Writing for Children and for Young Adults, Milton, Saturday, November 3

"Writing for Children & for Young Adults, the world's hottest market"

Saturday, November 3, 2012

10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

(But note, the instructor will be around till 4:30 to look at samples of your work.)

The Harrop Restaurant, 345 Steeles Avenue East, Milton, Ontario. (Just south of Hwy 401, just east of Regional Road 25, aka Martin Street. Map here.)

Whether you want to write the next best-selling children’s books or just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids and young adults will love, and find out what you need to know to sell your book.

 Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 2 or 3 copies of the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel. (Or if 750 words will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter, bring that.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot! 

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He is also the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc).

"Brian’s the real deal. He isn't just an inspiring teacher – he's plugged into the publishing world! He got me an agent who sold my first novel, Bitten, to publishers around the world. More recently, my young adult novel, The Awakening, hit number 1 on the New York Times bestsellers' list. And Random House Canada, Bantam U.S. and Little Brown in Britain have contracted my next seven books."

~ Kelley Armstrong, Aylmer, Ontario, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Calling and other supernatural thrillers for teens and adults.

For this workshop, we have a spectacular setting: the Harrop Restaurant and Gallery. Coffee will be available in the morning gratis and for lunch, the restaurant will lay out a buffet for us, including salads, sandwiches, fruit, dessert, drinks, etc. for $12 each.

(Or participants may go out for a bite or may brown-bag it, though, no outside food in the restaurant please).

Fee: $41.59 +  hst = $47 paid in advance

or $44.25 + hst = $50 if you wait to pay at the door

We have limited space for this workshop, so seating will be on a first-paid, first seated basis. To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca  

Photos: Two books by Brian's students – The Calling, a young adult novel by Kelley Armstrong and Business in Bangkok, a picture book by Lynn Westerhout.

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

The Puritan seeks short fiction and poetry for writing contest and wants to pay you for regular submissions

The Puritan is an online, quarterly publication based in Toronto, Ontario committed to publishing the best in new fiction, non-fiction, poetry, interviews, and reviews. 

The Puritan seeks, above all, a pioneering literature. Submissions may push toward the symbolic frontier, challenging limitations and forging into previously unexplored aesthetic territory. But they may also revisit and revitalize traditional forms. We seek work wherever it lands on the conceptual spectrum, so long as it is original, intelligent, and engaging. 

Contest

The Inaugural Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence recognizes the single best piece of short fiction and poem submitted to The Puritan. Submissions will be read and judged by the editors of The Puritan in a double-blind judging process. Fiction submissions are capped at 12,000 words, and submissions of poetry must be no longer than 3 pages in length.

Deadline: September 30th, 2012

The cost per individual submission is $10 

The winners will receive a prize of $650 for best fiction and $350 for best poem, a collection of books from a growing list of Canadian publishers (including Chaudiere Books, Coach House Books, Cormorant Books, ECW Press, Freehand Books, Goose Lane Editions, Insomniac Press, Mansfield Press, Pedlar Press, and Tightrope Books!), and will also be featured in an end-of-year Best-Of Print Anthology, to be published in late 2012.

Full contest rules here.

The Puritan accepts regular submissions, too – and pays for them:

Publication rates: 

$50 for a work of fiction or non-fiction

$50 for an interview

$50 for a review

$20 for a poem

The cutoff for the fall issue is September 15, 2012.

Fiction: Feel free to push boundaries. We have diverse tastes; try us out. Length is up to you, but a story over 10,000 words will only be considered if it is of exceptional quality. Stories of high quality and high word counts may be considered for serialization. Please read our last two (2) or three (3) issues in our ARCHIVE in order to familiarize yourself with work we have published in the past. Only send one (1) story at a time, unless you are writing flash fiction (or stories under 500 words), in which case you can send up to three (3).

Nonfiction: See above. Send only one (1) piece at a time. Non-fiction submissions can be anything from memoirs and creative non-fiction to academic essays on a literary subject. We're open to just about anything, but the more literary your topic, the better.

Poetry: Baffle us, tangle us up, or break our hearts. We're looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Send up to four (4) poems at a time.

Interviews: Interviews must be thoughtful, compelling, and original. Strive for depth. They must also be conducted with writers, publishers, editors, and other sorts involved in the world of books and publishing. Length is up to you. Please understand that your subject will be contacted in order to verify that your submission was indeed a legitimate conversation. Please supply your interview with a title that includes the name of your interviewee, such as "The Steadfast Heart": An Interview with William Bradford. Send only one interview at a time.

Reviews: We are looking for insightful and challenging reviews of recently released fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Reviews can be up to 3,000 words in length. We prefer to publish reviews of books released by small(er) Canadian publishers, but are open to other works, as well. Please supply your review with a title, and the necessary information about the book you are reviewing. Send only one review at a time. Abide by the following model - Title, Publisher, Year, Price, Number of Pages, and then your name.

Full submission guidelines here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Happy Eid!

Literary agent Carly Watters to teach Creative Writing for Beginners at St. Lawrence College in Kingston

Literary Agent and Queen’s University grad Carly Watters will be teaching Creative Writing for Beginners at St. Lawrence College on Tuesday evenings starting September 25.

Upon graduating from Queen’s, Carly attended City University London for her masters in publishing studies. After working at a top commercial literary agency, the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency, and leading independent international publisher Bloomsbury PLC she returned to Canada to join the P.S. Literary Agency, home to a diverse list of internationally published, bestselling and debut authors.

Many followers of Quick Brown Fox will know Carly as from the How to Get Published workshop in Hamilton on June 16 where she was our outstanding guest speaker.

Carly represents internationally successful improv comedian Colin Mochrie, TSN sportscaster and Gemini Award winner Jay Onrait, holistic nutritionist Lorene Sauro, and fiction authors Mary Akers, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Julianna Scott and more. For information about submitting to Carly, see here.

Carly attends Book Expo America in New York, the London Book Fair, the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, and was a Blue Pencil Mentor at the Ontario Writers Conference in 2012.

“I want to bring my enthusiasm and passion for developing writers to the St. Lawrence creative writing program. The continuing education department has been fantastic to work with in developing the course. I look forward to meeting and instructing writers in the greater Kingston area and helping them develop their craft,” says Carly.

Bringing her international publishing experience to her course at St. Lawrence College she will teach Creative Writing for Beginners on Tuesday evenings from 7-9 at the Kingston campus of St. Lawrence College starting September 25, limited space available. You can register online or by phone.

For Further Information:

Course here. Registration here or by phone: 613-544-5400

Contact: Kim Cloutier, Administrative Support, School of Part Time Studies, St. Lawrence College (613) 544-5400 ext. 1670, kcloutier@sl.on.ca

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Kelley Armstrong’s "13" rises to #2 on Maclean’s Bestsellers list, "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce takes #1

For variety, I’m bringing you Maclean Magazines’s bestsellers list. This is the second week that Kelley Armstrong’s new novel, 13, has been on the Maclean’s list and it’s risen into the number two spot after debuting at number three.  Kelley will be my guest speaker at the “Secrets of Writing a Page-turner” Workshop on October 27 in London. (Details here.)

I confess to knowing nothing about the number one book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, but according to reviews it’s highly readable.

In case anyone is wondering, Canada is by an American, the well-known novelist, Richard Ford. Still, it’s an irresistible title, a good book to read while eating your waffles with Quebec maple syrup and a side of back bacon …

Fiction

(The number following the title signifies the book’s place on the list the previous week; the number in brackets, shows how many weeks the book has been on the list.)

1	THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY by Rachel Joyce	6 (2)
2	13 by Kelley Armstrong	3 (2)
3	CAPITAL by John Lanchester	2 (5)
4	A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING by Dave Eggers	(1)
5	IN ONE PERSON by John Irving	1 (14)
6	MISSION TO PARIS by Alan Furst	7 (9)
7	CANADA by Richard Ford	4 (11)
8	A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R.R. Martin	5 (57)
9	BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel	9 (13)
10	GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn	(1)

Nonfiction

1	DOUBLECROSS by Ben Mcintyre	6 (2)
2	A DAUGHTER’S TALE by Mary Soames	(1)
3	JOHNSON’S LIFE OF LONDON by Boris Johnson	2 (2)
4	THE SECOND WORLD WAR Antony Beevor	3 (9)
5	TECUMSEH AND BROCK by James Laxer	1 (5)
6	THE END OF GROWTH by Jeff Rubin	4 (13)
7	THE WORLD OF DOWNTON ABBEY by Jessica Fellowes	5 (28)
8	WILD by Cheryl Strayed	9 (4)
9	ROAD TO VALOUR by Aili and Andres McConnon	(1)

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

John Rudolph at Dystel & Goderich seeks thrillers and other guy books, middle grade and YA fiction, and picture books

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management

One Union Square West

Suite 904

New York, NY 10003

http://www.dystel.com/

I've  featured John Rudolph once before - back in 2010 when he first joined Dystel & Goderich as a literary agent (see here). But recently, Andrew Murray, who attends my workshops in the London area, told me he had a good experience submitting to Rudolph. Ultimately, Rudolph  rejected Andrew’s manuscript, but he provided him with a paragraph of valuable feedback.

