together."

For more information on the annual Business of Children's Publishing event, contact John Stewig, director of the Center for Children's Literature.

Speakers

Friday, Oct. 1

What Does a Publisher Do?
Anita Eerdmans, Eerdmans Publishing

What Does an Agent Do?
Quinlan Lee, Adams Literary

What Does an Illustrator Do?
Kevin Luthardt, Peachtree Press

What Does a Marketing Manager Do?
Scottie Bowditch, Penguin Young Readers

Saturday, Oct. 2

What Does an Editor Do?
Wesley Adams, Farrar/Macmillan

What Does an Author Do?
Ann Bausum, National Geographic Children's

What Does an Art Director Do?
Isabel Warren-Lynch, Random House

What Does a Book Seller Do?
Iris Yipp, Rose Joseph, Magic Tree Books