Carmela A. Martino

I'm in the process of revising this website and have decided to move the links to my TV, radio, and podcast interviews here. Unfortunately, direct links to some of the interviews are no longer available.

Podcast and radio interviews:  

• I was interviewed by Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson for her Author to Author program on WCAT radio in March 2024 about how I came to write Playing by Heart. You can hear our conversation here.
• In February 2024, I spoke with TK, host of the For the Love of History Podcast, about the real sisters who inspired my novel, Playing by Heart. You can listen to the interview here.
• I enjoyed a wide-ranging podcast discussion with Jayne de Sales on the July 26, 2022 episode of Tales with de Sales. Our topics included Jane Austen, the harpsichord, computer coding, care of the poor, and my novel Playing by Heart.
• I was interviewed by Antony Kolenc for The Shepherd's Pie podcast on Oct. 10, 2021. The topic was "Culture and Youth," and we discussed ways to help young people appreciate their own heritage and respect the culture of others.  
• I was interviewed for the Catholic Chicago radio program for a second time, on July 26, 2018, this time by Graziano Marcheschi. We discussed both Rosa, Sola and Playing by Heart. The direct link to the recoding is no longer available.
• Fellow author Amy Cattapan and I were interviewed for the Catholic Chicago radio program hosted by Fr. Greg Sakowicz, Rector of Holy Name Cathedral and Wayne Magdziarz, Senior Vice President at Loyola University Chicago on March 27, 2017. We discussed our books and the CatholicTeenBooks website for the first 30 minutes of the one-hour program. The direct link to the recoding is no longer available. 

TV interviews: 

• Author A.J. Cattapan interviewed me about my YA historical, Playing by Heart, for the Book.Ed program on Shalom World TV. The program includes a teen fan of Playing by Heart sharing her thoughts on the novel. You can watch the Book.Ed episode here.   
• EWTN Bookmark host Doug Keck interviewed me at the 2019 Catholic Marketing Nework convention after Playing by Heart won the 2018 Catholic Arts and Letters Award (CALA) for Children's/Young Adult fiction. You can watch the Bookmark interview here.

If you watch or listen to any of these interviews, do let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

      I'll be presenting a workshop on "Turning Life into Fiction" for the Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference later this month. In addition to Robin Hemley's writing book of the same name, I'll likely be mentioning the following texts:

• The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
• Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle
• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, especially Chapter 17: "How to Use All Six of Your Senses."

I won't have time for any writing exercises during the presentation, but for those who are writing fiction inspired by the lives of others, I recommend an exercise I shared on the TeachingAuthors blog in this post. 

Also, if you're writing historical fiction, check out the resources I share in this blog post.

And you can find multiple online articles at Writers Digest magazine on turning life into fiction and writing historical fiction here.

If you have any questions about my presentation, feel free to post it as a comment below or email me through my contact page.

     I'm excited to announce that I am now represented by Anjanette Barr of Dunham Literary, Inc! I'm looking forward to working with Anjanette to find homes for my latest projects. 

In this blog post, I share references mentioned in my January 27, 2022 SCBWI-IL Network Presentation "Small Press, BIG Decision:" 

• Chart of imprints within the "Big 5" U.S. Trade Publishers 
  NOTE: The date of the most recent update is shown at the bottom of the page. 
• Article: Should You Publish Your Book with a Small Press? Two Literary Agents Advise on Jane Friedman website
• Article: The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2023-2024 by Jane Friedman
• Article: Small Press versus Big House: How Does a Thoughtful, Ambitious Author Decide? on Authors Publish website
• Excellent article from Jane Friedman: Questions to Ask Your Publisher Before You Sign the Contract discusses the responsibilities of traditional publishers and how to ensure a prospective publisher will meet them
• Writers Beware site for finding complaints against publishers, especially newer ones
• Midwest Book Review: provides respected literary reviews for free or a modest fee (depending on timing) and gives priority consideration to small publishers, self-published authors, academic presses, and specialty publishers.

Small Presses that offer writing contests:

• Lee & Low New Voices Award and New Vision Award
• Sleeping Bear Press Own Voices award: open Jan-March

Resources for finding Small Presses that publish books for children and teens:

• Latest edition of the Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market Guide (pictured above)
• Annual SCBWI Market Surveys listed in "THE BOOK."  
  NOTE: Small presses can be found in the general survey of publishers as well as the specific International, Small Press, Religious Press, and Educational Press surveys.
  
• SCBWI list of PAL publishers and criteria NOTE: this includes all PAL publishers, not just small presses. It's unclear when the list was last updated.
• Children's Book Council Publisher Member list: includes number of books each publishes annually, indicates whether each is open to unsolicited submissions, and links to each publisher's website. NOTE: not all children's publishers are members of the Children's Book Council.
• Children's Book Council Associate Member Focus list from November, 2021
• Reedsy Directory of Book Publishers: you can search with genre of "children's" or "young adult." NOTE: The publisher size information is supposedly based on sales revenue.
• #MSWL Manuscript Wishlist site (search for editors and agents by genre on this page)
• Jane Friedman's Hot Sheet list: New publishers and Agents in 2021 
  NOTE: includes sections specifically for Children's and YA and for Comics and graphic novels
• AuthorsPublish list of 48 Traditonal Publishers Seeking Children's Books 
  Take note of the most recent date of update--it may not be current
• Bitsy Kemper's list of over 80 publishers accepting unsolicited picture book manuscripts (updated periodically) 
• Your own Internet search for specific book categories, for example: "Christian Children's Book Publishers," "Jewish Children's Book Publishers," etc.

Articles and sites related to book cover design:

• 5 Things Every Author Needs to Understand about Cover Design
• Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers
• TheBookDesigner.com Ebook Cover Design Awards

Articles related to book contracts:

• Jane Friedman article: Questions to Ask Your Publisher Before You Sign the Contract
• Two-Part Article by Cindy Ervin Huff: Ten Points to Consider When Signing a Book Contract:
  Part One: Points 1-5
  Part Two: Points 6-10 

I also briefly discussed self-publishing. SCBWI has a section in "THE BOOK" on self-publishing. They recently announced they'll also be releasing The Essential Guide to Self-Publishing a Children's Book for members only.  

Do you have any resources to add? Please share a comment below or email me through my contact page.