Three Reasons To Volunteer for the MRA Annual Conference: March 17 - 20

Did you know that volunteering for an event such as the Michigan Reading Association's Annual Conference, being held at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids could be one of the best investments in your publishing career? Well, it’s true. Whether you're pre-published or have a bazillion books under your belt, participating in an event such as this can have a long-term positive impact on your marketing efforts. Let me tell you why.

• Your Target Audience: The term “target audience” is a marketing term referencing the people that are most likely to be interested in a product or service – your books! The MRA membership is composed of teachers and librarians from all over the great State of Michigan. Friends, these lovely people are your target audience! They’re gatekeepers! And, by participating in the event in a genuine and authentically helpful way, these educators will have an opportunity to get to know you, whether you are pre-published or not.

  

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  Relationship Marketing: Publishing guru Tim Grahl has revised the definition of marketing as being, “The act of building long-lasting connections with people.” Oftentimes, these long-lasting connections develop into relationships, friendships that develop over a space of time. Tim says, “The more long-lasting connections you make with readers, the more books you will sell in a natural manner that reflects genuine connection rather than shady salesmanship” (YOUR FIRST 1000 COPIES, pg. 9). And how will you initiate such long-lasting connections? By volunteering at the MRA conference. That’s how.

• Community Building: The word “community” is defined as a feeling of fellowship with others through the sharing of common attitudes, interest, and goals. The MRA believes that literacy is essential to success in life and that freedom to read is essential to our democracy. They are dedicated to making a difference in students’ lives by offering ongoing, sustainable professional development to the educators in Michigan.  Well, I share those common attitudes, interests, and goals. Don’t you? The good folks at the Michigan Reading Association are my kind of people. I’ll bet they’re yours, also.

If you are in the Grand Rapids area and desire to engage in a community building relationship marketing opportunity with your target audience, join me at the MRA Annual Conference being held at the Devos Center from Friday, March 17 to Monday, March 20. They need our help to make the event a grand success. Let’s be there for them.

If you’re interested, shoot me a note at debbadee5@gmail.com.  There is no cost to participate and the benefits are insurmountable!

Hope to see you in Grand Rapids!

Children's author, career educator & Pinterest marketing specialist, Debbie Gonzales is the founder of Pin Lit Marketing, a boutique Pinterest marketing agency for book sellers & creators. Deb is the author of a collection of early readers and the nonfiction picture book GIRLS WITH GUTS: THE ROAD TO BREAKING BARRIERS AND BASHING RECORDS. She’s the host & creator of Guides by Deb, a website consisting of over 300 standards-aligned educator guides for all genres. Learn more about Deb at debbiegonzales.com or guidesbydeb.com.

Book Awards from the Mitten State by Kristin Bartley Lenz

Earlier this year, I was honored to learn that my YA novel, THE ART OF HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO, was selected for the 2017-2018 Great Lakes Great Books state-wide literature program. And I was delighted to see that several of our SCBWI-MI members have books for younger readers on this list. Looking at you, Lisa Wheeler (DINO-RACING), Laurie Keller (WE ARE GROWING), Alison DeCamp (MY NEAR-DEATH ADVENTURES), and many more from previous years!

I had assumed the Great Lakes Great Books (GLGB) program was only for Michigan authors, but I was surprised to see authors from all around the country on the lists. And I soon discovered that booksellers and librarians often confused the program with other similarly named awards, such as Great Lakes Great Reads and the Great Michigan Read. Curious to learn more, I reached out to the GLGB co-chairs from the Michigan Reading Association. They were happy to answer my questions. Introducing Trish Sippola and Lynette Suckow!

Tell us a little about yourself. What and where do you teach and how did you become co-chairs of the Great Lakes Great Books Program?

Trish Sippola - I'm a 3rd Grade Teacher at Birchview Elementary in Ishpeming, MI. This is my second year as co-chair on GLGB. I first came on the GLGB committee 4 years ago and was also involved in the Michigan Reading Association which is how I got involved in the committee.

Lynette Suckow - Even though I now work as a reference librarian at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette, MI, my background is in elementary education and children’s literature. I became the GLGB Award committee chair 10 years ago and have been a committee member even longer. Trish, who is also passionate about books, became a co-chair so we could move the committee in a new direction and make it more relevant to new teachers.

There are several award programs with similar names - Great Lakes Great Reads from the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association and Great Michigan Read from the Michigan Humanities Council. Tell us about MRA's Great Lakes Great Books program and how it differs.

Great Lakes Great Books has been around for the past 30 years. We are one of two Michigan Reading Association committees to directly involve students in the reading process. Our mission is to share current literature recommendations with classroom educators. The books on the GLGB list provide interesting stories for grades K-12 and have to be less than two years old. The second part of student participation is to allow them to vote on their favorite book from the list. This is where the “award” part comes in, as a winner is chosen in each age category based on popular vote.

The 2017 Michigan Reads title by SCBWI-MI member Lisa Wheeler 

We differ from the Great Michigan Read program from the Michigan Humanities Council, which features an array of programming around a single adult or YA title every other year, and from Michigan Reads! One Book One State Children’s Book Program from the State of Michigan, which chooses a single title annually to be used in schools, libraries, Head Start programs, and Great Start collaboratives.

The Great Lakes Great Reads list from the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association is an excellent, but short list of recommended titles for all ages of readers. Great Lakes Great Books suggests 40 titles in five age levels for reading with students. We hope the similarity of names doesn’t diminish the separate goals of each literacy committee.

SCBWI-MI member Jack Cheng's middle grade novel was chosen for the 2017 Great Lakes Great Reads list.

Do you read all of the nominated titles? How do you choose the final 8 titles in each age category?

We have a committee this year of 11 readers from schools and libraries from across the state who read throughout the year and add our favorites onto a list for each other to read. Some of us specialize in certain grade-levels so we may not all be reading all of the books K-12, but there are a few of us who do.  We hold a meeting in January to go over our list from the year, keeping in mind to choose fiction, non-fiction, illustrated, culturally diverse, well-written books. We bring our top 2 favorites from each grade-level category to the table to discuss, and from there we end up choosing the final 8 for each category.  Since we have members from far and near, some join in electronically.

How do students find out about the selected titles and award winners?

The MRA website has a downloadable packet of election information, along with grade level bookmarks, participation certificate, and a nomination form for suggesting future GLGB titles. We also have beautiful GLGB posters published by PermaBound Books for classrooms and libraries which are available at all MRA conferences and board meetings. We’re working to get an electronic version of that poster on our webpage. The winning book titles are announced in March at the annual MRA Conference. Additionally, when a classroom sends in their votes, we will email them back with the final award winners long before they are publicly announced.

Anything else you'd like us to know about GLGB?

Great Lakes Great Books Award committee work is a labor of love.  Members have a passion for books that blinds them to fact that they spend a whole year reading and evaluating new publications.  The effort pays off when Michigan students are treated to some of the best literature of the year.  It also keeps teachers aware of which books are currently available for enriching their classroom libraries. GLGB is definitely great!

Thanks for your time, Trish and Lynette! There's still time for students in all grades to vote for their favorite book. To see the list of 2016-2017 winners, the nominated titles for 2017-2018, and student ballot forms, go here. Students have until January 25th to submit their vote. And I just realized that today is the last day to nominate a title for the 2018-2019 award! That form is also included in this packet.

The 2017-2018 Great Lakes Great Books Award winners will be announced at the Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference, March 17-19, 2018 in Detroit. Will you be there?

And I'm sure there are even more Michigan book awards that I've overlooked in this post. Please let us know in the comments, so we can check them out.

Coming up on the Mitten blog: Vacation! Happy holidays from the SCBWI-MI blog team! We'll return in January to kick off the new year with Nina Goebel introducing our new Featured Illustrator. Followed by Patti Richards trumpeting your good news in our Hugs and Hurrahs. Please email Patti your writing/illustrating/publishing good news by Monday, January 8th, to be included. Finally, don't be surprised if you hear from Charlie Barshaw - he's planning our 2018 Writer Spotlights - it could be you!

Our SCBWI-MI chapter volunteers are busy planning 2018 events and more. Here's a sneak peek:

Attention Novelists!

SCBWI-MI is happy to help you with your New Year’s Resolutions

Resolution 1: Figure out your membership status. (This is easier than it sounds.)

If you are pre-published, you are an associate member.

If you are published, it depends on the publisher.

If your publisher is on this list of traditional publishers, you are a PAL member.

If your publisher is not on that list, you are a full member.

To check your official membership status, go to www.scbwi.org and click the Member Search box at the top right hand corner. Enter your name to look yourself up. If your listed membership status is not correct, contact SCBWI by email and explain the situation.

Resolution 2: Finish a draft of your novel. (This is as difficult as it sounds, but you can do it.)

Resolution 3: Apply for one of the SCBWI-MI Novel Mentorships (This is really easy.)

The submission window for the PAL mentorship with Leslie Connor is in April 2018.

The submission window for the non-PAL mentorship with Kelly Barson is June 2018.

The submission instructions will be posted on the SCBWI-MI website. You’ll need to submit 10 pages and a synopsis.

Make sure you apply for the correct mentorship! SCBWI-MI can do wondrous things, but we cannot yet turn back time – if you miss your submission window.

For questions, contact SCBWI-MI Mentorship Coordinator, Ann Finkelstein.

See you in the new year!
Kristin Lenz

Making the Rounds at MRA by Barbara Rebbeck

I park my car in the Washington lot at Cobo Hall and begin the trek, and I mean trek, across the first floor to register as a featured speaker for the MRA Conference in Detroit. I am a Reading All-Star, here to present the story of my journey from classroom teacher to author of my YA novel, NOLA Gals. My trek is interrupted constantly by teens also here for a cheerleading competition. They cavort and leap and shout in their skimpy costumes, waiting to be called to perform. I pray for that kind of energy as I trudge, loaded down with equipment and books.

I reach Room 140A, almost to the Detroit River and am warmly greeted and given instructions how to get back to the room I will present in. You guessed it. It is all the way back, almost to the parking lot. But determined, I cross through the cheering girls again, up two escalators and see my room at last. I set up my equipment and finish just as a techie arrives to help. All is well. The audience arrives and I begin. A very small audience as I have drawn the 4 p.m. crowd, the Happy-Hour yawners. But they are attentive, and one man is interested in having his community theater support a play adaptation of my novel. That could work.

The next morning I am back very early for a book-signing in the Grand Ballroom Book Exhibit. Four of us have drawn this too-early 8 a.m. slot so we amuse ourselves by swapping stories and travel tales as few signatures are needed.

Next up is the Author Breakfast. Early enthusiastic literary fans await. Besides myself, author Jan Cheripko sits at my table. We talk books over breakfast with our teachers and then stand as each author is introduced one by one. The most authors ever they say are here.  Each teacher receives a signed copy of our table books, and we pose for photos. It is fun to feel the excitement teachers have to be around so many authors. And they are even happier to learn I will visit their schools for free!

The General Session speaker is Matt De La Pena who recently won the Newbery Award for his picture book, Last Stop on Market Street. He speaks very movingly about the power of literacy and creativity in the lives of children and young adults, especially those “on the wrong side of the tracks.”

At 3 p.m. I’m up to speak again and once again I find my room, a different one, way across the center. This is a huge place. More cheerleaders, three teens who boom rap music, clearing the way around them, and two escalator rides later, I find the room and set up. I have revised for this presentation, mostly so I could cut the equipment for the long walk. I have twice as many people today and will be formally introduced by a board member. The book exhibit is now closed, and I have also toted copies of my book that failed to sell there. I have been told to sell them myself at this session. Again, I make my offer to work in schools and teachers take my card.

