Thursday, July 19, 2007

Professional Networking On Our Own Terms

Okay, so it's clear that a number of you won't be attending SCBWI National. Or if you are, you're keeping it a secret from us. With that in mind, I'd like to talk about technology's greatest gift to the introvert so those of you left at home have something to console yourselves with: Networking while all alone, whether at home in your most comfortable jammies or in your own preferred version of blissful solitude.

Really, how cool is it that we live in an era when we have access to publisher, agent, editor information, right at our fingertips. Not to mention discussion boards, forums, and other places to "hang out" with fellow writers, all with never leaving our computer chair?

I realize I'm preaching to the choir, here. You all must be fairly computer savvy; you found our blog, after all. Even so, I thought we'd share some of our favorite online networking spots, where we get the inside scoop, without ever having to actually talk to someone!

Enjoy!

Editors:
Great speech on authenticity in writing by the editor who discovered Harry Potter
http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/blog.asp
Great source of dramatic writing theory by Cheryl Klein an editor with Arthur Levine Books
http://www.cherylklein.com/
Cheryl Klein’s Blog
http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/
Anonymous Children’s Editor Blog
http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/

Industry
These sites are full service sites talking about everything from craft to editors to agents.
http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/
The Purple Crayon http://www.underdown.org/
http://www.jacketflap.com/index.asp
http://www.verlakay.com/

Agents
http://www.agentquery.com/Agent Kirsten Nelson’s blog – tons of great advice
http://pubrants.blogspot
Rachel Vater of Folio Literary Agency
http://raleva31.livejournal.com/
Association of Authors’ Representatives,
http://www.aar-online.org

Publisher Blogs
http://www.fluxnow.com/index.php
Harper Perennial http://cruelestmonth.typepad.com/
http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/
http://simonpulseromanticcomedies.blogspot.com/

Organizations:
Author’s Guild, www.authorsguild.org
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators SCBWI, www.scbwi.org
Novelists, Inc., www.ninc.org
Mystery Writers of America, www.mysterywriters.org
Romance Writers of America, www.rwanational.org
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, www.sfwa.org
The Author’s Guild www.authorsguild.org
Institute of Children’s Literature www.institutechildrenslit.com
Children’s Book Council www.cbcbooks.org/

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robin,

Now I'll never get any writing done! You've listed several places I haven't been to yet. Thanks, I think.

Kimberly Lynn

Mary Hershey said...

First off, let me just say that I need to get a pair of those high heels like in the pix-- apparently you can climb rocks in them, for god's sake! Awesome.

Great blog, Robin! An absolute wealth of resources. Some new ones on me, too. Looking forward to doing some shopping around!

Yeah, how cool is it that we can get so much done from home???

Wow.
Mary

jama said...

Thanks for all the resources, Robin. The internet is truly a godsend for introverts. I find it a lot easier to "approach" new people via the written word -- so reading blogs and posting on message boards, etc., is a good way of breaking the ice pre-conference or pre-event. Then when you finally meet these people face to face, you kind of already know them.