2010 Fall Conference
The Thick Plottens: Story, Craft and Character
Saturday Conference Sept. 25, 2010 through Sunday Intensive Sept. 26, 2010


You’re invited to beautiful Gallatin Gateway, Montana for our Annual SCBWI Fall Conference.

We’ve planned a great event this year! Come learn, write and share
with your fellow children’s authors and illustrators.

Presenters Include:
Jill Santopolo, Executive Editor at Philomel
Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group.
Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency
Madeline Kotowicz of Hopa Mountain Press
Lynn Purl of Mountain Press
Janet Fox, Author
Blythe Woolston, Author

The conference will be held at the
Gallatin Gateway Inn
76405 Gallatin Road
Gallatin Gateway, MT 59730
(406) 763-4672

For more information download our 2010 Fall Conference Brochure.
See You There!


YARN, a new online literary magazine for Young Adult readers, is seeking fiction, poetry, and essays for its debut issue. Writing should be of special interest to 14-18 year old readers, but can be written by writers of any age or background. Submissions by teens are especially encouraged. YARN’s mission is to publish the highest quality creative writing for everyone who enjoys young adult lit. Published quarterly, YARN will feature short fiction and creative essays, poetry, and an author interview. Our interactive sections will allow for comments on stories, as well as reviews of recent YA books. We distinguish ourselves from other teen lit mags by seeking to discover new teen writers, and publish them alongside established writers of the YA genre. Issue 1 will go live in Winter 2010, but a little taste of our site is currently available at www.yareview.net (where you can also find our submission guidelines).
Get in Front of Top YA Editors and Agents with ONLY the First 250 Words of Your YA Novel!
Updated Nov23, 2009

Get in Front of Top YA Editors and Agents with
ONLY the First 250 Words of Your YA Novel

Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win both exposure to editors, and a one-on-one chat with one of New York’s TOP literary agents Regina Brooks.

Regina Brooks is the founder of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of Writing Great Books for Young Adults. Brooks has been instrumental at establishing and building the careers of many YA writers, including three-time National Book Award Honoree and Michael Printz Honoree Marilyn Nelson, as well as Sundee Frazier—a Coretta Scott King Award winner, an Oprah Book Pick and an Al Roker book club selection. As an agent, she is known for her ability to turn raw talent into successful authors.

ADDITIONALLY: The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors at Random House, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Penguin. All 20 will receive free autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. Of the 20, they will pick the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary and a one year subscription to The Writer magazine. ONE Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to get feedback on a full YA manuscript and win a free 10-week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop.

Please submit all entries via the contest website at http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/YAPitch.php. One entry per person; anyone age 13+ can apply. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET),

NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo
In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.

So apply now! http://bit.ly/1PYGaN

JUDGING
YA literary agent Regina Brooks, along with editors at Sourcebooks, will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Dan Ehrenhaft, head Acquisitions Editor at Soucebooks Fire; Alisha Niehaus, Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin); David Linker, Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Michele Burke, Editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House); and Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to four winners and a grand prize winner—all five will be provided commentary on their submissions.

Hot off the Presses!

Montana SCBWI Fall 2009 Newsletter

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY reports that in August the new imprint Harlequin Teen
will issue its first titles. "The imprint will initially consist of
trade paperbacks, hardcovers and digital publications, and it will
encompass a spectrum of genres including fantasy, contemporary,
historical, science fiction and—no surprise—romance." The first two
titles are in that hot category of "paranormal romance."
<<http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6645137.html>>

Harlequin accepts unagented submissions as described at this webpage:
<<http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1403&chapter=0>>
updated March 2009

The class of 2k10 - MG or YA novelists whose books will debut in 2010 (founded as 2k7 by Greg Fishbone) - is seeking participants. The class of 2k9 is chock full of SCBWI members, including 4 RAs. Members must be published in the US by a house listed in CWIM. This is a great way for debut novelists to rise above the fray and jointly promote their books, and class members tend to become life-long friends as well.

Initial inquiries can be made at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classof2k10/

Updated March 09

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.htm


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

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 artsorganizations. 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!"

Contact: M. Nagorski Studio

Marie Nagorski - Jones
14110 Rocky Mtn Road
Belgrade, Montana 59714
406.388.4954


Joanna Yardley
www.my-design.net
406. 542. 9857

To submit illustrations to be featured please e-mail us!

If you have any questions please e-mail info@scbwimontana.org
or e-mail Michele Corriel, regional coordinator.