What's happening at the SCBWI Conference?

With an excellent range of topics, this Conference session is going to be lively and informative.  
What Makes a Best Seller?
Creating a best seller in today’s competitive market ... what are the ingredients? What
makes a series succeed? What does a mass market publisher look for? What are the different
elements for success in picture books, children’s and young adult literature?

Date: Saturday June 30 Time: 3-3:45
Speakers: Katrina Germein, Meredith Costain, Chris Kunz and Deborah Abela (participating
chair). 
 

Katrina Germein is a picture book author who writes stories that delight readers of all
ages. Her first book, Big Rain Coming, is an Australian best seller and remains in print
around the world more than a decade since its release. Katrina has won Notable Book
Commendations from the Children's Book Council of Australia and in 2011 her book My Dad
Thinks He's Funny was Highly Commended in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
Katrina's latest story, Somebody's House, will be published by Walker Books
Australia in 2013. Aside from writing, sunshine makes Katrina happy and so does swimming in
the sea with her three children.
 

Meredith Costain is a versatile writer whose work ranges from picture books through to
'tween' fiction and narrative non‐fiction. Her books include Bed Tails, the Year
in Girl Hell series and Musical Harriet, which was adapted for television by the ABC.
Doodledum Dancing, illustrated by Pamela Allen, was an Honour Book in the CBCA awards.
Meredith lives in inner-city Melbourne with a menagerie of pets who frequently wrangle their
way into her stories. Her latest books Everything to Lose and Catch Me If I Fall are
novelisations of the ABC TV series Dance Academy.

 
Chris Kunz is an Associate Publisher of Children's and YA Books at Random House
Australia. She has created the Bindi Wildlife Adventures series and the RSPCA Animal Tales
series as well as looking after some wonderfully talented Random House authors including
Jacqueline Harvey, R.A. Spratt and Martin Chatterton. Before books took over her life, Chris
script-edited and wrote for children's television, working with the BBC, Southern Star
and Wark Clements. She has a Masters Degree in Theatre Studies.
 

Deborah Abela is short and not very brave which may go some way to explaining why she writes
books about spies, ghosts, soccer legends and children living in a flooded city battling sea
monsters and sneaker waves. She is a best selling author of the hugely popular Max Remy
series and her latest book is, Ghost Club: The New Kid, and is the first in a new series.
She is an ambassador for the National Year of Reading and the Premier's Reading
Challenge. She's won many awards for her books including the 2012 USBBY Outstanding
International Book Award, USA, shortlisted for the KOALA, YABBA, Aurealis & the Speech
Pathology awards, but mostly she hopes to be as brave as the characters inside her books.