Good groups to join?

KimJo · Aug 3, 2009

Hello, all. I've been a member here at AW for a few years, though some of them were spent lurking and in other pursuits. I've learned a lot here, and forgotten half of it. lol.

For the past year or so, I've focused on the romance I write, where I've had a few publications, but before I started on that, I wrote young adult fantasy. I have forty manuscripts on a shelf beside my computer, and it was the YA writing that first led me to AbsoluteWrite.

Over the weekend, after years of trying to decide where to submit and finally figuring it out, I received my first acceptance for one of my YA novels. Since I've been focused more on the romance lately, I find that I'm at a bit of a loss as to groups, Yahoo loops, and so forth to join where I can connect with other YA writers and readers. I am a member of SCBWI, and I really need to poke around their site more thorougly, but I was wondering if anyone here belongs to a writers' or readers' group they would recommend? Thanks for your help. (After work, I'll be combing through this YA board more as well.)

Momento Mori · Aug 3, 2009

KimJo:
Over the weekend, after years of trying to decide where to submit and finally figuring it out, I received my first acceptance for one of my YA novels.

Congratulations, KimJo! That's brilliant news!

KimJo:
Since I've been focused more on the romance lately, I find that I'm at a bit of a loss as to groups, Yahoo loops, and so forth to join where I can connect with other YA writers and readers.

The main website I'd recommend is the Verla Kaye boards here, which aren't quite as active as AW, but which do have a lot of people who are enthusiastic about YA fiction and there are forums there for discussing different genres and issues so there's always something to check out.

There are also a number of communities on Livejournal if you've got a blog there. I'd recommend yalitlovers, yaauthors, fangs_fur_fey (which is a fantasy group but has a lot of YA authors - if you've got a verifiable book deal then you can apply to the mods for posting access) and teenliterature.

MM

Mumut · Aug 3, 2009

Congratulations from another YA fantasy writer. I'll be interested in all the info you receive for this post. Is SCBWI worth belonging to? I'm hoping to visit US/Canada next year. Would it be an advntage being a memeber?

Thanks.

Momento Mori · Aug 3, 2009

Mumut:
Is SCBWI worth belonging to?

:jumps in:

I belong to the British chapter and I've found it invaluable. Much depends on how active your local chapter is (they've got them all around the world) and how plugged in they are to the local YA publishing scene. The British chapter sub-divides into regions, but all have active socialising/networking meet-ups (at least every couple of months) and some run professional series talks where they get illustrators, writers, publishers and agents in to talk about the market and what they do.

To keep up the plug

, the British chapter also does a writing retreat and a conference every year, which have excellent guests.

As regards the US, I know a couple of people who've been the US SCBWI conventions in LA and New York and they've found the experience invaluable in terms of the quality of panels - not least because I think they include pitch sessions.

MM

KimJo · Aug 4, 2009

Thanks for the congratulations and the tip, Momento

Verla Kay's was one of the boards I belonged to before, so I know it's definitely worth re-joining. There's a lot of great information and great people there. I'm not on Livejournal; on my romance author persona's website, I have my own blog, and I plan to set up a blog on my YA author website as well, as soon as I figure out how to set up the site... But I'll check out Livejournal if there are such good groups there. I tried to find Yahoo groups, but other than one to which I already belong, there didn't seem to be much that wasn't either geography-specific or small crit groups, neither of which is quite what I'm looking for.

Thanks, Mumut

I'd say SCBWI is definitely worth joining. In addition to the conventions Momento mentions, they have publications available to their members, including a market list, at least in the US, and I know of some publishers who will only take submissions from agents and SCBWI members, and some agents who will only take submissions from SCBWI members. In the US, there are smaller, regional chapters of SCBWI that hold their own gatherings separate from the national conventions; some regionals are more active than others, but it still provides an opportunity to connect face-to-face with other children's/YA authors.

Harper K · Aug 4, 2009

Congrats on the YA acceptance!

