When Brittany Geragotelis was writing her YA novel Life's a Witch, she posted it chapter by chapter on Wattpad, an online community for sharing writing and getting feedback from readers. Gradually, she gained 13 million fans. But despite that and an active blog, YouTube presence, and proving her chops as editor of American Cheerleader magazine, Geragotelis still couldn't attract a publisher. So she self-published through Amazon, and parlayed her online popularity into an article in Publishers Weekly. Fast-forward six weeks, and Geragotelis now has an agent, is fielding offers from foreign publishers and film companies, and has a big publisher looking at her work, which includes six unpublished novels. All this sparked a follow-up article in Publishers Weekly, which could only help raise her profile even more.

What's the moral of this story? If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. Of course, it starts with the book, but 13 million fans is a pretty good indication that the story's working. And then you refuse to take "no" for an answer. While being published by a big house is still a worthy dream of many authors (including Geragotelis), the publishers no longer hold all the power. If you want to open that door for yourself, you can do it.

Back in the early 1990s I worked part-time at a book package called Parachute Press, which was creating a new horror series called Goosebumps. The series' author, R.L. Stine, had begun his career as a humor writer, then found a wider audience with his YA horror series Fear Street. But no one had ever done a horror series for the middle grade crowd, so Parachute decides to give Stine's series a try.

The rest is publishing history. Goosebumps made Stine the best-selling author of all time for many years. He now occupies the Number 2 spot, right behind J.K. Rowling. There's a Goosebumps attraction at Disney World, Goosebumps TV shows and merchandise, and new Goosebumps titles still coming out every year. Stine's journey is enviable, inspiring and amazing, and you can read about it in this Writer's Digest interview. Here's my favorite quote. When asked about the worst piece of writing advice he's ever heard, Stine said:

“Well, I hate it when authors come into a school and they say to kids, ‘Write from your heart, write from your heart, only write what you know, and write from your heart.’ I hate that because it’s useless. I’ve written over 300 books—not one was written from my heart. Not one. They were all written for an audience, they were all written to entertain a certain audience.”

The problem with such advice, Stine says, is that if you tell people to write from their hearts and to write only something they know, they get blocked totally. Instead, he says, it’s all about the imagination. (Hey, it worked for him.)

Yes it did. Check out this story of an incredibly hard-working writer and a really nice guy.

Those of you who are Fightin' Bookworms (members of our CBI Clubhouse online community) know that in the two years since we've launched the site, we've amassed a huge amount of information on writing and publishing children's books. So much information, in fact, that it was getting unwieldy.

So Jon's spent the last two months (days, evenings, weekends, even in his sleep) completely redesigning and improving the site. And as of this week….

The *NEW* CBI Clubhouse is now live at http://cbiclubhouse.com !   

The CBI 1-2-3 System is up and running, bringing you exactly the information you need, exactly when you need it.  No more hunting around through a massive library of information — it's all right there for you.

And, wow, wait until you meet our new Expert Guides!  A Newbery Honoree…multi-million selling authors…a magazine writer with more than 1600 credits….the most famous names in self publishing and book marketing…and on and on.  When we say All-Star, we're not kidding!

And this is just the beginning.  Private critique groups are coming soon. So are advanced and professional levels.  And webinars.  And…   well, we can't give away all our surprises now can we? 

OK, then – go check it out:  http://cbiclubhouse.com

And please let us know what you think. Your feedback helps us make the Clubhouse even better!

When I critique middle grade and young adult fantasy manuscripts, I often find myself jotting notes like "Why is this character the one called to this adventure?" and "What's at stake here of monumental consequence?" A cornerstone of successful fantasy is seemingly ordinary teen and tween protagonists who save the world. Without that, you're just writing a novel with quirky characters. Another hallmark is that this usually happens without (or in spite of) any help from adults. Teen heroes, impending doom, absentee parents. What's not to love?

Author Cassandra Clare understands this well, and has written an excellent piece about the secret world teens inhabit in their fantasy novels for The Wall Street Journal. Required reading for any author working on a fantasy, or for a parent with a fantasy-loving teen at home.

Last October, an article in The New York Times declared, “Picture Books No Longer A Staple for Children”. This incited a barrage of responses from the children’s book industry, many in defense of the venerable picture book.

Thus, Picture Book Month was born. Founder Dianne de Las Casas decided it was time to celebrate picture books in their traditional printed format so she created an initiative to designate November as “Picture Book Month.” Katie Davis, Elizabeth Dulemba, Tara Lazar, and Wendy Martin came on board to champion the cause and spread the word. A logo was designed by Joyce Wan. A website (www.picturebookmonth.com) was created to feature essays from “Picture Book Champions,” thought leaders in the children’s literature community. Each day in November, a new essay will be posted from such notable contributors as Suzanne Bloom, Denise Fleming, Leslie Helakoski, Eric A. Kimmel, Tammi Sauer, Dan Yaccarino, and Jane Yolen.Better World Books and organizations like Scholastic Book Fairs Philippines are lending their support. The website will also feature links to picture book resources, authors, illustrators, and kidlit book bloggers. In addition, parents, educators, and librarians can download the theme calendar to help them plan their picture book celebrations and access picture book activities.

Visit www.picturebookmonth.com. The website officially opens on November 1, 2011.

Editors can say it over and over, writing instructors can give you prompts and exercises to practice it, but sometimes it takes a seasoned writer to really make the point: every work of fiction has to begin with conflict. I don't care if you're writing a picture book, a middle grade novel, or a thriller for adults. Without conflict, you just don't have a story.

