As the Social Media Coordinator for the SCBWI Oklahoma Region, I host a monthly Twitter Chat for our members (and anyone else who’d like to participate) where we talk for an hour with someone from the children’s publishing world, be it agent, editor, author, illustrator, etc. The conversations are always lively and enlightening.
We meet from 7-8pm CST using the hashtag #okscbwichat. If you’ve ever been curious about a Twitter Chat, stop on by! We love meeting new people.
This month’s chat session was Tuesday, August 25th.
CLICK HERE to view our full #okscbwichat 2020 schedule.
It was a delight to talk with Frances Gilbert, Editor-in-chief of Doubleday Books for Young Readers, during our latest Twitter chat. It was also very enlightening.
She shared a wealth of knowledge in a short amount of time, from what makes a good rhyme to what you should do during a face-to-face critique and much, much more.
Here’s an introduction to Frances:
August 25th – Frances Gilbert – Editor/Author
Frances Gilbert works at Random House where she is the Editor-in Chief at Doubleday Books for Young Readers. She started her career with books in high school when she worked in the children’s department of her town library. After graduating from university with an M.A. in English, her first job in publishing was as a Book Club Editor at Scholastic Canada in Toronto. She moved to New York in 2000 to set up a children’s editorial division at Sterling Publishing.
Frances is also a published author. Her picture book, GO, GIRLS, GO!, a cars and trucks book for girls, that was released last fall.
Her Twitter handle is @GoGirlsGoBooks
We had an outstanding conversation with Frances. She discussed her unorthodox stance on query letters and her new insights she gained about the creative process (and what it takes to market your own books) after writing her own picture books.
She talked about what makes for great rhyme…and what doesn’t. She discussed her editorial style and how she approaches working on a new project. And she shared many thoughts about board books, like how to decide if you should write a board book versus a picture book version of your story. All of which was very enlightening.
As Frances will be one of our faculty members for our online SCBWI OK fall conference this October, she gave us a great idea what to expect from her presentation with fellow Children’s publishing superstar, picture book author extraordinaire and SCBWI OK member, Tammi Sauer. They’ve worked together on several projects. (Tammi stopped by the chat and added a joyful moment to the conversation when they talked about their past collaborations and other things.)
The hour flew by, and honestly we all could have talked with Frances for another hour or two. I’m really looking forward to our conference!
***Interested in the rest of our conversation with Frances?
View the full chat recap HERE.
You can read the recaps for all of our chats, from this year and from those in years past, HERE.
Stephanie Stein is an Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she acquires middle grade and YA fiction for the Harper and HarperTeen imprints. In her eight years at Harper, she has worked with authors including Anna Bright, Rena Barron, Misa Sugiura, Rin Chupeco, Kiera Cass, Cynthia Hand, and Temre Beltz. She also edits the #1 bestselling Warriors series by Erin Hunter.
Jonathan Koelsch has been illustrating professionally since graduating with honors from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, and attended Kansas City Art Institute’s illustration program for 3 years.
Jennifer March Soloway is a literary agent who represents authors and illustrators of picture book, middle grade, and young adult stories. She enjoys all genres and categories, such as laugh-out-loud picture books and middle-grade adventures, but her sweet spot is young adult.
Mekisha Telfer is an associate editor at Roaring Brook Press (Macmillian), where she is building a list of picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels. She got her start in publishing in 2014 as an editorial assistant with Simon and Schuster BFYR/Salaam reads, and has also worked briefly at Glasstown Entertainment.
Literary Agent Alex Slater has been with Trident Media Group since 2010. For many years he oversaw the foreign rights sales of all of Trident’s young adult and children’s projects, which includes the work of R.J. Palacio and Louis Sachar.
Children’s author Jess Rinker received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has won many awards for her work including short story, creative nonfiction, and most recently an honorable mention for the Katherine Paterson Prize from Hunger Mountain for her middle grade novel THE YOUNG TRAVELERS CLUB.
Lisa Papademetriou is the author of A TALE OF HIGHLY UNUSUAL MAGIC (a South Asia Book Award Highly Commended Title), the New York Times-bestselling novel MIDDLE SCHOOL: MY BROTHER IS A BIG, FAT LIAR and HOMEROOM DIARIES (both with James Patterson), the CONFECTIONATELY YOURS series (over 750,000 books in print), and many other novels for middle grade and young adult readers.
Children’s author Joe McGee writes funny, quirky, offbeat stories for kids (and adults who still hold a piece of the magic). He has two picture books published, PEANUT BUTTER & BRAINS (Abrams) his debut PB which came out in 2015, and the sequel, ALIENS & JELLY (2017). A third book in the series, PEANUT BUTTER & SANTA CLAUS is scheduled for release in 2019.
Sharon Edge Martin has been a writer since she wrote her first poems at the age of eight. She has worked as a waitress, an artist’s model, a musician, a bookkeeper, a jewelry designer, a newspaper editor, and a teacher, but no matter what other job she is doing, Martin is always a writer.
Associate editor Rachel Murray started at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in 2014. She has experience with picture books, chapter books, middle grade fiction, and young adult novels in a variety of genres. She has had the pleasure of working on projects such as Stegothesaurus by Bridget Heos, illustrated by T. L. McBeth; First & Then and subsequent books by Emma Mills; and the NYT-bestselling Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson.
Gwendolyn Hooks is the author of the NAACP IMAGE AWARD winning picture book biography, Tiny Stitches-The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas and Block Party, a Junior Library Guild Selection. Her newest books are The Garden and If You Were A Kid During the Civil Rights Movement. Gwen’s next book, Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom,is scheduled to release on October 1stof this year.
Chad W. Beckerman
Andrea Hall – Associate Editor with 
Hannah Mann – Junior Agent with 
Daniel Nayeri – Publisher at 
Allison Remcheck – Associate Agent with 
Jerry Bennett – SCBWI Oklahoma Illustrator Coordinator and Professional Illustrator
Emily Heddleson – Senior Manager, Library and Educational Marketing with Scholastic
I’m so thrilled that Andrea Hall, Associate Editor with 
February 6th – Allison Remcheck – SPECIAL CHAT DATE
February 27th – Daniel Nayeri
March 6th – Hannah Mann – SPECIAL CHAT DATE
April 29th 1:00PM – Zoe Waring – SPECIAL CHAT DAY AND TIME!!!
May 22nd – Heather Cashman
June 26th –Pablo Cartaya
September 25th – Ashley Nixon
October 23rd – Sue Lowell Gallion
Ally Carter
Jill Santopolo – Editorial Director with 
Linda Camacho – Literary Agent with 
Kristen Nelson – President and Founding Literary Agent at 
Katrina Damkoehler – Senior Designer with 
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS LITTLE by 
HELLO HIPPO, GOODBYE BIRD by 
Matt Ringler – Senior Editor with 
Benjamin Myers is a professor of literature at Oklahoma Baptist University and is the current Oklahoma Poet Laureate. He is the author of two books of poetry LAPSE AMERICANA and ELEGY FOR TRAINS, which won the Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry.
Adriana Domínguez is a literary agent with 
Joe Hight is not only the president of Best of Books, an independent bookstore in Edmond, Oklahoma, he’s behind the online persona, BOB, and the delightful tweets of the store’s Twitter account 
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