Children’s Graphic Novels 101
Very early this Thursday morning, I was supposed to be getting up and going to the airport to fly to Las Vegas for the Nevada SCBWI conference.
I was very excited about this. It was going to be my first time visiting Las Vegas. It was going to be my first official public appearance as a Literary and Illustration Agent. It was going to be my first talk to an audience of SCBWI members.
On March 6th, only about seven weeks ago — when we were all in a state of denial about what was coming down the road — I sent the organizer a cheery email.
“I currently have no plans to cancel my travel to the conference! Looking forward to it!”
Four days later, the conference was cancelled.
But before you start feeling sorry for me, as it turns out, Cynthia Mun, the head of SCBWI Nevada, is an AMAZING PERSON. We ended up getting on the phone together and strategizing how we could still go ahead and do something fun for her SCBWI chapter.
The answer, of course, is to deliver a talk virtually. I.e., a webinar.
I had been planning to give a talk about career development, because I wanted to offer something of value to all the authors and illustrators there. But Cynthia reminded me that I have an area of expertise of great interest to many of her members: graphic novels.
“I’m not sure if we’ve ever had someone give a ‘Graphic Novels 101’ presentation before,” she said. “I think that would be extremely useful.”
So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
At 10 am PST/1 pm EST on Saturday, May 9th, I’m leading a webinar on “Children’s Graphic Novels 101.”
Be prepared for a jam-packed introduction to everything I can think of that you need to know if you’re thinking about breaking into children’s graphic novels.
- How are graphic novels different from illustrated books? What’s the difference between “comics” and “graphic novels”?
- Why are graphic novels so popular? What’s selling particularly well in the category right now?
- What do you need to include in an effective graphic novel submission? How do you format a graphic novel script? What are agents and editors looking for?
- Who are the major players in kids graphic novels? Which publishers are doing what, and where might the industry go in the future?
- What’s different about promoting and selling a kids graphic novel versus a children’s book?
The best part about this webinar is that you don’t have to be a Nevada SCBWI member to sign up! Registration is open to anyone.
If this sounds intriguing to you, please join me on May 9th for the webinar. You must pre-register at this link:
Please share this information with anyone who’d be interested!
P.S. Do you have a specific burning question about children’s graphic novels that you definitely want me to answer? Leave a comment below so I make sure to include it in my presentation.
