I have a new installment of my blog up for December:

http://www.underdown.org/blog_1205.htm

I've said my piece about holiday shopping, but I have to pass on news
from BookCloseOuts, where they are having an end-of-year Clearance
Sale.

http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?dir=ASC&promo=Countdown+To+Christmas+Sa\
le&sort=p_TitleSort&N=0+3348+606&org=cat&rid=purplec

All of their children's paperbacks, sticker books, activity books,
and board books are an additional 50% off. This means there are many
items for under $1, suitable for student gifts or programs like RIF,
and also quality titles in paperback to help you build up your own
library or use as gifts.

Margot Finke muses about how to write a rhyming picture book
successfully in her December column, How to Write a Picture Book with
Fabulous R & M.

http://www.underdown.org/mf-rhyme-and-meter.htm

As usual, you will find links to all these pages on the What's New
Page, along with less recent news you may have missed.

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Thanks for your support. Enjoy your holidays, and I'll be back next
year. (And just for Charles: Merry Christmas!)
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I thought I was done for a few weeks, but some news came in about the
Cricket Magazine Group, and I had to post it.

See http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I had planned to wait to do an announcement until I had some new
articles done, but some big news has come along, so I'm not going to
wait any longer.

For those of you who were wondering what Jean Feiwel would do after
leaving Scholastic--she's going to be at Holtzbrinck. See my Who's
Moving Where page at http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm for
details and some other bits of news.

I have also posted Margot Finke's January Musings, on Self-Editing a
Middle Grade Novel. Go to the Musings index at
http://www.underdown.org/finke.htm for links to the January Musings
and previous ones.

And a reminder: The Newbery, Caldecott, and a number of other
ALA-sponsored awards will be announced on January 23. I hope to post
the winners as soon as possible after they are announced on my
"Award-winning Children's Books" page, at
http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm I will announce it
when I'm done, but you can also just bookmark that page and check it
during the day. Last year, it was impossible to access the ALA
announcement page for some time, so check my page as an alternative.

Thanks!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I now have the Newbery and Caldecott Medal and Honor books announced
this morning up on my Award-Winning Children's Books Page at
http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm

(There is a  link to that page on The Purple Crayon Home page, and on
the What's New page, if you lose track of that URL.)

There are links to Amazon for more information or if you want to try
to buy them before they go out of stock....

I'm adding the 2006 winners for the other awards I cover (I don't
cover all of them) as fast as I can, so check back if it still says
"Author Tocome" next to an award that interests you.
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

My latest blog installment includes an interesting item on the
efforts of an author/illustrator to handle foreign rights themselves,
a discussion about the cost of hardcover books, and a couple of
questions about agents.

See http://www.underdown.org/blog.htm

Margot Finke's February Musings answers the question "Are You a
Writer Looking for Inspiration?" with some suggestions for possible
sources of inspiration.

See http://www.underdown.org/mf-inspiration.htm

I've also added some news about the Time Warner Book Group to the
Who's Moving Where page, at http://www.underdown.org/change.htm .

In case you haven't checked, I finished updating my lists of award-winners at
http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm with the major
awards announced at the recent ALA convention.

And please don't forget, if you are planning to shop online for
books, use the Purple Crayon Bookstores page at
http://www.underdown.org/bookstores.htm . The page lists several
reputable stores, and if you use the links on that page, The Purple
Crayon can earn a commission.

Thanks,
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

There are quite a few bits of news on my Who's Moving Where page,
including some interesting news about Liz Szabla and Robin Corey.

I've been working on some other pieces but haven't been able to
finish them, so for now, that's all.

Links to all that's new at http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm, as usual.
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I'm pleased to announce that I've finished a substantial addition to
what I have to say about agents: I not only revised "Agents for
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators" (the first major revision
to this article since I wrote it several years ago) at
http://www.underdown.org/agents.htm but also added a new piece on
"Finding and Choosing an Agent" at
http://www.underdown.org/researching-agents.htm . AND to illustrate
my point that one can learn a lot just from an agent's website, I've
done a case study of Firebrand Literary Agency:
http://www.underdown.org/firebrand-literary.htm .

I have also posted Margot Finke's latest column, her March 2006
Musing, is "Query and Cover Letters: How to Get 'Em Right," which
features some useful tips and useful websites to help those
struggling with drafting these important letters:
http://www.underdown.org/mf-cover-and-query-letters.htm .

