Skip to main content

Mel Rosenberg




Mel considers himself “a five-year-old at heart,” which drew him to picture books. But before picture books, he spent over 30 years as a scientist and professor of microbiology, and many years as a jazz singer and saxophonist.

Over the past eight years, Mel has focused on honing his writing skills and establishing his presence in the literary world. He has attended conferences, self-published numerous books, and successfully pitched a children’s literature podcast. For the past two years, he has interviewed authors, agents, illustrators, publishers, and librarians on the New Books Network’s Children’s Literature Channel. You can access the podcast directly through his website authormel.com or through wherever you listen to podcasts. 

    Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Mel moved to Israel at age 18 to escape antisemitism. Now he feels at home, despite the difficulties posed by the current war. He notes that people continue with their lives as best they can. 

    When asked for writing tips, Mel advises, “Be yourself. Write what’s in your heart. And, most importantly, never give up!” He also urges everyone to ask for what they want and need, “If you don’t ask, the answer is ‘No!’” He shares how he met his mentor, Harold Underdown (author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books), by simply asking for help with ourboox.com, a website Mel created for authors to create free picture books. Harold agreed to mentor him.

    In his eight years of pursuing picture books, Mel received around 300 rejections. Despite this, he persisted and believes that feedback from agents and editors has improved his work. He recently signed with agents from the Liza Royce Agency and considers himself “one of the luckiest people on the planet.” His first traditionally published book, EMILY SAW A DOOR, was released in May 2024 in Hebrew by Tal May Publishers, and he hopes an English version will follow.

    Mel's passion for writing and supporting fellow writers is evident in his commitment to join our Houston chapter's July Zoom meeting as the guest speaker, despite it being 3 AM in his home in Israel. During this meeting he will help creators “think like an author/illustrator,” while making a picture book dummy. This exercise will help creators envision each page and plan for exciting page turns. (For the non-illustrators, leave the pages blank, or draw stick figures.) 

    If you would like to join us, register here!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kelly Bennett is coming to town!

  By  Margaret Lea   Kelly Bennett credits an elementary school teacher for praising her writing and sticking it on the board. This gave her confidence to write more.      And surprisingly, it was Kelly’s unhappy first marriage that also spurred her writing. In 1985, while trying to make this marriage work, she decided to do something solely for herself. She wanted to take a volleyball class at the university near her, but they didn’t offer that. So instead, she took a class on writing and marketing children’s stories. There she fell in love with writing for children. She also met another woman, Ronnie Davidson, who became a writing partner for twenty years. They published their first book together in 1987 and five more over the years.       Kelly has now published around 25 books, both by herself and with others. She credits writing friends for keeping her accountable. For example, she and one friend would set a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sheila Fernley from Storm Literary Agency

By Margaret Lea Sheila Fernley joined Storm Literary Agency in March 2024 as an Associate Literary Agent, and is an agented picture book author herself, as well as a former editor and special education teacher. If you are reading this before November 2024, and would like to hear her speak, register for our free Zoom meeting .  Here are her answers to some of querying authors’ most common questions. 1) Do you prefer a query salutation to be Dear Ms. Fernley, Dear Sheila Fernley, or Dear Sheila? I prefer query letter salutations to be personal – Dear Sheila, or even Hi Sheila.    2) How far do you read of each genre (PB/MG/YA) before you usually know it’s a pass? Do you represent all three categories?       I represent authors who write PB, MG, and YA subgenres, requesting a full manuscript for picture books and the first three chapters of a MG or YA. I also represent author/illustrators. I can usually tell by the end of the first page if the project wil...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wendelin Van Draanen

 By  Margaret Lea         Wendelin Van Draanen, author of over 30 books across all age groups, will be the speaker at the Houston chapter meeting, August 4, 2025. Her 2001 novel FLIPPED   was made into the 2010 movie FLIPPED ,  directed by Rob Reiner.  Her presentation for our chapter is going to be “Keeping Hope in the Mail” and will focus on personal strength, commitment to craft, and strategies for not giving up. Below is my interview with Wendelin. 1) Your website says it took ten years for you to get published. How did you find an agent? Have you stayed with your original agent? It did take ten years! But I recommend writers work smarter than I did. I didn’t join SCBWI until after I had my first book deal. I definitely did everything the hard way! Trying to help others who are presently struggling is the main reason I wrote Hope in the Mail —my non-fiction book for writers in pursuit of their publishing dreams—and why my husband Mark a...
Post a Comment
Read more