Glass House Update: Schedule and stuff, by Carrie White-Parrish

Yipes! Why is it that you think you have everything under control, you’ve got the holidays finished and paid for, you’ve got your list of New Year’s resolutions, you’ve got the new website up and running, and you think everything is Going.To.Be.Okay…

And then you look at the schedule. And the world falls out from under your feet. Not that this happens to me on a regular basis or anything like that. But we all know that I’m HABITUALLY overbooking myself.

But! All that aside, I’ve been asked to share a list of things that we have coming up, and I know we already have them on the social media, so heeeeere we go. Glass House Events.

This week, I—Carrie White-Parrish, Editorial Director and Publisher—am so extremely pleased and honored to be serving as a judge on the MG and YA panels for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, run by the Writopia Lab. This is the second time I’ve been a judge for this contest, and it’s always SUCH an amazing time. The contest focuses on fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from middle school- and high-school-age kids, and seriously … the writing is fantastic. Every year I want to email the coordinator and say “You know, about that story that I read… could I have the contact info for the author? I want to sign it.” I love being a part of a project like this, because it gives me insight into what even younger people are writing—rather than reading—and how talented they are. These are the authors of the future, and I couldn’t be happier about being involved. Side note: I usually recommend that every story I read win the top award. I have trouble not loving them.

Next: Really excited to be involved in another project, which includes teams of mentors working with writers to brainstorm, edit, build brand, and figure out how to find things like agents and publishers. I don’t think we’re releasing all the information on this quite yet, but I can give you the hashtag for it: #FicFest. It’s happening this spring, and is the first time I’ve served as an official ‘mentor’ for anyone. I’m both excited and overwhelmed, and kind of nervous! I’ll release more information—and start taking names of authors who would like to get involved—as soon as I get the thumbs up. If you’ve always wanted to work with professional editors, authors, and publishers, but didn’t know how to do it … this is your chance.

Next: A few months ago, Glass House was asked to be part of a new Twitter movement, and we agreed, thinking—probably—“this is months from now, we’ll have time to plan before it gets here.” Of course we then forgot about it completely. And now … it’s here, and we have to get ready. The event is #Pit2Pub, where authors can tweet their pitches straight to the publishers of their choice, and it turns out that we’re REALLY excited about it. Of course we’re not supposed to be taking submissions—but we weren’t supposed to be taking submissions in December, either, and we still took part in the #pitmad then (and signed a couple of authors, announcements to come!). We’ll have more information on the #Pit2Pub event as we have it, but right now I know that it’s happening on February 3, and that we’re looking for YA, NA, and MG, with pirates, space operas, and dragons being our goal for this event. So authors, if you have pitches, SEND THEM TO US. We guarantee that we’ll read everything and give feedback on all pitches, with love to the authors who send them. (We might even incorporate some sort of giveaway for authors who tweet us. But I haven’t talked to anyone about that yet, so…)

Next: NEW STORYTIME EVENT. And we’re over the moon about this one. We have stories coming from Mary Fan, Linda Foster, B3E, George Ebey, and new author Shawna Railey, so this is going to be a big event. It’s happening sometime in April, and we’ll have more details about the specific date, how to get involved, and whether we’re adding anyone else as the time approaches. We’ll also be doing a BIG cover reveal and blog tour, so email us if you’re interested!

And finally, we’re getting closer and closer to revealing pub dates for PT McHugh’s A Rebel’s Stone and Mary Fan’s Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil, coming this summer/fall. Does anyone else feel like we’ve been waiting for these books FOREVER???? Stay tuned for cover reveals, blog tour information, goodies, and the Big News we’ve been holding onto for years about these books!

Signing out now, happy Monday Glass Housers!

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Carrie White-Parrish is a dreamer, a rebel, and an admitted bibliophile. She started Glass House Press—her second company—when she ran across a manuscript that deserved to be published, and hasn’t looked back. Though her tastes run from MG to historical fiction to high fantasy and back, her heart truly belongs to YA. When she’s not editing or publishing, you can find her taking over the world, hanging out with her many spoiled pets, or traveling the world with her beloved husband.

Five Highlights from KidLitCon 2015 - a guest post by Mary Fan

This year, I had the honor of attending KidLitCon as a speaker, and I had great time meeting people and learning a thing or two. Though I was only able to go for Saturday, I feel like I got a lot out of the conference… and wish I could have been there for the full two-day conference. Below are five highlights.

Spoke on and learned from the panel Intersectionality: The Next Step in Diverse Books

Mary Fan with twin bloggers and authors
Guinevere and Libertad Thomas aka Twinjas

Sometimes, panelists are the ones who learn from the session. Though our moderator, Zetta Elliott, was unable to attend due to illness, she sent us her wonderfully crafted presentation introducing the key ideas behind intersectionality. The main idea behind intersectionality is that people can't be reduced to little boxes, like "oh, he's Asian" or "oh, she's gay." There are many, many different aspects of identity—race, gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, etc.—that intersect to form identity. Dynamic twin bloggers and authors Guinevere and Libertad Thomas, the other two speakers on the panel, shared their insights into what it’s like being Afro-Latina in a society that splits that identity in two. And I gave my views on what intersectionality means to me—how it means looking within and acknowledging your own privileges. After we finished giving our individual presentations, we opened it up to the audience for questions and had a lively discussion about how to engage readers from different backgrounds and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that come when those of privilege try to incorporate aspects of oppressed identities into their books. I learned a lot from both my fellow panelists and from listening to what was on the audience’s mind, and it’s a debate I hope will continue long after the conference. The most dangerous thing about privilege is that it’s invisible to those who have it, and it’s only through continuing conversations that we can start correcting the imbalance—in books and beyond.

