Run by Daisy Whitney at daisywhitney.com

The BookChick is pleased to welcome back correspondent Amanda Morgan, fresh from her coverage of the Society of Children Book Writers and Editors Mid-South Conference.

Etiquette.

We’re well-versed in it at dinners. (Keep your elbows off the table!  Don’t slurp!)  We know how to act at the office (Avoid water cool gossip and by all means don’t forward THAT email again!)  But how should one behave at a writers conference?

Fortunately, we’ve got Editor Etiquette 101–all of the dos and don’ts of getting an editor to notice you–and not because you’re slipping her a manuscript under the bathroom stall.

Kaylan Adair, Associate Editor Extraordinaire at Candlewick, conducted a breakout session on this inside info at the recent SCBWI Midsouth conference in Nashville, TN. Here are a few highlights:

• Talk to editors. Don’t be afraid to say hello! It doesn’t make you a crazed psycho to walk over and introduce yourself.

• Don’t pitch. Unless, at least, editors have a specific pitch session set up with you. Never pitch in a casual one-on-one conversation.

• Don’t hand an editor your manuscript. Do you really think they want to pay the fine for an overweight bag because they had to lug back 1,000 manuscript pages from overeager writers? No. Wait—some editors will be open to submissions from conference attendees.

• Don’t ask what editors really think of (insert famous title here). Don’t put an editor on the spot like that!

Want more? Attend a writers conference or visit our SCBWI Mid-South coverage for more highlights!