17 Friday May 2019
Posted in Toot Your Horn!
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
13 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted in Contests & Grants, Writers Days
Tags
middle grade, nonfiction, picture book, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, young adult
By Karol Ruth Silverstein, Contest Coordinator
It was another year of very strong entries in the SCBWI L.A. Writers Day Contest. As usual, manuscripts were submitted in four categories: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Picture Book, and Other (which includes poetry and non-fiction). First place winners in each category receive free tuition to next year’s Writer’s Day, as well as a manuscript critique from one of this year’s faculty members. If you’d like to contact any of the winners to request their manuscript or discuss publication, please let us know!
Our much-appreciated anonymous judges selected the following 10 honorees: Continue reading
06 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted in Author's Perspective, Writers Days
Tamora Pierce is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than 28 fantasy novels for teenagers. She’s the winner of the 2013 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement in Young Adult Literature, the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, and the 2005 Skylark Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction.
Her latest work includes Tortall: A Spy’s Guide (2017) and 2018’s Tempests and Slaughter, the first in a three-book Tortall series.
She answered some questions about her work and the upcoming Writers Day, where she will be a keynote speaker and faculty.
ERLINA VASCONCELLOS: You’re on several social media sites and have a robust website with the most thorough author bio I’ve ever seen. What motivates you to be so visible and open with the public? Do you have personal guidelines or a philosophy for social media?
01 Friday Feb 2019
Posted in #KT250, Contests & Grants
Tags
agents, contemporary fiction, contest winners, contests, literary fiction, middle grade, publishers, SCBWI members, science fiction, seeking publisher, seeking representation, The Last Bookstore, unpublished, YA, young adult
#KT250 is a Kite Tales quarterly community contest! We’re proud to announce this quarter’s winners and share the first 250 words of their unpublished manuscripts. We encourage agents, publishers, and mentors to reach out to any they find intriguing!
To find out how YOU can enter for next quarter, check out contest info here. Entries are now being accepted for next quarter!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Continue reading
27 Friday Jul 2018
Posted in #KT250, Contests & Grants
Tags
agents, contest winners, contests, fantasy, literary fiction, middle grade, mystery, publishers, SCBWI members, seeking publisher, seeking representation, The Last Bookstore, unpublished, YA, young adult
#KT250 is a Kite Tales quarterly community contest! We’re proud to announce this quarter’s winners and share the first 250 words of their unpublished manuscripts. We encourage agents, publishers, and mentors to reach out to any they find intriguing!
To find out how YOU can enter for next quarter, check out contest info here. Entries are now being accepted for next quarter!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Continue reading
27 Friday Apr 2018
Posted in #KT250, Contests & Grants
Tags
agents, contemporary fiction, contest winners, contests, Fiction Autobiography/Biography, horror, middle grade, mystery, publishers, SCBWI members, seeking publisher, seeking representation, The Last Bookstore, unpublished, YA, young adult
#KT250 is a Kite Tales quarterly community contest! We’re proud to announce this quarter’s winners and share the first 250 words of their unpublished manuscripts. We encourage agents, publishers, and mentors to reach out to any they find intriguing!
To find out how YOU can enter for next quarter, check out contest info here. Entries are now being accepted for next quarter!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Continue reading
23 Friday Mar 2018
Posted in Contests & Grants, Writers Days
Tags
Alison A. Baker, Brenda Scott Royce, Chelsea Lin Wallace, Colleen Paeff, Debbie Friedman, Heather Schmidt, Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh, Kendra Kurosawa, middle grade, nonfiction, PB Rippey, picture book, Sarah Parker-Lee, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, young adult
Every year, SCBWI Los Angeles opens our Writers Day contest to all members attending the event. This year, our anonymous judges chose 10 honorees in Young Adult, Middle Grade, Picture Book, and Other (which includes poetry and non-fiction). First place winners in each category receive free tuition to next year’s Writers Day, as well as a manuscript critique from one of this year’s faculty members. There were a lot of wonderful entries and a “20% of total entries” guideline was used to determine how many manuscripts were honored in each category. As Contest Coordinator Karol Ruth Silverstein so aptly put it, “Regardless of whether you win or lose, putting your work out there to be judged by entering the contest is a courageous act in itself. So let me first congratulate all of you who entered.”
And now, our 2018 Writers Day winners! (If you’d like to contact any of the winners to request their manuscript or discuss publication, please let us know!) Continue reading
26 Friday Jan 2018
Posted in #KT250
Tags
agents, contests, fantasy, literary fiction, middle grade, mystery, publishers, SCBWI members, seeking publisher, seeking representation, The Last Bookstore, unpublished, YA, young adult
#KT250 is our first Kite Tales quarterly community contest! We’re proud to announce this quarter’s winners and share the first 250 words of their unpublished manuscripts. We encourage agents, publishers, and mentors to reach out to any winners whom they find intriguing!
To find out how YOU can enter for next quarter, check out contest info here. Entries are now being accepted for next quarter!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Continue reading
08 Wednesday Nov 2017
Posted in LitMingles!, Tips and Tools
By Karen Sampson (SFV LitMingle Coordinator) & Jennifer S. Pitts (former SFV LitMingle Coordinator, current LitMingle Meister)
Have you ever wanted to pick the brain of today’s Young Adult reader? The Minglers at the San Fernando Valley LitMingle did, which is why we invited five voracious teen readers to our June LitMingle to share what they read and why. As to be expected, their answers were as diverse as their backgrounds, but listening to them was extremely insightful. It would be impossible to summarize all the insight given by these bright young readers, but here are a few highlights*:
Social Media and Web
What Draws Them to Particular Books?
24 Friday Feb 2017
Posted in Editor's Perspective, Writers Days
Tags
authors, Cecilia Vinesse, Claudia Gray, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Jen Calonita, Josh Sundquist, Pam Gruber, publishers, publishing, YA, young adult
Pam Gruber is a Senior Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers where she has worked on everything from novelty and picture books to novels. She primarily acquires middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction. She loves alternate histories, off-beat teen romances, witty voices that can make her laugh and cry simultaneously, and stories of characters being asked to see their world in a different way. She is also on the faculty for this year’s Los Angeles SCBWI Writers and Illustrators Day (Feb. 25th) where she will deliver a keynote and lead a breakout session on immersive world-building. For a great preview and insights from an editor-extraordinaire (and cute cat photos!), read on:
SARAH PARKER-LEE: Your list includes a hybrid graphic-novel series, VIP by Jen Calonita, Claudia Gray’s new space opera, Defy the Stars, and YouTuber Josh Sundquist’s debut novel, Love and First Sight. You certainly don’t dwell in traditional spaces for content or creator! What makes you want to take a risk on non-traditional projects? What’s the difference between non-traditional and straight-up gimmicky? Continue reading
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