Behind-the-scenes with bloggers and reviewers

As an attendee, I sat in on a panel of reviewers and bloggers as they talked about what it’s like to be a book reviewer and earn a little cash while you’re at it. Though I maintain a blog of my own and post reviews when the fancy strikes, I’m not a reviewer reviewer. So it was cool seeing how reviewers select the books they read and how they juggle reviewing and blogging for different publications. Though the session was aimed at fellow bloggers, it was cool from an author perspective to see what goes into those coveted reviews. Answer: a lot of time and patience. Made me appreciate everyone who’s reviewed my books that much more.

Middle Grade is not YA!

A session featuring several MG authors illuminated what it is that makes MG its own unique category. Children’s literature has become more and more segmented over the decades—from back in the day when there was only books for little kids and books for adults to nowadays, where distinctions are made even within categories (upper YA vs lower YA, for example). Which is a good thing, because kids have very different reading levels and maturity levels. What really sets MG apart from YA, apart from the age of the protagonist, is that YA delves into darker and edgier themes that MG readers might not be ready for. At the same time, MG does tackle a lot of tough issues kids face—but with more humor and less grit. Mislabeling MG as YA (and vice versa, though this occurs much less frequently) is a pet peeve of mine, yet at the same time I’m not nearly as familiar with MG as I’d like to be, so it was great getting to learn more about the category from authors who know it inside and out.

How authors and bloggers connect

Swag from KidLitCon

YA fantasy author Kathy McMillan (Sword and Verse, HarperTeen 2016) and prolific book blogger Alyssa Susanna of Eater of Books put together a fascinating dual presentation on how authors and bloggers connect online. Kathy gave the author’s perspective, talking about all the hard work, patience, and dedication that goes into getting a book published (in other words, all the work that goes in after you’ve signed that coveted contract… and trust me, I understood all too well… signing the contract is only the beginning!). Alyssa then presented the results of a poll she ran on her blog about how readers discover new books to read and connect with authors. Twitter got the most votes by a landslide, with Goodreads and blogs trailing right after. It was my personal favorite presentation of the day, and as a bonus, Alyssa brought a bunch of extra books she had lying around (as a reviewer, she gets tons of these sent to her) as giveaways, and I got one with an awesome wolfy cover!

Swag! Swag! Swag!

Swag table at KidLitCon

Speaking of giveaways, you would not believe the swag table at this conference. I felt like a kid walking into a candy shop… and being told the goodies were free. There were stacks and stacks of ARCs (advance reader copies), bookmarks, and other assorted giveaways. This was on top of the swag bags we’d already been given (note the awesome Firedragon and Firedragon Rising bookmarks in the pic). I was so tempted to grab one of everything. So many gorgeous covers and cool bookmarks—it was nuts! I grabbed plenty (as you can see) but had to restrain myself before I picked up more than I could carry. Had enough trouble hauling all that back to the car as it is. Also, I am now officially in need of a new bookshelf, as all these lovely books are currently sitting stacked on my coffee table…

You can read Mary's other post on KidLitCon, where she focuses on the topic of intersectionality.

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Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Mary is the author of author of The Firedragon, Firedragon Rising, Tell Me My Name, forthcoming Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil (Flynn Nightsider series) and Fated Stars series.

Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.

Hitting the road for KidLitCon! - a guest post by Mary Fan

I'm honored to have been invited to speak on a panel on intersectional diversity at this year’s KidLitCon, an annual conference for authors, bloggers, and readers of literature for children—from toddlers to teens. This year, the event will be held from October 9-11 in Baltimore (which, incidentally, is where Edgar Allen Poe is buried) at the Hyatt Place Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Diversity has been a hot topic in the book world for the past year and change, and this year’s KidLitCon will feature several discussions on the topic, including the one I’ll be participating it. The panel, titled “Intersectionality: The Next Step in Diverse Books,” will take place on Saturday, October 10 at 11:10 am and run for about an hour.

The need for diversity in books has never been clearer as readers clamor for stories about underrepresented characters—racial and gender minorities, characters with disabilities, etc. However, diversity can’t be understood through a single lens. Nor can different types of experiences be considered independently from each other. We live in a world that likes to put people into simple little boxes, but the reality is much more complicated than that. Tackling these kinds of complex characters is often viewed as a burden by writers. Along with my fellow panelists, I’ll share tips for developing characters whose intersectional experiences ring true.

This round table discussion will feature:

• Zetta Elliot—middle-aged author, educator, scholar, immigrant, self-publisher, and fierce Black advocate for greater diversity AND equality in kid lit.

• Guinevere and Libertad Tomas of Twinja Book Reviews—dynamic Afro-Latina twin bloggers and debut authors

• And myself, Mary Fan—author of Flynn Nightsider and Fated Stars here at Glass House Press, first-generation American, lifelong nerd, advocate for women in tech, and nobody’s Asian trophy wife.

Register for the conference here!  

And be sure to follow KidLitCon on Twitter and Tumblr for the latest updates.

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Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Mary is the author of author of The Firedragon, Firedragon Rising, Tell Me My Name, forthcoming Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil (Flynn Nightsider series) and Fated Stars series.

Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.