There were a lot more than 13, but, uh, well . . . I’m on this 13-thing, so I’ll stick with it and only choose those tips I think were hot.

1. Betsy Birney on school visits: Be sure students are prepped for your visit. Nothing worse than to arrive in front of a classroom filled with kids who don’t who you are or anything about your book(s).

2. Another Betsy Birney tip: If possible make sure the teacher and the librarian are looking forward to your visit. Avoid interesting complications.

3. Elizabeth Law likes funny MG fiction.

4. Buy a Flip Video to use at all your events.

5. Jenn Bailey Frames and Flash are super, but right now they won’t go to Mobil Me.

6. Fill in you profile on Twitter–completely. (Oops! Gotta make a note to do that.)

7. Wendy Loggia won’t take a chance on debut author with good writing, but poor story development.

8. Keep your blogs up to date (look who’s talking), be yourself so your style shines through, and whatever you do be polite. Editors do Google you.

9. Michael Reisman: If you are optioned by a studio or production company be sure to get a lawyer who knows the movie/tv business. Those contracts are mine fields.

10. Read Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.

11. Kathleen Duey: ASAP after a conference write a note on each business card you collected that will recall that person.

The next two are from me.

12. Eat at least one dinner at Sugar Rock Restaurant near the Hyatt Regency. (Thanks to Cindy Pon for making those plans!)

13.  Before a conference book a round trip on SuperShuttle. They know their way around the freeway (aka The Sargasso Sea), drop you at your Airline in plenty of time, and cost a fraction of a cab.

Since this is such a small sampling of great conference tips, I hope others will add to my short list.

About The Author

A native Californian, C. Lee McKenzie has always been a writer, but to eat and make contributions to children's college funds, she's also been a university lecturer and administrator. Lee's written and published non-fiction articles, both in her field of Linguistics and Inter-cultural Communication, and in general readership magazines. For five years Lee wrote, edited, and published a newsletter for U.S. university professors who were managing global classroom issues.  Read more about C. Lee McKenzie.

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