Monster List of Picture Book Agents--Sara Sciuto, Full Circle Literary

As promised in yesterday's Monster List of Picture Book Agents post, here is an extra agent listing. Why? Am I mad? Well, as I was gathering information on agents I actually had duelling posts and they were both so good that I couldn't wait to share them! So, today I am happy to feature Sara Sciuto.

Sara is the newest agent at Full Circle Literary and she is actively building her list. That is a great opportunity for a writer on the agent hunt! Sara states in an interview at Mother. Write. Repeat., “While I'm not specifically seeking out picture books right now, if a superbly well-written PB with a quirky or humorous narrative found its way to me I wouldn't pass it up!” So, if you have something that fits that description you may want to give her a try.

There is a great article by Sara in the Spring 2012 edition of SCBWI L.A. Kite Tales. She talks about what she likes to see in a query and states that she does not want to see picture books over 800 words, and the shorter the better. Scroll down to page 21 to read the article.

Sara introduces herself at the Full Circle Literary blog and you can read Sara’s bio at the Full Circle Literary website. Be sure to read the Submission Guidelines while you’re there!

Stacey O’Neale has an interview with Sara where she gives her opinion on social media for writers, among other things.
You can learn a lot on Sara's tumblr, Mental Slush. She has a post on her query response policy that may be of interest if you're planning to query her.

You can find Sara on Twitter @sarasciuto.

Best of luck with your agent querying!

This post is part of the Monster List of Picture Book Agents. If you have any changes that you think should be made to this listing, please contact me or leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Monster List of Picture Book Agents--Michelle Humphrey, Martha Kaplan Agency

Since I am a slacker (Ha ha! I've hardly had a moment of rest in I don't know how long. This running a cafe and a farm, and having three kids in sports stuff is hard work.) and am late on my agent post, I'm going to give you two posts in the next two days--as long as life cooperates! First up, Michelle Humphrey of Martha Kaplan Agency:

Sherrie Petersen has a great interview with Michelle on her blog, Write About Now. Be sure to read the update at the end of the interview. Plus she has tons of great links, so go there and check them out!
You can find Michelle Humphrey on Twitter @m_humphrey.

Michelle lists the books she represents on her Linkedin page where she says, “I'm looking for young adult and middle grade fiction, picture books, and narrative non-fiction (history, pop-cultural criticism, women's studies). Please feel free to send queries to michelle@kaplanagency.net.”

There are some nice comments about Michelle and talk about her response times on Querytracker.

Michelle represents Tracy Marchini and Caroline Starr Rose.

Oh, and she is obsessed with Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Bedtime Monster is on Nook Kids!

I got an email this morning telling me that Bedtime Monster is available on the Nook! Not only does it come in Bilingual English/Spanish and English only versions, on the Nook it comes in a Spanish only version as well. That is a first! I love seeing the cover with the title just in Spanish. You can really see more of Paul's shadow that Bonnie Adamson created:

This is the kind of thing that makes it fun to get up and check my email in the morning. I don't have a Nook, but maybe someday I'll be able to see it on one. I have seen it on the ipad and that was pretty cool!

Meeting with Writers. In Person!

I love my writing community. I have twitter, facebook (including a few rocking fb groups!), Verla Kay's blueboard, blogs, and my fabulous critique partners. Everything I do in my writing life is online except for when I write my first drafts down on paper. But, I only can stand to look at my computer so much before my eyes start bugging out and my body starts wanting to be in position other than sitting. And there's something to be said about getting together with people--in person.

I have to tell you, I've had this secret dream that all children's writers could just move to one localized area. An artists colony. A city of children's writers! Now that would be one whacked out awesome city! I know, I know, reality. That is not going to happen. But a girl can still dream!

As some of you already know, I lived on a secluded mountaintop for the last 16 years. It was a great place to be, but we never had many visitors. Why? Some people are actually a little scared of the one lane dirt road that winds out of town and eventually leads to the house, but mostly, people can't even figure out which turnoffs to take. No road signs can make things difficult. Getting together with other writers in person never even really crossed my mind. It just wasn't possible.

