KidLitGN opened its pitch window back up from now until 8 pm October 17, so if you didn’t get a chance to pitch your kids-YA graphic novel pitches (including comics-style PBs), head to this article for details. People who got their pitches in during the official pitch window got a bonus of an extra pitch, so I put another one up.
I have four pitches total now, and one thing I’ve been noticing is that not every writer is taking the opportunity to attach a bio art file, so I’ve added a couple of mine below as an example of what you can do with your bio. (Another tip: save your bios as an image file. Uploading them as a PDF won’t create a an eye-catching thumbnail.)
I think it’s safe to say that most everyone is frustrated with the state of publishing these days, including the people in the industry. But what if we creators could do something to change that, even a bit?
This question has been pinging around the usually overcrowded thought-scape that is my brain for months, especially in light of my involvement with KidLitGN. As stated in a previous post, we thought we’d have to stop the pitch event because the resources and time to manage it were just getting too much for our small but mighty volunteer group, then we connected with Orange Country School of the Arts (OCSA) and opened up a new direction for KidLitGN, with student interns doing interviews and helping with the pitch event. (BTW, the students are going to be picking their favorite pitches from KidLitGN’s pitch event and sharing those results in an article on KidLitGN’s website in November. Subscribe to the website to be among the first to read about their choices.)
I don’t think I realized how big this merger was. At that moment, it was a way to keep the pitch event going, but as time passed, it became clear that we had the opportunity to do something much bigger. How many platforms bring industry pros, creatives, and students–the audience for our books–together?
Let’s face it, most books on the market are top-down driven. Publishers decide what they will publish and the market can choose whether to buy it or not. Kickstarter, and the like, has democratized that process a bit, but by and large, the people buying the books aren’t the ones making the decisions of what books are published. What if we flipped that a bit? What if we gave the book readers a voice in the market? What if we, as creatives, could hear what they were thinking about the books they liked and what stories they wished they could find? What if graphic novel readers could chime in on the pitches that connect with them?
Well, KidLitGN now has the chance to do just that, with our student interns infusing their thoughts and ideas into the graphic novel community. I don’t know how it will all shake out, but I am excited to see if these students’ involvement will enhance the industry, even in some small way. If you want to hear more about our plans, check out this interview by Barney Smith on his fabulous StoryComic channel.
And if you have any thoughts on what you’d like to learn from the students, add it in the comments section. Good luck to those who are pitching in KidLitGN’s pitch event this year. Remember that the pitch window opens up this Saturday, October 3, and closes at 11:59 pm. on October 7. Agents, editors, and publishers can view pitches October 7-31.
KidLitGN is hosting its 6th, annual pitch event on its website: kidlitgn.com. Agented and unagented graphic novel creators can load pitches October 3-7, with editors, agents, and publishers being invited to view pitches beginning October 7 through October 31.
Unagented and agented GN creators have their own sections and can pitch in the following categories: comics-style picture books, early/chapter, middle grade, and young adult. If you’re an illustrator and don’t have a project to pitch, you can post a portfolio sample in the unagented or agented illustrator sections.
Something new this year: after the pitch event is over, KidLitGN will archive the pitches behind password protected pages. Agents, editors & publishers can request a password and view the pitches throughout the year. Anyone who pitches can request to have their pitch removed at any time.
And the change I’m most excited about: writers-only can upload up to 4 pages of their script along with a bio attached as an art file. And, they can use their pitches to seek out collaborators. See here for more details: https://kidlitgn.com/blog/
Some of you may know that I’ve been involved with KidLitGN since its beginning, and this year was likely going to be our volunteer team’s last year of being able to pull it off. The costs were mounting, and each member of the team was finding successes that were pulling us in other directions.
As an author-only, I’m keeping my sites on finding a collaborator for some graphic novel scripts I’ve been working on, so I would love to hear any further tips in the comments on how you’ve created a successful collaboration.
And in other graphic novel news, KidLitGN just announced changes to their upcoming pitch event along with this informative article by agent Andrea Colvin:
Greetings everyone. The year passed so quickly, but I’ve got some great info to share. KidLitGN is hosting its annual pitch event this October. We’ve had an editor give us some suggestions on how to enhance the event for industry pros, so we’re looking forward to some possible changes.
This event is open to agented and unagented graphic novel creators in categories that range from comics-style picture books to YA.
GN creators can load pitches from 8 a.m. (EDT) Oct. 3 until 11:59 p.m. (EDT) Oct. 7
Pitches open to agents and editors at 8 a.m. (EDT) Oct. 7 and close at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) Oct. 31
And some other awesome GN resources you might enjoy. Janna Morishima from Kids Comics Unite recently posted an informative article about her time at MOCCA. She gave really great tips about how to successfully table and draw in a crowd, so check it out.
And theLet’s Go!: A Kids Comics Studio Anthology is available to purchase on Amazon! I forgot to update everyone with this news. I must say, it was very fulfilling to create an author’s page. The anthology was a ton of work, but all worth it in the end.
Finally, I’ve been working hard to clean up a list of graphic novel agents. As you know, the industry changes a lot so double check the websites to confirm if the agent is still with the agency and that they do in fact, want graphic novel submissions. I’ve done my best, but I’m sure there are errors I haven’t uncovered yet. (If you see any, let me know.)
Tech and time weren’t my friends this week, but I did manage to mostly edit a video that I’m excited to share because it shows the evolution process of the script for “Runaway Train,” my and Maggie Shang‘s collaboration for the Let’s Go!: A Kids Comics Anthology. But instead of having all the cool captions and corresponding pictures added to the video, I ran into tech issues that I couldn’t solve in time to tag team with Maggie’s post about her process.
So here’s the video with loads of info about how we started our collaboration, how the scripts changed over time, Maggie’s artistic decisions plus really valuable insights she learned along the way, my scripting decisions, and what I learned from the comic’s scripting process for this anthology project. For the time-limited among us, I’ve included time codes and supplementary graphics and info below. I hope you have as much fun watching this video as Maggie and I did making it.
October is just around the calendar corner and KidLitGN is hosting its annual graphic novel pitch event!
The event is for agented and unagented graphic novel projects for kids through YA. The categories include graphic novel-style picture books, early graphic novels, middle grade, and YA. There’s also a spot for graphic novel illustrators who don’t have a project to pitch but would like to pitch a sample from their portfolio.
To find out more, see the info graphic below or visit: kidlitgn.com. And spread the word.
It’s that time of year again, when I’m busier than usual helping with the KidLit GN pitch event. Click the info graphic below for details and to get access to KidLit GN’s website where more rules and information resides:
