Color Me a Kidlit
      Writer
  • Home
  • About Me
  • My Books & Such
  • Clips
  • Blog
  • Credits

Introducing Sylvia Liu of KidLit411

1/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
(C) Carina Povarchik

Welcome, Sylvia!

Picture
​Hi Dionna! Thanks for having me!

​KidLit411 is such a wonderful resource for those trying to master the skill of writing for children! Do share how it came into being.
​

Five years ago, my critique partner, Elaine Kiely Kearns, had an idea to create a resource website for writers, to share articles on children’s writing and illustrating. I joined her effort and we created the website KidLit411.

Since then, your website has been named a best website for writers many times over! Congrats on that! Why do you think that is?

KidLit411 contains over thirty pages of writing and illustrating topics, from contests and awards to writing tips and agent submissions and many more. The pages include sixty to one hundred articles on each topic. We also interview at least one author or illustrator each week, featuring their recent books or work. Subscribers get a weekly update of all the new articles added to the website, about a dozen a week.

Since we began, we’ve featured over three hundred authors and illustrators in our Author and Illustrator Spotlights. Our website gets twenty-five thousand to thirty-five-thousand page-views a month! 

The best part of KidLit411 is the community of authors and illustrators we’ve connected with, both online and in real life. We run an active Facebook group of over 6,300 children’s writers and illustrators and two companion pages where people can find critique partners, the KidLit411 Manuscript Swap and the KidLit411 Portfolio Critique Swap. Every day, people ask and answer questions in our group on all sorts of topics, from self-publishing to querying to mentor texts and more.


Picture
www.KidLit411.com

Despite being a writer and illustrator yourself, why do you continue to spend your time keeping KidLit411 up and running?

Personally, running KidLit411 is very gratifying. Elaine and I work great together and have a system to keep the interviews and links coming every week. Although it does take work, I feel so connected to the kidlit community. A side benefit is that we’ve created a platform that helps our own author careers. While promoting other authors and illustrators, we develop great relationships and friendships with those who in turn help us when our books come out.

Why do you think KidLit411 has such a continued following?

We try to keep our community engaged. Most years, we run a multi-day book "birthday" bash giveaway, where we give away books, editor critiques, agent query passes, and writing and illustrating courses. This year we ran a contest for illustrators to help design our website banner and Facebook group cover photo. The top two winners got cash prizes, and the top ten are having their banners featured on our website over the course of the year. 

We always welcome kidlit peeps to join our Facebook group or follow our website and get connected. We can be reached at kidlit411 (at) kidlit411 (dot) com. Your blog readers are welcome to join us!

Thanks so much for the invitation, Sylvia, and for stopping by! It's been an honor hosting you!

The pleasure is all mine!
Picture
Sylvia Liu creates stuff, mostly for kids. She's inspired by aliens, robots, bunnies, cephalopods, and more. Her love for writing and art began while she was growing up in Venezuela. While working at her first career in environmental law at the U.S. Department of Justice and the non-profit group Oceana, she loved protecting the oceans. And now she loves writing and illustrating for kids just as much. Her 2016 picture book, A Morning with Grandpa, illustrated by Christina Forshay, was a  Lee & Low New Voices Award Winner! She also writes speculative middle-grade fiction, and is represented by Jennifer March Soloway at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Find Sylvia blogging at Sylvia Liu Land, and her amazing resource--listed by industry professionals like Writer's Digest, Feedspot, and Freewrite as one of the best websites for writers, consecutively for several years--at KidLit411.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dionna is a spinner of children's yarns, a weaver of nonfiction articles, and a forever-learner enrolled in the Institute of Imaginative Thinking. Her work has appeared in Ladybug, in online children's magazines, newsletters for writers, and in Charlottesville Family Magazine, a Parent's Choice winner. She's been an SCBWI Mid-Atlantic member since 2005, and the content editor of her region's SCBWI newsletter, the Highlighter, since 2017.