And here's a way to support The Purple Crayon and get some cheap
books: check out the Dollar-for-Dollar promotion at my favorite
online bookseller, BookCloseOuts.com. If you buy at least $25 worth
of books, you can choose the same amount free from a special section
of their site. There are links around the site to BookCloseOuts.com,
including the home page, with one to the promotion page on my What's
New page: http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm .

Of course, you support the site just by visiting and by telling other
people about it, so please visit and feel free to forward this email.

Thanks,
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

It's very early on April 1st, but I finished the work in March, so my
new blog entry is dated March. It covers questions about book club
editions, synopses, and revising/resubmitting/reselling, and has some
interesting links.
http://www.underdown.org/blog.htm

I have also completed the site's annual report for 2005. Good income
from the site enabled me to spend more time on it (so far in 2006
that has continued). See the report for details.
http://www.underdown.org/report_2005.htm

More to come soon, including Margot Finke's April Musings some time
next week, and a few "Who's Moving Where" items.

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I have posted some new items on the Who's Moving Where page,
including a couple of significant departures from Houghton Mifflin
and Little, Brown: http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

New articles:  an informative article on electronic rights by Kohel
Haver: http://www.underdown.org/electronic-rights.htm

And Margot Finke tackles writing description in "Descriptive Passages
to Die For," her April 2006 Musings:
http://www.underdown.org/mf-description.htm

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The last few weeks have been busy, but I have been able to get a few
things done.

And I've done some work on the Recommended Resources list, which
includes books, magazines, organizations, and web sites, and comes
from my Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books. The
different sections now get their own pages (it used to be one big
file), and I've also added, revised, or deleted a few listings here
and there. Please take a look at http://www.underdown.org/ciglinks.htm

Charles Ghigna, a well-published poet for children, and a great guy
who I worked with at Charlesbridge, explores some of the formats used
in poetry for children in his Poetry for Children: Choosing the
Format.
http://www.underdown.org/poetry-formats.htm

Margot Finke provides some useful tips to help you find the right
words in Words! Words! Words! - How to Find Those That Jump off the
Page, her May Musings. http://www.underdown.org/mf-finding-words.htm

That's it for now, but I'm working on some pages that should find
their way to the site soon.

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I see it's been almost two months since I sent out an announcement. I
have been working on the site, but had not done anything that I
thought merited an announcement.

Now that has changed!

I have completed a comprehensive piece, "Picture Book Manuscripts and
Illustrations." This new piece is really meant to cover all the major
questions in this area. If you think I've left something out, please
tell me.

There is a new blog entry for June, including Aaron Shepard's
response to an earlier entry on selling foreign rights and several
other items.

Margot Finke's June column gives useful tips for picture book
writers: How to Make Editors Eager to Read Your Picture Book.

And you will find some updates on the Who's Moving Where page.

Also, a plug: my favorite online bookseller, Bookcloseouts.com, is
selling sets and single copies from such classic series as "The Hardy
Boys" and "Nancy Drew" at big discounts.

You can find handy links to all of these pages on the What's New page:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Thanks!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I thought I was done, but there were a few more things to do. So
there are some new bits of news on the Who's Moving Where page.


Also up is Margot Finke's latest Musings, on polishing your
manuscripts, is Polish Your Chapters: Small Things Can Make the
Difference Between Acceptance and Rejection.

Links to both are on the What's New page, at
http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm , where you can also find a link
to Amazon's page for the 2007 edition of Children's Writer's and
Illustrator's Market, which can be ordered now. A full review will
follow when the book is out.

Enjoy your holiday,
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

A busy summer, but I've had time for some work on the site.

There is new news on the Who's Moving Where page, at
http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm.

I've added a blog entry for July, at http://www.underdown.org, with
questions and answers about collecting folktales, an author
approaching an illustrator, finding an agent, and researching
publishers.

The Purple Crayon has a favicon! Find out more on the What's New
page, http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm , where you will also find
links to all of these things.

And see the home page for information about Bookcloseouts coupons
that expire at the end of July.

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

There are a few new things on the site, all easily reached from the
What's New Page:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

I posted what I hope will be the first of a few August Blog entries.
This one covers such diverse topics as copyright and the Bible,
purchasing and selling your remaindered book, and breaking the rules
when writing picture book manuscripts.

Margot Finke's latest Musings column is about Protecting Your
Computer and Your Manuscript. A very useful piece for anyone writing
on a Windows computer.

And I've posted the site's earnings in a 2006-to-date report. As
you'll see it's been a good year and the site is stable and
self-supporting. I'd like to spend more time on it. We'll see how
that goes this year. Please remember to use the links to bookstores
you'll find on the Bookstores page, and elsewhere on the site, and
you'll automatically be supporting the site.

