Harold Underdown: “YA isn’t going away … print end of the publishing business is healthy”

From my vantage point, at least, the excitement was in MG and picture books, and to some extent in nonfiction. YA isn’t going away but those other areas are coming back … All in all, and coupled with the news that membership in the ABA is growing, I got the sense that the print end of the publishing business is healthy and is beginning to figure out how to deal with ebooks, and that children’s/YA is in good shape …  writes Harold Underdown , author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books.

Read the rest of Harold’s analysis, based on his recent experience at the latest Book Expo of America conference, found  at The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books Facebook page.

In other news from the Underdown camp, a fabulous workshop is being offered by two experienced editors: Harold has teamed up with Eileen Robinson, creator of F1rst Pages.

Do you have a manuscript—picture book, novel, or nonfiction—that needs work? Do you wish you could learn techniques that would help you revise not only this manuscript, but future ones?
Then come to the KBR “Editing without an Editor” workshop in Westport, CT. Learn how to revise like an editor by working with two experienced editors, who have distilled the methods they’ve used in editing manuscripts with individual clients and in the online Kid’s Book Revisions class. To create a framework, they’ll compare “reader response” theory and the lit. crit. approach, and explore ways to gain objectivity and to focus on different aspects of manuscripts. You will pick up and try out methods for making critique groups work better. After lunch, you will learn and try out a variety of techniques for self-editing, from big picture revision down to copy-editing, working on your own or with a partner.
Critiques are available for those that want them, but are not included in the standard package, to keep the price as low as possible. The workshop fee is $175 through May 21st, and $225 after that. A critique of up to 15 pages is $40; longer manuscripts can be critiqued by arrangement.
More information, including the workshop schedule and registration details: http://www.kidsbookrevisions.com/editing-without-an-editor-2013.htm

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Eileen Robinson is a children’s book editor, editorial consultant and creator of F1rst Pages. For almost 10 years, she has acquired, developed, and edited children’s books for both Scholastic as Executive Editor, and Harcourt publishers, as Editorial Manager. She has also worked on projects for National Geographic, Santillana USA, Marshall Cavendish, Weekly Reader, and others. Having published many new authors, Eileen believes in helping newcomers get their feet in the door, as well as working with experienced fiction or nonfiction authors.


Harold Underdown is a freelance editorial consultant. He has worked at Macmillan, Orchard, and Charlesbridge, and has experience in trade and educational publishing. Harold enjoys teaching, and in that role wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Children’s Book Publishing, now in its third edition. He founded and runs The Purple Crayon, a respected web site with information about the children’s publishing world. He speaks and gives workshops at conferences, including the SCBWI’s national conferences in LA and NY, and smaller conferences all over the country.
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