As promised, here’s some of what Amalia Ellison had to say at SCBWI LA ’08.

Amalia is young and she’s an assistant editor. She wanted to tell us why that was a good thing and how she could benefit us.

She is autonomous (at Abram’s Amulet Books, where she works now) and she acquires just as many books as anyone.

Abram’s is a mid-sized publisher in regards to the number of books they publish each year. But it’s a small publishers in terms of employees. They have only 80 employees, five in children’s books. Amalia is Amulet—all submissions go to her.

And the five people at Amulet do the same amount of work as a house with sixteen employees. So they are working hard and there is a slow response time.

The best bet in submitting is to submit to the bottom of the ladder because those on the bottom are so dedicated and so hungry. It’s also good to direct your submissions toward someone who loves what you love. It’s harder to target young assistant editors, but it’s worth the risk.

She says:

• “I have the energy to devote to you, if you have a kernel of talent.”
• “We see you as the golden ticket. When we take a first-time writer, we have something to prove. We want to show that we can spot potential and we can mold it.”

She likes:

• The Unknowns was her first big acquisition (six figure multi-book deal).
• books that will cross-over (to adult readers) such as The Book Thief, His Dark Materials, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
• PB’s that are funny, unique, and clever.
• MGs. She’s a huge fan and will take almost anything. She thinks that is a magical time in reading. It’s a formative time in life. She’ll look at all genres. She’d love to see a funny mystery MG.
• YAs with a sense of humor. A lot of teen books are angst-filled. That’s not her cup of tea. She’s very picky when it comes to YA.
• Mystery, fantastic language, quirky, and a little left of mainstream—she looks for these elements.

She doesn’t like:

• Goblins and dragons—she loves fantasy, just not goblins and dragons.

Some favorites from childhood:

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
• The Westing Game
• Tuck Everlasting (the perfect book—you don’t have to dumb down your language or your sentences)
• Nancy Drew books
• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Holes
• Wayside School books
• Roald Dahl books

She closed with some figures on advances that I found very interesting, since almost no one likes to talk about money. She said an average advance for a first-time author is 10 to 15 thousand dollars. 7 thousand is low. If Amulet really feels committed they might go 20 thousand. If the author’s agent is a bad ass, they will go 25-30 thousand. Auctions go for more, obviously, and the publisher will take you for the lowest amount they can get away with.

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