This week's chat with the Pro's- Paths to Publication

Week 3 (March 21)- Path to Publication  with the Pros

Deborah Kovacs - @DeborahKovacs
Deborah Kovacs is a senior vice president and editorial director of Walden Pond Press at Walden Media, where she has been overseeing publishing activities since 2001, working first with Penguin and now with HarperCollins to publish dozens of major middle-grade novels. Previously, she edited Sesame Street magazine, wrote more than thirty books, and produced software for kids. 

Kevin Emerson - @kcemerson
Kevin Emerson has never been abducted by aliens, at least not that he remembers. He has been to Roswell, but all he found there was a cool key chain. Kevin is the author of a number of books for young readers, including the Oliver Nocturne series, Carlos Is Gonna Get It, and The Lost Code: Book One of the Atlanteans. Many of his characters have been inspired by his classroom teaching experiences in Boston and Seattle. Kevin is also a musician. His current project is the brainiac kids’ pop band the Board of Education. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children. You can visit him online at www.kevinemerson.net or tweet with him at @kcemerson.
 

Zareen Jaffrey - @ZareenJaffrey

Zareen joined Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers in February 2011, where she focuses on commercial and literary young adult and middle grade fiction. Her current list at Books for Young Readers includes New York Times bestselling authors Hilary Duff and Tonya Hurley, as well as a fabulous new series by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. Prior to Simon and Schuster, Zareen worked at HarperCollins Children’s Books editing bestselling novelists Lauren Conrad, Jodi Lynn Anderson, LJ Smith, and Claudia Gray. Zareen is a graduate of New York University.

Claire LeGrand - @ClaireLeGrand

Claire is a Texan living in New Jersey with a dragon and two cats. She writes fantastical stories, and her daemon is an ocelot but sometimes a unicorn. When presented with the choice to high five or not to high five, she will always choose TO HIGH FIVE. Her first novel, THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, due out August 28, 2012 from Simon & Schuster BFYR, will probably give you nightmares. Or at the very least make you buy a nightlight. Her second novel, THE YEAR OF SHADOWS, due out August 27, 2013, also from S&S, involves several ghosts, a girl who lives in a haunted music hall, and a rather insouciant cat. Her third novel, WINTERSPELL, due out in Fall 2014, also from S&S, is a young adult retelling of The Nutcracker, full of faeries, bloody swordfights, and forbidden romance.