All in all, it was an honor to be a part of the celebration of the MRA’s 60^th anniversary.

Barbara J. Rebbeck is the author of the YA novel, NOLA Gals which has been recognized as a finalist for the IAN Award, a semi-finalist for the Kindle Book Award, and is now shortlisted for the Drunken Druid Award. (Honest! It’s an Irish award.) She is writer-in-residence for both Waterford Schools and the Beverly Hills Academy. Learn more at www.nolagals.com

Mark your calendars! Barb will be at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor on June 11th, 3:00pm.

All about MRA: Michigan Reading Association

MRA isn’t just for Educators…

Have you heard of Great Lakes, Great Books? Kaleidoscope? MRJ? News & Views? Gwen Frostic Award? If these sound familiar, then you are probably a Michigan Reading Association Member.

Michigan Reading Association (MRA) is an affiliate of the International Literacy Association, and an organization whose mission is to promote literacy across Michigan. As an educator, I have been familiar with MRA’s publications and conferences for years. Michigan Reading Journal has been a staple in educational institutions since 1967 and News & Views on Reading has kept members current with trends in the field. I love reading the journal to keep informed of research, learn tips for improving my craft, and to read reviews on newly published books. There is a wide spectrum of topics and issues in reading, language arts, and literature, and preschool - adult levels included in publications. MRA also hosts the Kaleidoscope Writing Contest for K-12 students. Nominated students are honored at MRA’s State Conference with a celebration hosted by Michigan authors and illustrators.

But is wasn’t until I entered the world of children’s book writing myself, that I fully understood the benefit of an MRA membership. While I was conducting an author visit, a teacher asked if my publications were on MRA’s Great Lakes, Great Books list. Great Lakes, Great Books is an opportunity for kids in Michigan to vote on their favorite books and many SBCWI members have been nominated.

Later that same year, I was invited to speak at the MRA’s Summer Literature Conference as a guest author. Not only did my book get in the hands of more teachers, but I also met great authors like Ryan Hipp, who ironically talked me into an SCBWI membership.

Since that summer weekend, I have enjoyed memberships with two powerhouse reading organizations! I not only attend SCBWI conferences and webinars, but I now participate on the MRA Board. I have learned that being a part of both organizations has expanded my circle of book friends and has helped with my goal of supporting literacy in Michigan! 

Click here to see the poster and conference info.

Many other SCBWI members join me in this dual membership. Take Ruth McNally Barshaw and Matt Faulkner, for example, who were invited to create MRA’s 2015 Annual Conference poster. 

They did an incredible job and now their artwork is highlighted in nearly every school and library in our state! 

MRA is humbled by the work of Michigan authors and illustrators. Each year, MRA recognizes one special individual with the Gwen Frostic Award. This honor recognizes the literacy contributions of a Michigan author or illustrator. Past winners include:

 2009 – Shirley Nietzel - author

 2010 - Patricia Polacco – author/ illustrator

2011 - Margaret Willey - author, folklorist, and novelist

2012 - Ryan Hipp – author/illustrator 

2013 - Gary Schmidt - author

2014 - Kelly DiPucchio – author

2015- TBA – Could this be you?

There are countless reasons why I choose to be involved with both organizations. I love to communicate with those in the education field, as well as professional writers and illustrators! Many SCBWI-MI friends will be joining MRA as speakers and guests at future events and conferences. If you are interested in learning more about MRA, please feel free to visit michiganreading.org or contact me at iheartwritingbooks@yahoo.com.

As a Language Arts Consultant for Macomb Intermediate School District, Dr. Lisa Rivard is passionate about literacy in our state and enjoys reading children’s literature. She tries to carve out time for her own writing adventures but is also busy planning MRA’s 59^th Annual Conference in March, 2015 and will lead the MRA organization as President in 2016. She loves to spend spare time walking along the St Clair River where she resides and operates a Little Free Library in her front yard.