Your 2020 Guide to Book Festivals, Conventions, and SCBWI Events

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Books Festivals, business, ComicCon, Conventions, Critique Day, Down The Rabbit Hole, LA Comic Con, LitFest, marketing, news, OC Book Fair, PAL events, SCBWI events, Working Writer's Retreat, Writers Day, writing

Need a creative pick me up? How about a new avenue for book promotion? Or maybe you just need some quality time with like-minded writers and illustrators working on their craft. SCBWI has you covered on the craft of kidlit and our region’s list of local book festivals and conventions is sure to broaden your creative perspectives!

SCBWI Sponsored Events for 2020

MARCH 28
Writers Day
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

Dive into craft and “Discover the Words Worth Keeping” with a full day of keynotes, critiques and agent pitch sessions. A special pre-event intensive with Harold Underdown will also give a new perspective on approaching revision to polish your work in progress. Contests, manuscript reviews and scholarships will also be available. Need more insight? Read author Charlotte Offsay’s recap of last year here.

All the Ways You Can Be Featured On KITE TALES

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community, illustrating, inspiration, tools, writing

A week into 2020, are you still working on your goals for the year? If your goals include things like sharing your work/personal successes, being more active in the SCBWI community, increasing your online presence, or helping fellow writers/illustrators by sharing your expertise – then you should consider submitting to Kite Tales!

Here are some of the key ways you can be featured on Kite Tales.

Attention PAL Novelists: Be an SCBWI Mentor in 2020!

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Bethany Barton, Emily Asaro, mentoring, mentors, mentorship, novel, PAL novelists, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, SCBWI Mentor Program, writing

by Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

The SCBWI-L.A. Mentorship program alternates between picture book writers, illustrators and novelists. And this year, it’s the novelists’ turn again.

Many folks can attest to the value of having a mentor—but there’s tremendous value in being a mentor as well. From learning more about your own craft to reaffirming your love of storytelling to the simple satisfaction of giving back to the SCBWI-L.A. community, being a mentor can be incredibly rewarding.

We caught up with the SCBWI-L.A. 2019 Mentor Bethany Barton, currently mentoring author/illustrator Emily Asaro, and asked her the following:

KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN: What motivated you to be an SCBWI-L.A. mentor?

Meet April Halprin Wayland, Author, Poet, and Beach Retreat Instructor

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April Halprin Wayland, authors, Beach Retreat, Cencal 2020 Retreat, More Than Enough: A Passover Story, New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story, picture books, poetry, SCBWI events, To Rabbittown, writing, writing tips

By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

(Photo: Morgan Eagle)

April Halprin Wayland will be joining us for our picture book retreat, January 10–12, 2020, in San Simeon, California. She writes poetry and picture books, including More Than Enough: A Passover Story and the Sydney Taylor Gold Book Award winning New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story. She was named UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Outstanding Instructor of the Year, and blogs with five other children’s authors at TeachingAuthors.com. April will be presenting four sessions during the retreat weekend, which is open to the public, and will include time to write, join small critique groups, stroll on the beach, and enjoy a beachside campfire in the evening.

ANN ROUSSEAU SMITH: Welcome to the Kite Tales blog! Most people love origin stories. Can you tell us a little bit about your first published picture book?

Peer2Peer Critique Day 2019: Leave Your First-Timer Worries Behind

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critique groups, critiquing, editing, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, writing

By Amber June Davis

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into the Skirball Cultural Center on June 2, for my first Peer2Peer Critique Day. I’d been to critique groups and workshops over the years, but none with a professional reputation like SCBWI’s. My hands shook a little. Who would be there? Would they all be vastly more experienced than me? But I knew I was ready to take this step, and had six copies of a picture book manuscript I was proud of tucked under my arm. I pushed through the courtyard door.

Peer2Peer Critique Day 2018: Inspirational Setting and Writers

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community, critiques, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, writing

By Renee Carter

It was a spectacular Saturday morning. The temperature was in the low seventies and the sky blue. The Peer2Peer Critique Day facilitators, Daka Hermon and Pamela Rippey, arrived early to the Skirball Cultural Center, armed with candy and great attitudes. I was warmly greeted, efficiently signed in, and encouraged to pick any spot for my group. Within minutes, other SCBWI members arrived. There were several familiar faces; two from my mingle group and two from prior Critique Days.

The table where I sat was composed of four other middle grade writers. We were a diverse group: a teacher, life coach, retired banker, retired physical therapist and a full-time author. Our common ground lay in the areas of writing children’s literature and a positive, supportive attitude.

Meet Your Audience and Help Kids Tell Their Own Stories

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kids, literacy, reading, reading to kids, SCBWI members, Susan J. Berger, volunteering, writing

By Susan J. Berger

Target Marketing: Writing for the Whole Family

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family, marketing, R.S. Mellete, target marketing, writing, writing tips

by R.S. Mellette

While the publishing world argues over what’s Middle Grade, what’s Young Adult, and what’s New Adult, I’m asking; whatever happened to “good for the whole family?”

Target marketing has been around long enough that most people think it’s the only way it’s ever been, but if you take a longer view of commercial art, you’ll see that excluding the majority of your potential audience is a brand new concept. Yes, I said “excluding.” If you write, or edit, or make acquisitions, or shelf for one specific age group, then you are limiting your audience. And by “brand new” I mean since the turn of the previous century.

The Sue Alexander Grant is Open. Why Should You Submit Your Writing?

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Andrea Custer, contests, critique groups, critiquing, pitching, SAG, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, Sue Alexander Grant, writing

By Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

It’s time once again to polish up those manuscripts and submit to the Sue Alexander Grant, the winner of which receives a guaranteed spot and free tuition to the SCBWI-L.A. September 2018 Working Writers Retreat.

The WWR is an intense critiquing weekend with critique sessions, revision time, and parties ­­— including karaoke! The retreat culminates in a first-pages pitch session with four acquiring editors and agents.

I recently caught up with last year’s Sue Alexander Grant winner, Andrea Custer, for her insight on the retreat, how it influenced her writing, and why you should apply for this grant to attend.

KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN: Did you put in a lot of work on your manuscript before submitting it to the Sue Alexander Grant or did you have a polished manuscript ready to go?

ANDREA CUSTER: I workshopped it with my critique group as I was writing the first draft. They are an amazing group, quite astute, and so I had the benefit of their comments early on and had already revised the first half of the manuscript based on their feedback. Submitting it for consideration for SAG was actually a bit of an impulse! I saw the reminder on Facebook that the submission deadline was coming up, and thought why not go for it? I had about a week to re-read, polish, and get it ready. I found out I’d won on my birthday! It was the best gift I’ve ever gotten.

KRS: What was your favorite part of the retreat? What was most valuable?

Failing Before You Start: The Key Steps I Ignored to Crowdfund My Picture Book

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crowdfunding, illustrating, Indiegogo, Kickstarter, publishing, SCBWI members, self-publishing, Stan Yan, There's a Zombie in My Basement, tips, writing

by Stan Yan, Author and Illustrator

This is the first part in a two-part series where I will discuss my “missteps” in crowdfunding my picture book, There’s a Zombie in the Basement, because sometimes you have to risk going against conventional wisdom to bring your book into the world.

In 2013, my primary job was drawing zombie caricatures at conventions. One day, my 3-year-old son wouldn’t come down to my basement studio, fearfully pointing at my zombie artwork on the walls. This inspired my foray into kidlit, which taught me some lessons.

Ignored Step #1: Don’t Self-Publish.