1 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

I’m not sure how much work I’ll get done this week. I’ll be busy hanging out at the Kidlit4Japan Benefit Auction.

The auction started today, and already I’ve found a few keepers I’m interested in. But I have to pace myself, for there’s sure to be keepers every day for the next couple weeks. Thanks to the awesome organizer and children’s author, Greg R. Fishbone, a TON of generous folks in the kidlit world have signed on their talents to benefit the children in Japan.

You can help these children by making a bid on any of the TONS of books, ARCS, critiques or other services offered. And really, you can help yourself as a writer if you bid on (and win) a critique. But you’ll have to raid your penny jar and maybe your friend’s piggy bank to afford a critique. It’ll be worth every penny, though, and go to a wonderful cause (besides yourself, I mean).

But if you don’t have enough to bid, check out a SCBWI newsletter for helpful and free information. You can find my Southern Breeze region’s newsletter here. And a week or so ago, I came across Kite Tales, from the Southern California region, where you’ll find lots of swell interviews. Then send a prayer or two, instead.

Because you can make a difference in the world. Every. Little. Bit. Helps.

Am I the only one who thinks of conferences as gold-mining excursions? Because I felt as if I were panning for nuggets of wisdom as I sat in the Springmingle audience when Katie Carella, an editor from Grosset & Dunlap/ Penguin Young Readers and Price Stern Sloan! gave her presentation. And it was well worth the trip–I struck chapter book gold!

First of all, Katie Carella is young and engaging and very thorough. So if you ever have the chance to attend a conference where she’s speaking, you should pack your gear and go. That being said, I can’t possibly give you all the details. But I can give you a few sparkly highlights.

Chapter books can be anywhere from 1,000 words to 15,000 words, and they can be shelved in the library in a Chapter Book/Easy Reader section or in with the Juvenile or Middle Grade fiction. It’s all very confusing. What’s not confusing is that most chapter books stick to a tried-and-true format: short chapters, ending with cliffhangers. But if you read a lot of chapter books, you’ve already figured that out.

You probably also have figured out that chapter books are character-based. Find a great character that your audience will connect with and you’re golden. So if you know the technical side behind writing chapter books, why is it so hard to find a publisher for yours?

That’s where Katie’s glittery wisdom comes in. Here’s a question she offered that I think may be the most important one to ask yourself: Is there room in the marketplace for your story?

The only way you’re going to find that out is to research the marketplace. Investigate characters to find whether the character you’ve created has something special or different from what’s already out there. Read, read, and read some more. Know the hooks of the series that are available so that you’re not copying something that’s been done to death.

Basically, as Katie put it, you need to “think outside the box.” It’s a simple little nugget, but it can lead to a vein of chapter book gold!

P.S. That’s Katie Carella holding Cathy-on-a-Stick. She wanted Ashleigh Hally (a writer bud) to stand with her. Because two people standing with a pic-on-a-stick isn’t weird at all.