Articles

Blog: cynsations
Post: Author-Booking Agent Interview: Susan B. Katz of KatzConnects
Link: http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2006/12/author-booking-agent-interview-susan-b.html

>  July 28, 2006 "Lady of the book" brings authors to Bay Area schools

>  June 17, 2006 Match Game

j. Jewish weekly of nothern California

July 28, 2006

Reprinted by permission of j. the Jewish weekly of northern California

"Lady of the book" brings authors to Bay Area schools

by Jill Suzanne Jacobs
correspondent

The Jewish people may be known as the people of the book, but Susan Katz would like to make a name for herself as the lady of the book.

The contributor to a forthcoming children's book and former teacher has combined her passions and created a new company called, "Katz Connects." Katz, who lives in Mill Valley, has assembled a stable of children's authors, illustrators and musicians for school, library and event bookings.

"I really want my life, my work, to be about books," says the gregarious 30-something woman, who's been in both worlds - she's worked as a teacher for 12 years.

And now she's making it happen. She represents over 40 authors including the famed Laura Numeroff, author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," and Caryn Yacowitz, whose forthcoming book is "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Menorah."

"I feel very honored because they are all very prominent," she says.

And quite a few of them are Jewish. Ira Scott Levin and his wife, Julia Bordenaro are authors and also storytellers and musicians who will put on quite a show. Mike Graf, author of over 70 science books is Jewish, as is Yacowitz.

Authors, she says, want to concentrate on their craft, so she'll take care of the details of brokering the agreement between schools, for which she accepts a small fee from the author.

So what's to prevent someone from looking up the impressive array of authors she represents on her website (www.connectingauthors.com), and then contacting them on one's own? Nothing really.

But what Katz does offer is help with vitally needed funding. Authors' fees can run as high as $1,500, which can put quite a strain on already overburdened school budgets.

Katz works with various nonprofits - including the Bay Area's Jewish Coalition for Literacy - to bring funding where it is needed. If Katz has her way every school will have author events as a regular part of their programs, and philanthropies will step up to the plate to fund them. "I don't want schools to have to say, `we don't have the money for this," Katz says.

For San Joaquin County's Reads Week this September, Katz was able to secure corporate funding to bring authors to several county schools that have not been able to afford author visits in the past.

"It's sort of adopt-an-author, or adopt-a-school," Katz says.

The county has held its Reads Week for eight years, but hasn't been able to secure author visits. Katz is bringing Jewish authors Yacowitz, Michael Elsohn Ross and Elissa Haden Guest (author of the Iris and Walter book series), among others.

"We're only doing about 10 percent of the schools, but it's still a big thing," she says. "Authors want to get their books in kids' hands, they want to inspire them to read and write."

Katz will also design curriculum to complement the author's visit. It's more than one-stop shopping - it's some very specialized customer service.

Meeting an author can have a profound impact on a child, she says. Bringing accomplished authors into schools is, in effect, creating the authors of tomorrow.

"The authors make a huge impact," Katz says. "They can influence children in ways you may never know."

J Weekly

June 17, 2006

Match Game
A former West Bloomfield resident helps bring together children's authors and schools.

Elizabeth Applebaum
Contributing Editor

The subject was Ginger. Her dog was, quite possibly, the most interesting creature in the whole world. So 5-year-old Susan Katz decided to write a book about her. Though Ginger's tale was not destined to become a best seller, the story marked Katz's first step into the world of children's literature. Today, the former West Bloomfield native is an author, illustrator and founder of Katz Connects, which brings children's authors and schools together.

After graduating from West Bloomfield High, Katz, who now lives in San Francisco, joined Teach for America, a Peace Corps-like program that places teachers in high-needs schools in the United States. Katz, who speaks fluent Spanish, went to work at a school in Oakland, Calif. She also served as a consultant to the superintendent of schools in San Francisco, and later taught second grade at the American School of Valencia, Spain.

Katz, 34, a National Board certified teacher with 12 years' teaching experience, often attends conferences of the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She loves teaching, she loves children's books and the two, she knew, were a "perfect connection of worlds." How, she wondered, could the two be better integrated?

Now they are, thanks to Katz Connects, Susan Katz's program which brings children's authors, musicians and illustrators into schools.

"When I was little, my mother was an art teacher in the West Bloomfield Schools," Katz says. Students often heard from an artist-in-residence, "and I remember how influential the artist was. Children are really impacted by this" - and schools and libraries are eager to invite the guests.

Authors, in turn, "really love children," but often don't have time for making the many necessary arrangements for getting to the schools. "They tell me, 'We want to dedicate our time to our craft, not marketing,'" -- so Katz does it for them, everything from designing class curricula to complement the author's visit, to choosing where in the world (though most of her bookings are in the United States, she works with international clients, as well) the writers will speak.

Until now, the way in which authors and schools got together was haphazard. Some publishers help promote their writers, but not all that often. No national speakers' bureau for children's authors exists.

Then along came Katz Connects.

"There's a need, a desire to bring writers into the schools. But a piece of the puzzle was missing. I've found, for lack of a better term, a niche," Katz says. She already has more than 20 clients and is looking forward to the publication of her own first book this fall. (A bit of advice to anyone interested in seeing his book published: "Get an agent quickly," Katz says. "The book world is very much an agent's world.")

Katz, who says she has a unique skill for "connecting different people with each other," says that arranging for an author visit isn't simply a matter of saying Author X will speak at School Y. Some schools are looking for an author for a 10- to 12-year-old audience. Other schools want an author with an expertise in Chinese-American children's literature.

A longtime fan of Dr. Seuss ("I learned to read on Green Eggs and Ham"), Katz has a number of Jewish authors among her clients. Ira Scott Levin, and his wife Julia Bordenaro Levin, are not only authors, they are "singing storytellers extraordinarie," she says. "And Julia is a member of a Jewish a capella group that sings in Hebrew, Ladino and English."

Another of her clients is Caryn Huberman Yacowitz, whose forthcoming Jewish book "will knock your socks off."

Katz's only lament: money. Schools today are not exactly rolling in big bucks, which makes bringing authors to the students a challenge. Katz remains hopeful, though, that corporate sponsors will do the write thing, so to speak, and come forward with donations.