Excerpt from our upcoming DVD!

Our first ever DVD -- Inside Secrets for Getting Published: The Submissions Process -- in on the verge of being released! The DVD will explain everything you need to know to format your manuscript, research publishers, write a query letter or proposal, send your story to publishers and much more.

Watch this space for ordering details.

In the meantime, here's an exclusive excerpt. Just click the play button and enjoy!

Like Free Stuff?

Rhetorical question. Of course you do,

Here's a great way to get all the freebies you can handle -- it's the Absurdly Cool Freebie Finder! The Freebie Finder is an aggregate of all the best free offers, minus spam and scams.



Have a look and get some freebies!

http://absurdlycool.com/

The Children's Book Council of Australia announces Books of the Year Winners

Australia has always set a high standard for creativity and innovation in children's books. To find out which books judges down under consider the cream of the crop visit http://www.cbc.org.au/winner06.htm

And be sure to take a look at the judges' report -- http://www.cbc.org.au/downloads/judgesreport06.pdf -- for detailed descriptions of each winner and why it was chosen.

Readers spot Harry Potter error

Sharp-eyed readers catch a factual error that escaped Bloomsbury's proofreaders:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5305866.stm

Video interview with author Kirstin Miller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLpFCYqf9nE

Video interview w/Walter Dean Meyers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx15pc4ljes

A picture book, from beginning to end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CulousvONY

55 Ways to Have Fun with Google

Google is an endless source of fascination for me -- there's just so many odd and cool little services they offer. Some are useful, some are silly and some are astoundlingly great. Here's a free ebook that digs even further into Google, and provides some laughs while doing it.

Go to http://www.55fun.com/ and download 55 Ways to Have Fun with Google

“Narnia…Beyond the Wardrobe” Educator Sweepstakes

Narnia-lovin' teachers and librarians have a shot at winning a trip to the set of the forthcoming film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in this contest sponsored by HarperCollins.

Full details at http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/harperchildrens/teachers/gamesandcontests/contests/narnia/

10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

Admit, you've made some of these mistakes. Lord knows I have....

http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020415,39273376,00.htm

First-ever movie adaptation of Beverly Cleary book on the way

Writing legendy Beverly Cleary is celebrating her 90th birthday by authorizing the first movie ever made from one of her books.

The film is based on the fourth book in the Ramona series, "Ramona and Her Father," in which Ramona is in the second grade and her father loses his job.

More details: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/06/DDGF3IL8UA1.DTL

Children’s Cloth Books Recalled by Simon & Schuster

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a voluntary recall of Curious Buddies Children’s Books. According to the agency, the felt ears and limbs on the pop-up characters can detach or come apart when pulled, which may pose a choking hazard to young children.

More details: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06189.html

Free "iPod-ready" audio stories for children

Neat idea -- free audio stories for kids that can be downloaded onto an MP3 device. Mostly public domain and fairytales at this point.

have a look: http://storynory.com/

PS: This could be a good idea for promotion-minded authors -- offer iPod ready downloads of your stories on your website!

New "advice-opedia" for Parents

Minti.com is a new site that is a compendium of parenting advice submitted by parents from around the world. It's worth checking out, particularly to help gauge the kinds of things that are on the minds of parents these days.

http://www.minti.com/

Long Distance Book Signings?

Author Margaret Atwood has invented a "remote autographing device that has the potential to revolutionize book signings."

It's a brave new world, kids!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050106/ATWOOD06/TPEntertainment/TopStories

eBook Sales Jump in 2005

eBook publishers reported increases in revenue and unit sales over the same quarter the previous year (Q2 2004) with a 36% increase in eBook units sold and a 69% increase in eBook revenues. Also, publishers reported a 24% increase in titles published over Q2 2004.

More....

The Wonders of Your Local Library -- Online!

I recently stopped by the website for my local library to renew some items and was amazed at the breadth and depth of services now available to cardholders from their website. Free access to some of the most comprehensive media databases in world, searchable editions of Books in Print and the Horn Book Guide, scores of downloadable ebooks and audio books and lots more. It's really a goldmine of information, and it's free to cardholders.

