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Sara Sargent is an executive editor at HarperCollins Children's Books. She publishes fiction and nonfiction in our three main categories, PB, MG, and YA. She talked to us about publishing poetry for teens today, a subject that doesn't get a lot of coverage at SCBWI conferences. She started by showing us this wonderful poem by Sarah Kay: And she recommended the books of Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace . And we talked about reasons for writing poetry: for its powerful compression, for its shareability, for its suitability to a culture with brief attention, and for the way it makes readers feel seen. Hip hop music and poetry are similar art forms. Teens sometimes don't think of poetry as music and music as poetry. Sara advised we dip our toes into hiphop, for example the work of Kendrick Lamar. To get teens excited about poetry, you have to make it about them. This is when they are exploring their identities, present and future, and what their place in the world is. SUBJECT MAT...

Amanda Maciel is the executive editor at Scholastic, specializing in commercial fiction. Her projects include the New York Times best-selling Wings of Fire series, the acclaimed graphic novel The Witch Boy , and the Enchanted Pony Academy chapter book series. She is also the author of two YA novels, Tease and Lucky Girl . When considering a manuscript, what makes you stop reading? What makes you want to keep reading?  A manuscript that is too general, too market researched will stop her from reading. She wants someone who knows where the market is, but is bringing his/her own voice to it. Amanda wants an authorial voice that translates through a narrator. Anything you're seeing too much of? Or something you can't get enough of? There has been a lot geared toward STEM and high concepts for girls, but not done in organic way, instead it feels like it's trying to teach and not provide good story. Where do you see the greatest areas of weakness? A story that isn...

Elizabeth Law Elizabeth Law is an editor at Holiday House who specializes in mining their backlist and acquiring middle grade fiction. She has worked in children’s and young adult publishing for thirty years, including most recently as publisher of Egmont USA and as a freelance book doctor and editor at ElawReads. Elizabeth was previously associate publisher at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and Viking Children’s Books. She has edited and published every genre from picture book through nonfiction and YA and new adult. Some of the many authors and artists Elizabeth has worked with include Dan Gutman, Andrew Clements, Michael Grant, Tony diTerlizzi, G. Brian Karas, Holly Black, and the estates of Ludwig Bemelmans and Don Freeman. Check out Elizabeth’s blog at Elawreads.com and follow her on Twitter @Elawreads. Highlights of what Elizabeth shared: When reading a submitted manuscript, to consider it for acquisitions: "I have to bond with that character... It's the...