There's a Yahoo group I know of called "teenlitauthors." (Search for "yahoo teenlitauthors" and you should be able to find it.) I haven't joined it 'cause I'm a total blog / forum addict and the last thing I need is another group to read

, but I hear it's quite good. There's also the "child_lit" listserv, which is run through a university. It's for academic-type discussion of children's and YA literature. I subscribe to the daily digests for it (so I just get one e-mail every day with all the day's posts), and it's pretty informative (although it was a little hard to follow at first).

SCBWI.org has its own discussion boards. I've not visited them, despite being a member for a couple years now, but I hear they're especially good for people seeking to learn about children's and YA lit for the first time. And I echo what MM said about the use of SCBWI -- an active local chapter makes all the difference. Your local chapter should have its own website and newsletter, and from there you should be able to tell how many meetups they have per year. My local chapter (Southern Breeze -- GA, AL, MS) has two annual conferences and then a few "schmoozes" in various cities.

I'm going to the national conference in LA for the first time (leaving this Thursday! I'm so excited). The schedule is PACKED with A-list people. Plus, a lot of published authors come to chat and network. I think a lot of the draw for this conference (vs. the NYC national conference, held in January) is that most of the conference-goers stay in the same hotel, so there's more of a chance of running into an editor, agent, or Newbery-winning author in the bar or the elevator.

KimJo · Aug 5, 2009

Thanks for the Yahoo group suggestion, Satori

I know SCBWI has a message board, but I never remember to go there... I belong to enough Yahoo groups that I check my Y mail frequently, so if I join groups there I know I'll remember to participate in the discussions. lol

How exciting that you get to go to the conference! I went to a New England regional conference a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. I hope you have a wonderful time and rub elbows with plenty of great people.

Wark · Aug 5, 2009

I'm part of Critters.org which is only for beta readers and critiques. It can take a month to get your story up, but it'll get critiqued. Though, in my opinion, some of the people there are as smart as a bucket of hair.

And, OMG, the writing, tragic. I have to pick and choose what I'll read. I've had some good ones but most are poorly written urban fantasy excrement or worse, what someone thinks it horror. Hell, I'm writing a romance with gore.

But, I'm not leaving there.

Tuuli · Aug 5, 2009

I'm also a member of SCBWI. I haven't checked out the boards for a while since I found the ones here to be more useful, but there is some other good info to be found on the site if you're a member.

Well I better go pack now since I'm heading off to LA tomorrow morning for the annual SCBWI summer conference. Lots of fantastic stuff for the YA writer at this year's.

SanStormin · Aug 10, 2009

Congrats, KimJo! :snoopy:

I'd recommend GoodReads "Writers Who Write" for several reasons.
There are lots of teenage writers online every day, and you get great feedback for your work. Also, there are fine critiquers who will review your work thoroughly. If you want strictly Teen input, there's "Writing Passionates"

The other GoodReads some like is "Paranormal Romance Writers", which is a very active group.

On both, you have the option to get email updates on posts.
--S.S.

KimJo · Aug 11, 2009

Thanks, SanStormin

Goodreads, huh? I'd checked them out at one point, but couldn't find any groups; it was all about choosing your favorite books and pushing them on others. But I admit I was a little turned off by that aspect and didn't thoroughly explore the site. I'll give it a closer look.

I'm not looking for critiques, though. I'm looking for places like this, where I can interact with other authors- and with potential readers!- and be able to promote my work, possibly, at least once I become a known member who proves that she doesn't only belong to the group for the purposes of "drive-by promos". In the Yahoo groups for romance and erotic romance that I belong to, they often have a weekly "promo day", as well as having general conversation whether it's writing-related or not; that's the kind of thing I'm looking to join for the YA as well.

I've been trying to remember... at one point a couple years back, I found a website/blog sort of thing that reviewed YA and interviewed YA authors, and other than the fact that it had "YA" in the name, I can't recall what it was.

Good groups to join?

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

Momento Mori

Tired and Disillusioned

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Harper K

here's to the girl on the go

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Wark

Mark Brockman

Tuuli

Research Addict

SanStormin

In the ozone

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves