SCBWI conference - Sydney

It certainly was a great conference, with lots and lots of authors talking (dinner each night was incredibly noisy!), meeting each other for the first time after being FB friends for ages, meeting publishers and editors who turned out to be completely human and nice (!), and plenty of information to send you home with your brain reeling. In Australia we tend to cross paths with each other in all sorts of places - above are two fellow authors that I've met in Canberra, in Sydney and online - Mo Johnson (L) and Tracey Hawkins.

This is Nette Hilton, whose latest book, The Innocents, was launched at the conference. Everyone who's read it says it's creepy (in an excellent way!).

And this is the line-up of publishers who shared with us all sorts of information about the process from submission to bookshop. I think the part that had most authors feeling a bit stunned (the "pre-published" ones anyway) was the list of things, in their own words below, that you must not do:
* do not ring/call me
* do not tell me everyone loves the manuscript
* do not tell me it will win awards
* do not send it to me if I don't publish that kind of book
* do not send me gifts of any kind!
* do not put stuff in your envelopes, like glitter, fairy stars or sand!
DO:
* read the submission guidelines and follow them
* your research so you know what I publish (one publisher said 95% of what she is sent is not what she publishes - that is astounding)
* send your best writing
* only send when the manuscript is REALLY ready - many people submit too soon (often sending what is really a first draft)

And the quote of the conference? From the lovely Susanne Gervay who had everyone in stitches: Plaigiarism is good because it guarantees good writing. (She really was joking!)