All the Buzz about Children’s Books by Dianne Bates

Guest Post by Dianne Bates It’s a new year. Time to plan your goals and schedule your bookish events. Get yourself well-immersed in the industry and keep abreast of all the current news. For anyone involved in the Australian children’s book world, one service you might consider is subscribing to the popular Buzz Words online […]

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Six Top Tips on How to Write Children’s Manuscript Pitches – That Editors Want to Read

You’ve spent countless hours pouring your thoughts, heart and soul, and even blood, sweat and tears into your manuscript. It’s taken months, if not years, to perfect it. It’s been on it’s own journey around and around, reimagined and rejigged many times over. And now it’s ready to be sent off into the world of […]

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Pitch It! Competition 2018 Winners

Over the month of September, Just Write For Kids Australia held its first writing competition. The theme was to write a pitch based on a children’s or young adult manuscript, aimed at publishers in under 150 words. The expert panel of judges were given the enormous task of processing 100 entries with consideration to the […]

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Pitch It! Competition Shortlist

Coming to a consensus between different judges with differing opinions isn’t always an easy feat. But there are certain aspects of quality storytelling that are undeniable. Yes, writing a pitch is like writing a story. It needs to be engaging, evoke an emotion, and concise with each word carefully put into place. You have limited […]

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Pitch It! Competition Longlist

The Pitch It! Competition team have been absolutely blown away by the sheer success of Just Write For Kids’ first writing competition! The judges particularly made note of the wide variety and quality of entries, submitted by many talented writers across a range of genres from picture books, junior fiction to young adult. We had […]

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Pitch It Competition

Just Write For Kids Competition – Pitch It! Just Write For Kids is very excited to announce the very first writing competition; Pitch It! If you’re like most writers, you’re probably itching for the chance to skip the slush pile and get your manuscript directly on the desk a publishing editor. I’ll bet you also […]

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The Business of Writing: How to be an Authorpreneur

For many of creative people, it is difficult to take off the ‘creative hat’, so to speak, and put on the ‘business hat’. However, in this day and age of living in a noisy and busy world it is vital. Allison Tait interviewed Hazel Edwards in 2013 about the business of writing in her blog […]

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A Publisher’s Perspective by Dianne Bates

Guest Post by Dianne Bates Publisher, editor, author and Lady Cutler Prize award-winner, Dianne Bates, has so generously shared her insider knowledge on what’s hot, and what’s not, from a publisher’s perspective. A fascinating account! Thanks so much, Di! 😊 ———————————— In 2016, I established a children’s book imprint, About Kids Books publishing junior novels for […]

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Working with an Awesome Publisher

Guest Post By Dianne (Di) Bates Dianne (Di) Bates, award-winning author of over 120 books for children, recipient of The Lady Cutler Award 2008, and founder of the popular Buzz Words e-zine, reflects on her most recent publishing experience with Big Sky Publishing. Working with Australian publisher Big Sky Publishing to produce my two latest books, […]

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