Macmillan restructures, read story at Publishers Weekly online at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6623005.html?nid=2788
Updated December 22, 2008

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY just reported that the executives at the top of
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have told the company's trade and reference
editors not to acquire any more books. For a while, that is: the firm
told PW this is "not a permanent change," and that some very appealing
projects might be allowed through.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6617241.html

Houghton is notable among the big US publishers in having piled up a lot
of debt in recent years as its new owners assembled the company.
Therefore, this new move is more likely the result of the immediate
credit crunch rather than of worries about the economy in coming years.
Updated November 25, 2008

Updates from the Fall Conference
Scholastic Imprints List and Middle Grade List from Morgan Matson

SCBWI adds new level of membership

At the SCBWI annual conference in August, the Board of Directors and Regional Advisors discussed changes to the organization’s membership policies which take into account the increased number of self-publishing options in today’s industry. There’s a division of opinions whether self-published authors/illustrators should be considered on an equal footing with those who are traditionally published.

The solution was to create a new category of membership, PAL (Published and Listed). To qualify, your work must be published or produced by a company on an approved list, which SCBWI is currently compiling. PAL members will be eligible for services such as speaker lists which are sent to school districts and other arts organizations. In our region, we don’t have enough volunteers to provide these services, so it won’t change much for us. Members who move to other regions may notice more of a difference.

To recap, the three levels of membership in SCBWI now are:
•Associate (unpublished),
•Full (published but not on the list)
•and PAL (published and listed).

If your membership status changes, it will be handled during your annual renewal process.

There will be options to appeal if, for instance, you think you should be PAL but are listed as Full. There will be an appeal committee of the Board that will handle any disputes about whether or not an applicant qualifies for PAL membership. Their decision will be final.

To kick off the PAL registration process, members coming up for renewal will not be able to renew until they submit their most recent published title. Some of our current full members will obviously qualify for a PAL membership; others who are published with a vanity press will not. They can, however, remain full members. We will be issuing new cards to PAL members as they renew which will indicate the PAL status. Also, PAL members will be listed in the online look up, so RA’s can check the status of anyone in question.

PAL SCBWI members will receive certain additional privileges, including but not limited to, the ability to be listed on a speakers’ bureau, the ability to have their books sold or displayed at SCBWI events and booths, and admission to certain designated conference tracks or retreats.

Featured Illustrators

Joe Boddy

A freelance illustrator for over 20 years, Joe has enjoyed creating illustration for most of the major book publishers in the United States. He specializes in art for children and has contributed to over 70 childrens book titles, numerous childrens magazines and hundreds of educational early readers.
After 30 some years creating art and loving most of the traditional mediums Joe has discovered the pixel. His current work, both in illustration and fine art, includes the use of this new medium. Which has become an intregal part of his artistic expression.

us@boddyart.com
http://www.boddyart.com/


Josie Fife

Josie was born in New Mexico, where she spent her childhood in the national forests around Albuquerque.
She now lives in Philipsburg, Montana where she shows her work and continues to paint and draw every day. Josie earned a B.F.A. in drawing and painting from the University of Utah. She also shows her work in Seattle, Washington, Salt Lake City, Utah and Flagstaff, Arizona. She has had several solo shows. She has been accepted in many juried art festivals, including the Park City Arts Festival in Utah and the Best of the Northwest in Seattle. Josie has written and illustrated several children’s books that she hopes to publish in the near future. She won the award of excellence in illustration at the annual scbwi conference in Bozeman September 2006. Her website is www.josiefife.com.
Her favorite children’s book is Calico the Wonder Horse, or the Saga of Stewy Stinker, by Virginia Lee Burton.
Josie has worked as lead scenic artist on dozens of feature films and television projects, most recently the film “The Blind Guy” and the television series “Veronica Mars”. She lives with her husband John Nelson in Philipsburg, Montana.


Marie Nagorski - Jones

"My early commercial work was done for the printed t-shirt and embroidery souvenir market. From that position I had the chance to create pieces both whimsical and realistic. In the last few years I have created characters for product ads and illustrations for the giftware market. I enjoy mixing styles in unexpected ways - and learning new traditional and digital techniques with drawing. My goal is to be versatile and become more involved with narrative (book) illustration - and to always have fun with each project I take
on!"