Thanks! August should be a busy month on the site, so I hope you'll drop by.

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I've posted reviews of the new edition of Jim Giblin's "The Giblin
Guide to Writing Children's Books" and of the 2007 edition of
"Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market."

You'll find links to them, and other recent additions and updates, on
the What's New page:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Thanks!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I've been getting more and more questions about self-publishing, so
now I've added information about it to The Purple Crayon.

The articles I've posted are not exactly how-to articles, though,
since I haven't self-published. There are three new articles:
Self-Publish or Not? which points out the danger of rushing into
self-publishing; What a Publisher Does, which lists what a publisher
does, and a self-publisher would have to do; and Between Traditional
Publishers and Vanity Presses, which explores the kinds of publishing
and service companies that someone who wanted to self-publish would
run into. I also created a Self-Publishing index page, which lists
those articles and other relevant ones already on the site.

You'll find links to all of these on the What's New page, at
http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm , as well as a link to Margot
Finke's latest Musings column, on Good Writing Manners.

Comments and suggestions welcome!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I've added some September news to my "Who's Moving Where?" page on The
Purple Crayon, including management shuffles at Scholastic and
Bloomsbury: http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm

A new Blog installment and Musings from Margot Finke to come soon....

Harold Underdown

Well, it's October already, but I've just posted the September
installment of the Purple Crayon Blog. I started working on it in
September and I decided not to rename it. It includes my notes from
the Children's Book Council's Annual Meeting, thoughts on getting
started as a translator in children's books, and other items.

I've also posted Margot Finke's latest Musing's column, "Enthusiastic
Hobbyist or Dedicated Writer: Which One Are You?" Read it and decide
which profile you come closest to fitting.

You'll find links to both on the What's New page, at
http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I was interested in the nominees for the National Book Award,
announced today, and put the nominees in "young people's literature,"
which is the NBA name for the category, in my October blog entry. The
books are  mostly YA novels, and a diverse group.

You can go straight to the October entry at
http://www.underdown.org/blog_1006.htm or to the blog index page at
http://www.underdown.org/blog.htm

Also in the October entry is an item about writing nonfiction and a
shorter one on finding publishers who are open to new authors.
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I've done some catching up on the Who's Moving Where page, and also
posted links to two holiday shopping deals at bookstores from which
The Purple Crayon earns commissions.

Find the links at http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm, the What's New page.

My family and I are moving, just around the corner, but an upheaval
all the same, so it's been a while since I was able to work on the
site, but I hope things will settle down soon.
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I've added a blog entry for November, featuring:

--notes from an Author's Guilds-sponsored panel on "What's Hot and
What's Not in  Children's Books"

--a few links to favorite blogs

--what to do when an agent and a publisher are interested in the same
manuscript

--comments on what is meant by "outline" and "synopsis"

--some thoughts on plagiarism and critique groups

Links to the blog and other new items are on the What's New page at:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Apologies to those of you who had a problem with one of the links in
my last announcement--apparently some email programs included a comma
in the URL that was correctly left out on mine. If that happens to
you, just delete the stray punctuation from the address shown in your
browser and hit "return."

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by the people you
want to be with.
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

Today is supposed to be the busiest day of the year for online shopping.

So this is my annual reminder--if you have shopping to do at Amazon,
BookCloseOuts, alibris, or BookSense, please consider starting your
shopping by using the links or search boxes on the Purple Crayon
Bookstores page, so that the site will earn a commission.

http://www.underdown.org/bookstores.htm

Thanks!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

After a one-month hiatus (due to me and my family moving, meaning I
had less time for the site), Margot Finke's Musings column is back.
This month's topic: Networking.

Also, there are some updates on the Who's Moving Where page.

For links to both and to other recent new and updated pages, go to:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

December was a blur, but I'm back at work on the site. I've added Margot Finke's
January
"Musings": Rejection Letters: Can You Change Them Into Acceptances?.

And there is a new Purple Crayon Blog entry, with three Q&A's that started as
simple
questions and got more interesting in a follow-up, plus a link to a substantial
article about
trends by the CCBC.

Find links to both of those and more on the What's New page, at
http://www.underdown.org/
newhdu.htm

Also, I want to let people know that I will not be posting the Caldecott,
Newbery and other
ALA awards winners on my Children's Book Awards page on the day they are
announced at
the upcoming ALA convention, as I have in previous years. I'm too busy, and
there are more
options for finding out about the awards for those who want to, in any case. I
plan to
reorganize that page to create separate pages for the different awards but I'm
not sure when
I'll get to that....

