Skip to main content

Adam Blackman


By Margaret Lea 


 Adam Blackman, like many children's writers, began by making up stories for and with his young son. A specific incident about ten years ago further propelled Adam into the KidLit space. His Kindergartener son picked out pink, light-up, sparkly rhinestone shoes, but when he wore them to school, even in his progressive Brooklyn, NY neighborhood, several kids asked him why he was wearing “girly” shoes. Adam realized that KidLit was the perfect place to let kids know that everyone should have the freedom to express themselves and not be judged for it.  

     Adam has an MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and worked as a non-profit bookstore manager for seven years. He began engaging with the KidLit community on Twitter after his son’s shoe incident, and he made connections there that led him to writers, agents, editors, mentors and critique groups. Adam stresses that community and networking, especially through SCBWI, can “invite serendipity.” This happened to him when one of his connections led to a job interview with Maria Dismondy, founder of Cardinal Rule Press, a small independent publisher. Adam got the job and has been the acquisitions editor there for the last five years. 

     Cardinal Rule Press publishes 2-4 books per year from the approximately 3,000 submissions received, so competition is fierce. They only publish realistic fiction picture books— meaning the characters and situations could actually happen in real life (no talking animals, for example). After throwing out the submissions which haven’t followed these guidelines, there are still a LOT of manuscripts, and many great stories have to be rejected. That said, many are also passed over due to being heavy-handed or didactic. Currently they only accept agented submissions and submissions from conference/workshop attendees where Cardinal Rule was present, but they hope to open up in the future for a month of unagented submissions, like they have done before. You can sign up for their email list at cardinalrulepress.com. When each new book is released, they do a read aloud by the author on Zoom, followed by a question and answer time. Many elementary classes attend, but individuals are welcome too.

     As for the submissions Cardinal Rule chooses to publish, it’s a bit of a “we know it when we see it,” thing, but Adam says that the story should be bright, vibrant and full of energy, even if it’s dealing with a heavier topic. And specific situations are fine, he said, as long as there is universal appeal. Readers may not have been in the same situation, but will have experienced some of the same thoughts and emotions. 

     Adam was previously a reader at a literary magazine, and has written stories for both adults and kids. He offers editing services online through his website adamdblackman.com. 

     To hear Adam’s in-depth presentation, “From Submission to Shelf: A Journey Through Acquisitions,” sign up for our Nov. 3, 2025 chapter meeting via Zoom.


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

Deeba Zargarpur

  By Margaret Lea If you had met Deeba Zargarpur ten years ago, she would have been working in the medical field. Now, she’s a senior editor at a Big Five publishing house, finding herself in surreal conversations with the likes of Christopher Paolini (Eragon) or Malala Yousafzai (I Am Malala). What caused this dramatic shift? After growing up in Virginia, Deeba earned her psychology degree from Drexel University and began applying her knowledge to that field. But her passion for books—long kindled through avid reading, fan fiction writing, and even finishing a novel—eventually pushed her to pursue a career in publishing. Her family's protests of, “Are you crazy?” calmed when she got an editorial assistant job with a company they’d heard of—Disney Publishing Worldwide. She then spent several years working for a book packager, generating ideas for their projects. In March 2020, Simon & Schuster hired her, where she works as an editor for their Books for Young Readers imprint and...
Post a Comment
Read more