Then, when this new wacky thing happened and my family moved into an inn and opened a café I started thinking about that romanticized notion. Writers at cafés. I'm always jealously reading tweets from my buddy Lisha Cauthen, saying she's going to some sekrit writing spot. Well, why can't my café be a writing spot? Why can't writers gather here?

Even though the solitary introvert part of me made me a little hesitant, I couldn't resist. I put together a meeting for writers. I was definitely nervous. There are so many different kinds of writers and where I live is so rural, people are really spread out. I didn't know who would show up, if anyone at all. I didn't know if I would have anything to offer a writer of science fiction or a poet or whoever might come and expect that I had answers for them since I am a published writer.

I needn't have worried. It turns out that there are some other writers around here that just wanted to get together with other writers too. I listened to some poems. I taught someone about platform. I celebrated someones magazine publication! And I talked to a new writer about carving time out for yourself to write. It was a splendid get-together!

I love having writer friends. The more genres the better! Yes, I suppose it could get tough down the road when people are wanting critiques, but now that word is spreading and people have heard that we actually met, it seems like more people are interested. Who knows what kinds of fun this writing group will lead to? Perhaps we will sometimes break off into little groups, perhaps we'll schedule teaching sessions, or maybe we'll just sit around and talk about whatever we're working on at the time. We didn't come up with any solid plans at our first meeting, except that we're going to meet again.

How does your writing life work? Are you mostly online or do you have an in-person group? And what do you do in your in-person writers' group? I would love to hear about your experiences!

Monster List of Picture Book Agents--Deborah Carter, Muse Literary Management

I missed my Monster List deadline, the new one I gave myself even. Ha! But, I have not forgotten!!! So, today I am featuring Debbie Carter of Muse Literary Management because I found her Home Page interesting. On it she states: "Note to picture book writers: Will only consider writers who have at least three complete manuscripts and who’ve taken workshops in writing for young children." Okay, so an opportunity for some, but definitely not all.

Still, I found it helpful that on the Muse Literary Management page she lists her contract expectations right there. Writers looking for an agent can learn a lot from that information. Like no, once you have an agent they do not necessarily take on all of your work! Good thing to know if you didn't already. At the bottom of the page she also has some links to articles she's written so you might want to check those out.

If you are going to query Deborah Carter, be sure to read her Publisher's Marketplace page. She asks that you mention your favorite authors in your query.

She does have a couple of picture book authors on her Client Page and she lists some picture books on her Bookshelf.

You can learn a bit about Deborah in her Agent Advice interview at the Guide to Literary Agents blog and in an interview with her at the New York Public Library blog where she talks about her views on ebooks.

There is also an interesting response times thread for Muse Literary on Verla Kay's Blueboard.

Debbie is on Twitter and Facebook.

This post is part of the Monster List of Picture Book Agents. If you have any changes that you think should be made to this listing, please contact me or leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Phyllis stops by on her World Tour plus she gives me an interview!

Phyllis made a stop in the mountains of North Central Washington on her World Tour! It was a chilly 29 degrees Fahrenheit when she arrived at our house in Washington State. But it's been a long, cold winter and once you've been in temperatures hovering in the single digits for a while, 29 degrees can seem pretty darn warm. So my youngest and I decided to not even wear coats when we took her out on a walk to see something spooky!

The Ghost Town of Molson. Okay, it's not really scary. I mean, we were almost there and look at that smile!

When we arrived the first thing my little guy had to show Phyllis was how to use the grinding wheel. It spins really fast. Luckily Phyllis didn't fall into the mud, but it was a close call!

Then he showed her the Sheriff's Office. The sign on the building says "Law & Order of the Highlands 1898-1972"! Really, 1972 wasn't that long ago!

Phyllis just had to check out the old printing press that's on display in the bank...

...and this cool thing called a typewriter. Phyllis thought that it must have been much harder to be a writer back then since there was no backspace or cut and paste. I have to say that I definitely agree.

There was this fancy window where the bank teller stood.

We had to show her the bullet hole in the glass. Yikes! Bet that was a scary day in the wild west when that happened.

My little guy was hoping that since Phyllis is so clever, she'd be just what he needed to finally crack the safe. They were both certain that there must be some sort of treasure hiding in there, but no such luck. That thing is locked tight.

So they went outside to check out all the weird and dangerous looking farm machinery.

The ore cart in front of the Assayer's Office was pretty cool. It was even on a track.

But this sign was the best!

Phyllis was sure to sign the guest book before she left. Now everyone that visits will know that a world famous groundhog has been to Molson on her World Tour!

Here in Molson we're holding a little Ice-Off contest. All the residents have sealed up their guess of the date and time that the ice will melt off Molson Lake. The winner gets the glory of being right. The loser has to buy all the meat to barbecue at the celebratory potluck at Lefty's which is a local, very cool, um...man cave. Ha! Anyway, Phyllis thinks our guess of April 4th is a pretty good one! 

While Phyllis was here she was kind enough to answer a few questions too! So here's my interview with Punxsutawney Phyllis:

Phyllis, why do you think you’re so good at predicting the weather?

I come from a long line of weather predictors, so I guess part of it is in my genes :) But also I pay attention to things. I look and listen carefully. And I try not to jump to conclusions. Just because we usually have 6 more weeks of winter after Groundhog Day, for example, doesn't mean it's going to happen every year!

How can people be more like you and use their instincts to make weather predictions?

People are at a disadvantage. Their senses just aren't as keen as a groundhog's. They should probably just ask me :)

-Well, then you'd better be in some more books then, we're going to need you! You'd should have a chat with Susanna about that!


How did you feel when everyone in your family thought that your blizzard warning was a bad joke?
I like jokes as much as the next groundhog. As you can see from April Fool, Phyllis, I played a joke right back on them! I was just worried because the other groundhogs thought I was fooling and didn't take me seriously, so I was afraid someone might get lost in the blizzard! And honestly, Phil Junior and Pete always think they're funnier than they are. My joke was much better!


What is your favorite weather word? (Mine is cumulonimbus!)


My favorite weather word is Anemometer because it is fun to say :) (And if you don't know what that is, it measures wind speed!)


The treasure hunt had some tough hints. How did you get so good at figuring out clues?
Well, I love puzzles. And I know that Uncle Phil, who makes up the treasure hunts, likes to make them fun and not obvious. So when we reached the first treasure chest and found the April Fool clue, I figured it out pretty quick!


I absolutely love pure maple syrup! How can sap from a tree taste so good?

I love maple syrup too! And not all sap tastes good, in case you're wondering. Maple sap tastes good even before you turn it into syrup - it has a sweet flavor and smell, but it's much more watery before it's cooked down. Oak sap (which there isn't much of) tastes terrible no matter what and it doesn't smell good either! There's an Algonquian Legend that maple syrup was discovered when Woksis, a chief, pulled his tomahawk out of a tree where he had left it the night before. The weather that day warmed while he was out hunting. The sap flowed and landed in a vessel that just happened to be underneath. When his wife went to fetch water for dinner, she saw the vessel full of clear sap. She tasted it and found it sweet. Thinking it would save her a trip to the river, and not wanting to waste anything, she used the sap to cook her venison. When the chief came home, he smelled the delicious maple aroma, and tasted the sweet gravy, and that is how maple syrup was discovered. The Algonquians called it "Sinzibuckwud" meaning sweet water.


Wow, you sure know a lot about sap. So,  can you tell us why there is a sap line strung from maple tree to maple tree?

Back in the old days, sap was collected by buckets hung on spigots on maple trees. The buckets were heavy and sloshed easily, and it was a lot of hard work to collect the sap. Someone figured out you could run a sap line (like a tiny hose) from tree to tree and collect all the sap at once into one place. Much easier! And a good thing for us that it was there so we could find out way back to the sugar house!


You can learn more about Phyllis in her books:

Many thanks to author Susanna Leonard Hill for letting Phyllis stop by!

The Unread - Interview with Julie Hedlund

It's been a long time since I've done any Unread interviews, but I enjoy them so much and have missed them! I mean hey, I love asking writers questions plus it's so fun to watch writers go from unread to read! Mike Jung, Ame Dyckman, and Tara Lazar will all be published this year. Woohoo! Now we can look back at their interviews and see what they thought way back when before they were published.

For the first interview in my Unread revival I am delighted to have Julie Hedlund as my guest. She is the creative host of the popular 12x12 in 2012 Picture Book Writing Challenge that has brought many wonderful picture book writers together and she's just back from what I'm certain was a fabulous trip to SCBWI Bologna! Even with all she has going on in her busy life, Julie was kind enough to take some time out and talk to me about her writing. But Julie is just nice like that!


So Julie, how did you come up with 12x12 in 2012?

After PiBoIdMo in 2010, I had 30 shiny new PB ideas, but I only wrote one manuscript based on those ideas (although I was still working on others). I decided I needed to dramatically increase my writing output. I am very deadline-driven, so I came up with 12 x 12 as a way to make sure I wrote at least one new story a month. Then I decided to invite others to join in for additional accountability.


Why do you think it’s important for unpublished writers to promote themselves?

I don’t think promotion is important so much as building a network and an online presence. It takes a while to learn the skills associated with all things social media – blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting, etc. It’s better to experiment and move through your learning curve with a couple dozen followers versus hundreds.

In addition, you want to build a network organically and authentically, and that doesn’t happen overnight. So I think it’s best to start early so you have a strong foundation once your book is published.


Has anything amazing happened because of 12x12 so far?


Yes! The 12 x 12, and another post on my blog, caught Katie Davis’ attention. She invited me to come on her podcast at the beginning of the year and then to be a monthly contributor on the show.
I hope I’ll start hearing lots of 12 x 12 success stories from other participants as the challenge proceeds.


Why did you decide you focus on writing for children, and on picture books in particular?

I didn’t really decide. Like many mothers, I was inspired by my kids and the books I was reading to them. I found I had a lot of my own stories I wanted to tell. I fell in love with the picture book genre and the rest, as they say, is history. BUT, I do plan to write in other genres down the road.


What types of stories do you write?

I write primarily in rhyme, but I’ve been experimenting more with prose. I’ve written completely original stories, fractured fairy tales, and take-offs on common legends. I’d say one common theme to my stories is humor. I like funny and “punny” stories.


What do you think is the hardest part about writing? What’s the easiest?

The hardest part is deciding that something is “finished” and ready for submission. I’m not sure there is an easiest part – LOL! If I had to choose something I’d say writing a first draft because there is no pressure to make it great (yet).


Do you belong to a critique group? How has it helped you?

I belong to two critique groups – one online and one in-person. Getting critiques from other writers is essential for everyone. You simply cannot be as objective as you need to be about your own work.


You plan to write 12 complete picture book drafts this year as part of your 12x12 challenge. How is it going so far?

So far, so good. I’m writing this post in February, and I have 2 drafts completed. I hope by the time this interview goes live I’ll have my March draft finished too!


What do you do with your completed manuscripts? Do you have a submission strategy?

My goal this year is to submit a minimum of 5 queries a month for my picture books. I didn’t meet that goal in January, but I did in February. I’m sure I’m not alone in that I hate querying, but there’s no way to sell a book without sending queries!


With all that’s involved with holding an even like 12x12 in 2012, how are you managing to find the time to write and submit?

This year I set concrete writing and submission goals. I keep them open on my desktop and check them off. Even though the 12 x 12 challenge is a lot of work, it’s also a huge motivator. What would it look like if the organizer didn’t “win” her own challenge? :-)


You post some of your work on your blog. Have you ever gotten any interest that way?

Not yet, but a girl can hope! :-)


And the question I always want to know the answer to, if you could live in any book which one would it be and why?

Fun question! I guess I’d have to say Middle Earth because Aragorn is one of my biggest literary crushes. I would love to have been one of the members of the “Fellowship.”

You can learn lots more about Julie at her blog: Write Up My Life. You can also follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook where she's recently shared lots of great tips from her SCBWI Bologna trip!