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    February 2015
    May 2014
    March 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Abrams Books For Young Readers
    Adriann Ranta Zurhellen
    Aladdin Pix
    Alexandra S.D. Hinrichs
    Alice Ratterree
    Amy Lee-Tai
    Andrea Brown Literary
    Angie Arnett
    Angie Miles
    Anna Staniszewski
    Anne Marie Pace
    Anne Moore Armstrong
    Arrows
    Ashley Spires
    Bagram Ibatoulline
    Barb Rosenstock
    Beach Lane Books
    Ben Franklin's Big Splash
    Blink YA Books
    Blog Hop
    Blog Parties
    Book Trailers
    Boyds Mills Press
    Brenda Woods
    Brian Rock
    Bright Literary Agency
    Brown Books For Young Readers
    Busy Eyed Day
    Busy-Eyed Day
    Calkin's Creek
    Candlewick Press
    Carina Povarchik
    Changes In Publishing
    Charlottesville Illustrator
    Chronicle Books
    Confetti Kids
    Coping Skills School-aged Children
    Coyote Moon
    Craft Of Storytelling
    Craft Of Writing
    Crenshaw
    Critiquing
    Crossover
    Cyndi Marko
    Daniel Bernstrom
    Daniel Nayeri
    Dave Mottram
    Deborah Prum
    Dish Up A Reading Delight
    Donna & Libby Farrell
    Don Tate
    Ebony Glenn
    Eerdmans Books For Young Readers
    Engaging The Audience
    Erica Perl
    Erin Murphy
    Erin Murphy Literary Agency
    Ethan Suspended
    Eucalyptus Tree
    Farrar Straus And Giroux
    Feiwel & Friends
    Foundry Literary + Media
    Four Beautiful Picture Book Biographies
    Fran Cannon Slayton
    Frann Preston Gannon
    Frann Preston-Gannon
    From My Notes
    Garvey's Choice
    Getty Publications
    Good Illustration Ltd.
    Grammar Tip
    Great Nocturnal Book For Kids
    Growing Up Pedro
    Hannah Barnaby
    HarperCollins
    Holly Webb
    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
    I Love My Library
    Interviews
    Jacques Kaufmann
    Jennifer Elvgren
    Jennifer Laughran
    Jen Shulman
    Jessica Sinsheimer
    Jewell Parker Rhodes
    John Parra
    Julia Kuo
    Julie Matysik
    Jump Back Paul
    Jumpy Jack & Googily
    Kara Reynolds
    Kar-Ben Publishing
    Karen Nagel
    Kate Testerman
    Katherine Applegate
    Kathleen Kellett
    Kathleen Rushall
    Kathryn Erskine
    Katrin Dreiling
    Kell Andrews
    KidLit411
    Kidlit Agent
    Kidlit Art Director
    Kidlit Artist
    Kidlit Author
    Kidlit Author & Illustrator
    KidLit C'Ville Blog Party
    Kidlit Editors
    Kids Can Press
    Kristen-Paige Madonia
    Kwame Alexander
    Ladybug Magazine
    Laura Lyn DiSiena
    Lee & Low Books
    Less Is More
    Lilliput
    Lily's New Home
    Linda Pratt
    Literary Agent Interviews
    Little
    Liza Wiemer
    Lois Sepahban
    London
    Lynne Chapman
    Making It (not Too) Personal Query Etiquette
    Marc Boston
    Marfe Delano
    Margaret Ferguson
    Margaret Ferguson Books
    Maria Gianferrari
    Marvelous Cornelius
    Marvelous Cornelius Blog Party
    Mary Amato
    Mary Rand Hess
    Maverick Children's Books
    Melissa Gorzelanczyk
    Melissa Manlove
    Michael J Rosen
    Middle-grade
    Moira Donohue
    Nancy Paulsen Books
    Nikki Grimes
    Olivia Hinebaugh
    One Day In The Eucalyptus
    One Good Deed
    Pam Ehrenberg
    Paper Wishes
    Paper Wishes Blog Party
    Paula Yoo
    Peachtree Publishers
    Personal Rejections
    Phil Bildner
    Picture Books
    PJ Books
    Planting Parsley
    Poet: Remarkable Story Of George Moses Horton
    POV
    Proofreading
    Queries
    Query Kombat
    Query Kombat 2018 Grand Champion
    Race Car Dreams Blog Party
    Random House/Delacorte
    Rejections
    Renee Graef
    Return To The Secret Garden
    Reviews
    Roberta Pressel
    Rosie McCormick
    Running Press
    Ryan Hayes
    Sairom Moon
    Sam Gayton
    Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency
    Sara Holmes
    SASE
    School Visits
    Scott DuBar
    S.D. Schindler
    Seth Fishman
    Sharon Chriscoe
    Shirley Ng-Benitez
    Short Pump Bump!
    Simon & Schuster
    Slush Piles
    SOLO
    Sourcebooks
    Spencer Hill Contemporary
    Spooky Cheetah Press
    Stan Fellows
    Stephanie Fitzgerald
    Susan Bartoletti
    Susan Batori
    Suzie Townsend
    Swenke Elementary Book Trailer Crew
    Sylvia Liu
    Tami Traylor
    Teresa Bonnadio
    Terrible Typhoid Mary
    Terri Fields
    The Amazing Age Of John Roy Lynch
    The Crossover Review
    The Most Magnificent Thing
    Therese Makes A Tapestry
    The Tale Of Rescue
    This Little Piggy: An Owner Manual
    This Little Piggy Has A Blog Party
    Tillmon County Fire
    Tips For Book Events
    Towers Falling
    Trombone Shorty
    Uwe Stender
    Virginia Festival Of The Book
    Want To Play?
    Wordsong
    Writing Advice
    Writing Process
    Writing Quotes
    Zoe In Wonderland