Thomas W. Young, who writes military thrillers for adults, articulated this beautifully in a recent post on the Guide to Literary Agents blog. My favorite excerpt:

In any fiction, from a war novel to a romance, you have to begin by asking questions like these:

– In my character’s world, what’s wrong that needs to be put right?
– What does my character want, and what’s keeping him from getting it?
– What has messed up my character’s life and sent him on some kind of journey?

That pretty much sums it up. But if you're still not convinced about the importance of conflict, read the rest of his post. Then think about how you can mess with your character to create a first-rate story.

How does an author stand out from the crowd while he's shopping his YA horror manuscript to agents? Write a song about the book's protagonist, perform it with a famous hard rock band, get the show posted on YouTube, then make a music video. Ken Derby, author of The Top Ten Ways to Ruin the First Day of Fifth Grade (Holiday House), is an American fifth grade teacher living and working in Budapest. He performed Natasha (named after the title character of his manuscript) with the popular band Superbutt at a Hungarian music festival in July. (See the unofficial video at natashathevampire.com/song/. An official video to be released soon.) The site also contains a book trailer, the manuscript's first two chapters, a video of Ken being interviewed by MTV about his song and manuscript, and his insights into vampires and pop culture.

With publishers putting more emphasis on authors' social media platforms and how they'll be able to publicize their books, thinking out of the box like this can only help in getting agents' attention. And every time an author gets innovative, the bar is raised.

So what's your big idea?

At 83, Maurice Sendak is as crusty, cantankerous and blunt as ever. Thank goodness. Take a moment to read this interview with the Caldecott-winning author/illustrator in The Guardian. You'll gain an understanding of why he can't stop acknowledging the dark side of childhood. And you'll collect some great quotes. One of my favorites: "I refuse to lie to children," says Sendak. "I refuse to cater to the bull**** of innocence." (The asterisks, by the way, are mine.)

Acclaimed children's book authors Maurice Sendak, Dr. Seuss, and Shel Silverstein all have new books coming out this month (and yes, Seuss and Silverstein have passed away, making their new offerings even more magical than usual). But these three publishing powerhouses have something else in common; they helped children's books evolve from lesson-driven stories that modeled perfect behavior to tales that entertain and celebrate all messy, wild and self-absorbed aspects of childhood. In short, they were subversive, offering a window into the world that kids knew existed and grown-ups hoped to ignore. The Children's Authors Who Broke the Rules from The New York Times is a great article that celebrates these three game-changers, who thankfully paved the way for the books we have today.

Before I started writing my book, Who Says Bullies Rule?: Common Sense Tips to Help Your Kids Cope, I knew that I wanted to provide a book for parents with tips that were both practical and easily implemented. Moreover, I wanted to offer ideas that would prove helpful to parents who are striving to help their kids deal with the physical and psychological effects of bullying.

After thinking about my experiences as an educator who witnessed bullying daily, I remembered how common sense could help bring about a resolution to most problems, whether the child was a preschooler or an older student.  

I also thought about how important it was to forge strong ties between the child, parent, and school system so that each important player working to prevent and stop bullying would keep the other informed of the problems the child faced. I believed that if children, parents, and the school system worked together closely, they would have a better chance of ending the child’s bullying dilemma. I also remembered the importance of parents knowing how to navigate the channels in their school systems in order to help their children with their bullying issues.

I’ve found that before beginning to write your proposal, you’ll need to be sure about the main points you want to stress in your book. If you have narrowed down the topics you want to deal with before you begin to write, you can structure your proposal around these important points.

Keeping all this in mind, I outlined sample chapters for the book, did a review of the related literature (what was out there already and what gaps needed to be filled), and sent the proposal out to the same editor who had published my teacher resource book about bullying.

Before you flesh out your proposal, first think about some new angles for a subject that interests you. Then write out a tentative table of contents. Summarize each chapter in a few words. Make it conversational and practical. Once you have a working table of contents with chapter summaries, rearrange it into what you think is the best order, and the book will easily take shape from these brief chapter summaries.

After the editor accepts your proposal and you begin to write your nonfiction book, you’ll find that you have to make many decisions. One is what tone you plan to use to get your information across. I’ve found that a one-on-one conversational tone (the same one used in the proposal) works for me. I like to pretend I’m talking to my audience (in this case, parents) in a relaxed manner, offering my best advice as I would at a parent/teacher conference.

If you plan to present case studies or opt for fictitious examples, you’ll have to decide whether you want to use real life situations or fictitious examples based loosely upon your personal experiences with the subject matter.

If you decide to use actual examples, you’ll need to obtain permission from your sources, which may prove time-consuming, and possibly, expensive. However, if you use fictitious examples, you’ll have to make them sound realistic enough that readers will be able to apply the information to their unique situations.

It’s also important to represent a variety of ethnic groups and lifestyles in your examples. Offering this variety gives more people the chance to identify with the people and situations in your examples. (In my book, for example, not all of the children come from two-parent families. Some parents are divorced, a grandparent is raising a child, one child lives in a group home, and a father is the custodial parent in another anecdote.)

The last part of writing your book, and one of the most important, involves editing. For tips about editing by using self-talk, see my upcoming article in the September issue of Children's Book Insider.

Remember to make writing decisions about subject matter and style before you begin your proposal and you’ll be one step ahead in writing a best-selling book.

Dr. Catherine DePino, the author of Who Says Bullies Rule?: Common Sense Tips to Help Your Child Cope, has written many books for children, teachers, and parents. Her chapter book, Blue Cheese Breath and Stinky Feet: How to Deal with Bullies, is widely used in bully prevention programs. For many years she served as an English teacher, department head, and disciplinarian in the Philadelphia Schools and as a student teaching supervisor for Temple University. Access her website at www.catherinedepino.com.