Tonight I’m giving my SiWC presentation — The Changing Landscape of Children’s Books — to a group of writers and illustrators from CWILL BC. And while this is a more experienced group than my previous audience, meaning some of the graphic novel and app info will be better known, I still think many of us have a long way to go toward incorporating our knowledge of new markets into our book ideas and proposals.

Because publishers are facing tighter markets, and because we’re all exploring formats (formats so new there are really no “experts” to guide us), there are plenty of things we can explore when planning projects:

• the competition: what similar books are doing well, and how is my book going to stand out?
• new platforms: how easily could this book become an e-book, and what apps would tie in? What would the website design look like, and what contests would work?
• connections: what related organizations, industry connections, or on-line communities could help this project succeed?
• educational market: what are the curriculum tie-ins, what teacher’s guide can I design, and who are my contacts in the educational world?
• personal branding: what sparkling personality traits do I have on display via Twitter, blog, newsletter, or traditional newspaper/magazine column, and how can I use those to draw a bigger audience for my book?

So that’s what I’m going to talk about tonight. Except, hopefully with more funny stuff thrown in.