This suggests that Rudolph was impressed with Andrew’s work, but also says to me that Rudolph is an agent who’s willing to put himself out and who treats writers with respect. Not all agents bother to give feedback about a work they’re turning down, not even if they quite liked it. This isn’t a slam against agents. But for agents time is their most precious commodity and I’m always impressed when an agent’s willing to give a bit of it away.

 - Brian

John Rudolph joined Dystel & Goderich in 2010 after twelve years as editor acquiring children’s books. He began his career as Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers as an Editorial Assistant and then moved to the G.P. Putnam’s Sons imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group, where he eventually served as Executive Editor on a wide variety of young adult, middle grade, nonfiction and picture book titles.

John is always eager to discover fresh new voices and highly original stories regardless of category, though he’s probably known as a “boy book” kind of guy. He is particularly interested in thrillers and other commercial men’s fiction. He is also looking for narrative nonfiction, especially in sports, music, other performing arts, health / popular science, memoir, military history, and humour.

On the children’s side, he is keenly interested in middle-grade and young adult fiction and would love to find the next great picture book author/illustrator.

Query John at jrudolph@dystel.com

Include an outline or brief synopsis of the work (with word count if possible) and a sample chapter in the body of the query. No attachments.

Full submission guidelines here.

Dystel & Goderich also has two relatively new agents who are actively seeking authors:

Brenna Barr is attracted to true crime/adventure, the occult, humor, historical pop culture, and social issues. Regarding fiction, she is enthusiastic about graphic novels, steampunk, and alternative literature. Having recently been diagnosed with multiple food intolerances, she’s also interested in cookbooks that take these issues into account.

Query Brenna at: bbarr@dystel.com

Rachel Stout is interested in literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and believable thought-provoking YA, as well as magical realism.

Query Rachel at rstout@dystel.com

Brian Henry will lead a “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop in Newmarket on Saturday, September 22 (see here), and he'll lead a "How to Get Published" workshop on Saturday, October 13, in Toronto with Monica Pacheco of The Anne McDermid literary agency (see here). But the best step you can take toward getting published is to take one of Brian’s weekly courses, such as The Next Step in Creative Writing (see here), though beginners will want to start with Welcome to Creative Writing (see here).

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Soho Press seeks crime novels, especially for young adults

The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

coming from Soho Press in 2013

Soho Press

853 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

http://www.sohopress.com/

Soho Press primarily publishes literary fiction and international crime. While most of their fiction comes through agents, they not only accept manuscripts from new writers but they give them priority.

Also, in 2013, Soho will launch a Young Adult mystery line.

Here’s what Soho says they’re looking for:

Soho Teen publishes a select list of YA mysteries and thrillers by international bestsellers, award winners, and debut novelists. Born of the conviction that compelling YA of any genre involves thrill and mystery, Soho Teen's titles include the paranormal and dystopian, the humorous, the realistic, the tragic and uplifting–whatever serves a great story best. Soho Teen's small list is unique in that every title has a high-stakes, page-turning puzzle at its heart. Read excerpts from Soho's 2013 teen books here.

On the crime side, our books are almost entirely 1) series and 2) set abroad. If your crime manuscript doesn’t fit this profile, it’s probably not for us. Our authors/locales include Cara Black (France), Stuart Neville (Ireland), Martin Limon (South Korea), Collin Cotterill (Laos), James R. Benn (World War II era Europe), and Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis (Denmark).

On the literary side, we cast a relatively wide net. Our novels include Luminarium by Alex Shakar, The Funny Man by John Warner, The Detour by Andromeda Romano-Lax, How Evan Broke His Head by Garth Stein, Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat and The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips. We are looking for novels with strong voices, great writing, and unique ways of seeing the world. (At the risk of opening a can of worms, we are not the right publisher for genre fiction such as romance, sci-fi, fantasy, or really any genre apart from international crime—though we like literary novels, such as Luminarium, that explore genre conventions.)

Submissions:

Start by mailing three chapters (or fifty pages) and a cover letter to Soho Press, care of acquisitions editor. Full submissions guidelines here. Notice their submissions guidelines don’t yet mention their YA mysteries. Good – this gives you a better chance to get in on the ground floor!

Brian Henry will lead a “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop in Newmarket on Saturday, September 22 (see here), and he'll lead a "How to Get Published" workshop on Saturday, October 13, in Toronto with Monica Pacheco of The Anne McDermid literary agency (see here). But the best step you can take toward getting published is to take one of Brian’s weekly courses, such as The Next Step in Creative Writing (see here), though beginners will want to start with Welcome to Creative Writing (see here).

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.