Dianne (Di) Bates is one of the most hard-working and dedicated writers I know, and has been in the industry for decades. She has published over 120 books for children, some of which have won state and national awards, including two children’s choice book awards (WAYRBA and KOALA). She is married to award-winning children’s author Bill Condon; they share a website http://enterprisingwords.com.au

As well as being a writer, Di is also the founding editor of the highly-respected industry magazine Buzz Words, an invaluable resource for anyone involved in children’s books. In this guest post she profiles the magazine. I highly recommend subscribing to it!

Buzz Words: All the Buzz About Books

By Dianne Bates

In 2006 I started a subscriber-based twice-monthly online magazine exclusively for people in the Australian children’s book industry, such as writers, illustrators, librarians, publishers – in fact, anyone interested in children’s books. As editor I gather material from many sources and sometimes commission material. Buzz Words’ aim is to keep readers abreast of what’s currently happening in the children’s book industry and to give them as many opportunities to get informed and possibly published.

Every issue contains industry news, publisher profiles, profiles of people in the industry, an interview (editors, publishers, designers, etc), opportunities, markets, competitions and awards, recommended books and websites/blogs, festivals and conferences, workshops, article/s, subscribers’ achievements, letters to the editor and children’s book reviews. Links are frequently provided to help readers.

Buzz Words is as subscriber-friendly as possible. Preference for interviews, articles, profiles, etc is always given to subscribers. Subscribers are also given the opportunity to advertise for free if they have a product and/or service.

The magazine also has a children’s book review blog http://buzzwordsmagazine.com where a new children’s book review appears every day. Reviews are also linked through the magazine to the blog. Buzz Words has 20 reviewers; we review for most children’s publishers in Australia.

I am happy to send anyone the latest issue of the magazine to see if they would like to subscribe. Contact dibates@outlook.com. Cost is $48 per year (24 issues). The magazine is distributed on the 1^st and 15^th of every month.