Pay a visit to your library's site today and see what they've got. If you'd like an idea of what our library is offering (so you can gently remind your local folks of what they could be adding, if they haven't already done so), go to http://dalva.fcgov.com/screens/database.html

Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing

Here's a great post from the master storyteller that gives some meaty advice for creating lean prose. http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/20

Children's Book Sales Up in 2005

Led by the latest Harry Potter installment, children's books enjoyed a strong year at retail in 2005. According to Nielsen BookScan, 162.2 million children's books were sold during 2005, a 19.3% increase over 2004. Adult book sales increased at a rate of 7.6%.

For more details, go to http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/retail/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001808409

Where to find good stock images

Looking for good stock photos to use as illustrations? Take a look at this list from the Presentation Zen blog. They've narrowed stock photo sources down to the cream of the crop....

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/01/where_can_you_f.html

Find the lowest price on any book

Here's a free software add-in for those of you using the Firefox browser. When Book Burro senses you are viewing a book, it will add a small panel to the upper right corner. Clicking the panel will trigger the agent to go query for prices at major book sites and determine if the book is available at a library near you.

you can download it at http://bookburro.org/

Finding online writing courses

Here's a site that has a nice rundown of the various "study-at-home" options for writers. The list includes full courses, tutorials and workshops, including a number specific to children's book writing:

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-courses/writing-courses.htm

Resource Tip: Children's Bookshelf from PW

Children's Bookshelf is a free weekly newsletter from Publishers Weekly covering a variety of news about children's and YA publishing. As you would expect from PW, it's an excellent read.

Sign up at http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6253324.html

How Narnia Works

The folks at the ultra-cool HowStuffWorks.com have peeked inside the world of Narnia and created a nice collection of interesting info about the series and its creator, C.S. Lewis.

I found the list of influences upon Lewis particularly enlightening.

Check out "How Narnia Works" at http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/narnia.htm

Here's to Sally Gardner!

Nice story from the BBC about the winner of the Nestle Children's Book Prize, Sally Gardner. Here's how it begins:

An author who is dyslexic and only learnt to read at the age of 14 has won a major children's book award.

Read more about this inspiring author at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4531982.stm

Rick the Librarian Goes Blogging

Here's a very interesting blog from a reference librarian with a pretty good sense of humor. A nice opportunity to get inside the mind of a librarian -- a very useful thing for any writer!

http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/

New York Times Children's Bestsellers

Wondering where to find the complete NY Times Children's Bestseller list? Right here! (Free registration required to view page)

Bed Books

Interesting idea -- books produced in landscape fashion so they can be read while lying on your side.

http://www.bedbooks.net

The New Children's Writer's Marketplace is now online

We're proud to host Margaret Shauer's acclaimed Children's Writer's Marketplace column here on Write4Kids.com. Margaret's great at digging out magazine markets and other publishing opportunities, and each column is a goldmine of leads and useful info.

The December column is now online. Have a look at http://write4kids.com/wmarket

Yahoo Answers: Ask and Ye Shall Receive....

Yahoo has launced a new service that looks like an interesting way to share brainpower. Yahoo Answers is a simple concept: You ask a question and categorize it in a topic, making it easier for others to find and answer it. Your question is posted for others to answer. Once your question is answered, select the best answer, or have the community vote for the best answer.

have a look: http://answers.yahoo.com/

Editorial changes at Scholastic

A bunch of fairly high level additions to note at Scholastic, including the addition of Andrea Davis Pinkney as Vice President, Publisher, Hardcover and Early Childhood.

From Scholastic:

In her new role, Andrea will work closely with the editorial directors of the hardcover imprints in their ongoing mission to acquire, edit, and publish the very best books for children of all ages by supporting the talented authors and illustrators currently on the list as well as seeking out new writers and artists. She will also work closely with the sales, marketing, and operations departments, and with Book Clubs and Book Fairs, to shape Scholastic’s overall publishing program to bring the right books to the right markets.

Read more at http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/news/press_11212005_KM1.htm

Stan Berenstain dies at 82

Stan Berenstain, co-creator of the Berenstain Bears series, has died at age 82. He died in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

He and his wife Jan authored more than 200 books.

For more details, visit http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/29/entertainment/main1084101.shtml

A first-rate research site

The Educator's Reference Desk offers 2,000+ lesson plans, 3,000+ links to online education information, and 200+ question archive responses. Nicely laid out and easy to use.

http://www.eduref.org/

Dictionaries Galore! (and then some!)

Search 993 dictionaries in one shot with this neat free service:

http://www.onelook.com/

Includes translation, too.

Another cool blog

Looking for more killer children's writing tidbits? Try Amy Moreno's superb Cachibachis blog. Lots of great stuff here....

http://cachibachis.blogspot.com/

The Ultimate Google Guide

Google is perhaps the best tool on the internet, and, for a writer, it offers far more than a web search engine.

You can use it to blog, find public domain material, get alerted each time a particular phrase or subject is mentioned in the media, search research papers, translate pages....and a whole lot more.

Here's the master list of all the cool things you can do with Google:

http://www.tipmonkies.com/2005/11/17/the-penultimate-guide-to-google-services

Goodnight Moon, Goodbye Cigarette

Hmmm.. something's missing from the author photo of Goodnight Moon's Clement Hurd. Read more about HarperCollins creative photo editing at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/books/17moon.html

PS: Amazing fact from this article -- HarperCollins says it sells 800,000 copies of "Goodnight Moon" annually!

Jeanne Birdsall wins National Book Award

The National Book Award for young people's literature has gone to Jeanne Birdsall, for her debut novel, "The Penderwicks".


The awards were announced last night in New York.

For more info, go to http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1321149

Staying abreast of "pop language"

The postmodern twists and turns of the English language are the subject of Leslie Savan's new book: Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever

The always-outstanding Stay Free blog has a fascinating interview with Savan that's important reading for any writer.

Take a look at http://snipurl.com/jxtc

Double-Tongued Word Wrester

Bored with the "standard" English language? Double-Tongued Word Wrester "records undocumented or under-documented words from the fringes of English. It focuses upon slang, jargon, and other niche categories which include new, foreign, hybrid, archaic, obsolete, and rare words. "

Some recent entries include spokesweasel , Ken-Taco-Hut and tombstoning

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/

Creativity Sparkers

Need to boost your brain a little bit? Here's the motherlode of creativity techniques:


http://www.crinnology.com/Category:Techniques

Has Anyone Ever Written a Picture Book About....

Ready to write your masterpiece, but worried if the idea has already been used? Wanna know how other writers tackled a particular subject?

Then pay a visit to the Children's Picture Book Database and find out for yourself.

A flat-out awesome resource: http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/search/

Esquivalience!

Well, here's one way to catch plagiarists......

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/050829ta_talk_alford

Amazon's Children's Bestsellers

Updated hourly. As I enter this, The Chronicles of Narnia holds the top spot.

http://snipurl.com/jnlv

School Year Calendar of Children's Books

A handy guide to children's book events and subject matters throughout the year. Plus, lots more great links on this page, as well......


http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/forteachers/a/calendarbooks.htm

A.Word.A.Day

Here's a site that provides exactly what it promises -- a new vocabulary word each day. Presented with a light, humorous touch, this is a fine way to discover some cool words. Youc an have 'em delivered to your e-mail inbox, too.

http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html

November is National Novel Writing Month

From nanowrimo.org:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

more here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Amazon to sell chapters of books

From the BBC: Online retailer Amazon.com has unveiled "two innovative programmes" to allow readers to access parts of books rather than buying the complete work....
read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4405478.stm

Yahoo's Creative Commons Search

Looking for previously created content that you can modify, adapt, or build upon? Try the Yahoo! Creative Commons Search, which helps you find content published by authors who want you to share or reuse it, under certain conditions.

http://search.yahoo.com/cc

Google's Advanced Search ( http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en ) has a similar ability, which can be triggered by changing the "Usage Rights" setting.