Happy New Year!

I've made the Children's Book Award page into a section, with several
awards each getting their own page. And I've started updating the
awards with the ALA awards announced today. But no, I haven't done
them all!

See the new set-up at http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm

And there are some updates on the Who's Moving Where page, with
probably the biggest news being the departure of Elizabeth Law from
S&S:

http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm

More to come in a week or two....
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

I have have been working on the pages in what has now become a
Children's Book Awards section. So far, I've done the Caldecott page,
the Newbery page, the Coretta Scott King page, and the Lifetime
Achievement Awards page. They all have the awards that were announced
this year, and I am adding resources such as interviews with award
winners, or commentary about the awards, as well as listing the
winners. This has been hard to do. There are many sites that give
basic explanations of the better-known awards, or list the winners
from a particular year. I want to link to original material and
haven't found as much as I had hoped to, so suggestions are welcome.
Here are the pages I worked on:
http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm (main awards page)
http://www.underdown.org/newbery-medal.htm
http://www.underdown.org/caldecott-medal.htm
http://www.underdown.org/coretta-scott-king-award.htm
http://www.underdown.org/lifetime-achievement-awards.htm

Margot Finke's latest "Musings" discusses Ten Common Problems she
sees in people's manuscripts when she does critiques:
http://www.underdown.org/mf-common-writing-problems.htm

I have also posted a report on The Purple Crayon's income for 2006.
I'm pleased to report that it's become essentially a part-time job
for me, and that has made me feel more comfortable with spending time
working on the site. See the report for detailas and plans for the
coming year:
http://www.underdown.org/report_2006.htm

Thanks for visiting!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I haven't sent out a message in a while, but I've done a good bit of
work on the site over the past few weeks. Here's a rundown:

You may have already noticed the revised Purple Crayon home page,
featuring less purple. I hope it's easier to read and tidier looking.
I plan to redesign other parts of the site in the coming months.

I'm also moving into a new approach with the Purple Crayon Blog. When
a topic needs a longer treatment, I will be writing up a full-length
article on it, rather than making it one of a few items in a blog
entry. The first subject to get this treatment is Editors' Names on
Manuscript Submissions  ( http://www.underdown.org/editors-names.htm
). I may also continue to do some of the standard blog entries, but
we'll see what develops.

Margot Finke wrote a two-part article on Query Letters as her March
"Musings" column. Be sure to read both parts--the second part has the
complete text of three successful query letters.  (
http://www.underdown.org/mf-query-letters-revisited.htm )

I also finished updating the Children's Books Awards area. I would
still like to hear about interesting articles about awards --
substantial ones giving background or looking at issues such as bias
-- as I was only able to find a few to link to. (
http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm )

And of course, there are a few updates on the Who's Moving Where page
( http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm )


Find all of this linked to from the What's New page:
http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Thanks for visiting!

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I.G. to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

Margot Finke's latest Musings looks at school visits--a useful
subject, and one not previously covered on The Purple Crayon:
http://www.underdown.org/mf-school-visits.htm

There are also some new items on the Who's Moving Where page:
http://www.underdown.org/chchange.htm

--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I. Guide to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I've been busy redoing the pages that list the articles in various
categories on my site, and they are now done, with nice menus on the
side (instead of the top and bottom) and a modest block set aside for
advertising.

I also wrote a couple of blog entries, one on the question of whether
cover letters are necessary with manuscripts, and the other with some
observations from the recent SCBW-I portfolio review day.

And of course, there are updates on the Who's Moving Where page.

Links to all the new and revised pages are on the What's New page:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I. Guide to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm

New this week:

Margot Finke's latest Musings has some tips for nipping
procrastination in the bud. I meant to have it up at the beginning of
the month, but, well, things just kept coming up....

I've also posted a report on The Purple Crayon's finances for the
first quarter of 2007.

And a note to visitors from the UK and Europe generally. As you know
the focus of The Purple Crayon is the US market. It's what I know,
and I hope you find the information useful. For those of you who want
to order books through the site, there is now a link to Amazon UK on
the Bookstores page, and links on some of my book reviews to Amazon
UK. If people use them, I'll put more up.

Oh, and be sure to see the Who's Moving Where page if you haven't
recently. I've added  a couple more bits of news since my last update.

Links to all of these pages and to older news are on:

http://www.underdown.org/newhdu.htm

Thanks for visiting!
--

Harold Underdown

The Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org/

The C.I. Guide to Children's Book Publishing: http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm