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Spunky. Adorable. Heartwarming.
Those are some of the words that describe picture/chapter books. I'm happy to join with Sharon Chriscoe to do a little something for a group that is left out of most contests. This mini-contest is for you!
And if you don't write picture/chapter books please don't run away. I NEED YOUR HELP NOTIFYING PICTURE BOOK WRITERS. This contest is such short notice that I need everyone to spread the word. Tell your friends who write PB and please post on twitter. Also the twitter party will be for everyone, so I hope to see you there under the hashtag #PBParty. There will be daily topics that apply to all writers during the submission week.
So far there are six picture book agents on board. (Agent post coming later this week when everything is finalized.) The agent round will be March 24th. The submission day is March 16th. Then Sharon and I will go through the entries and pick our favorites. I'm not sure how many entries will be chosen, but the number will be between 15 and 20. Sharon is my expert on this as I don't know much about picture books, except I enjoy reading them.
The Rules:
Please be a follower of this blog. You can click the "Join this Site" button in the left sidebar. Please follow myself and Sharon on twitter. I imagine we will be tweeting hints as well as partying!
You may send two entries for different manuscripts. That's two and only two, whether you have multiple pen names or multiple email addresses. Please be honest and not send more. Only one entry will be chosen per person. If you send two, still only one will be picked. Any attempt to cheat will result in entries thrown out (and sadly it has happened in the past.)
On March 16th at 4:00 pm Eastern the submission window opens. Do not send early or your entry will be deleted. You may resend at the correct time if this happens. I'm recycling an email address as I already have too many. Please send your entry to SunversusSnow at yahoo dot com.
You should receive a confirmation email. If you do not, please contact me on twitter before resending. The window will stay open until we get 111 (yes that number is because I'm a hobbit) entries. However long that takes. It could be minutes or it could be days. I'm really not sure on this one.
This contest is only for finished and polished manuscripts. It has to be ready to go out to agents.
The Format:
Subject Line of your Email: PBParty: Title
Example: PBParty: Hot Tub Santa
Inside the email please bold where bolded in my example. Single space with spaces between paragraphs. Use Times New Roman or equivalent font and the size should be 12.
(Here's a trick to keep your paragraph spacing: copy and paste your entry into your email and then put in the line spaces. They seem to get lost when you copy and paste. It may look right but sending scrambles the spacing.)
Name: Sharon Chriscoe
Title: HOT TUB SANTA
Genre: (Here please tell us what type of picture book this is) Example: Board Book, Bedtime Rhyme, Nonfiction, Biography, etc. or List Chapter Book
Word Count: xxx (round to nearest ten, hundred for chapter books)
Query:
Your entire query letter here. Include your comps, bio, greeting, closing. (You may use whatever you want for a greeting. Dear Agent. Dear Michelle and Sharon.)
Here is your chance to make your entry shine and make the agent fall in love with your words.
First 50 Words:
Include your first 50 words for a picture book, 100 words for chapter books. Do not stop in the middle of a sentence. You may go over by one or two words to finish a sentence but not more than five. Single space and put spaces in between paragraphs. You may center or tab if appropriate.
Edit: For short picture books, less than 50 words may be submitted. Any count under 50 is allowed.
Also I will delete parts of entries after the contest ends, if requested. For those writers uncomfortable with their work being out there for all to see.
Bonus: You may attach one illustration to your email to show an example of your artwork. If you don't have artwork, don't worry.
I would like to thank Mel Stephenson for creating our logo artwork! Be sure to follow her at @paintandwords.
That should cover about everything, but you may leave questions in the comments or on twitter. Don't forget the #PBParty hashtag.
We can't wait to see all the cuteness on March 16th!
I'm slightly embarrassed that I have to ask this, but I didn't know picture books had genres. I thought they just had age categories and hooks. Help?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea either. I'd speak to some PB writers. I'm sure they can help you more than I can. :-)
DeleteHI Michelle!
ReplyDeleteHere is one link to the different picture book genres...http://www.breitlinks.com/my_libmedia/children%27s_genres.htm
Hope this helps!
Take care,
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeletePicture books can be divided by categories such as fiction, non -fiction, historical fiction, poetry and a lot more. You can visit our site to learn lots more about picture books (and everything kid lit!) http://www.kidlit411.com/2014/01/picture-books.html Good luck in the contest!
Elaine :)
Thanks for the links and the help Donna and Elaine!
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "for those writers uncomfortable with their work being out there for all to see" what do you mean? Will submissions to the PB Party be posted online?
ReplyDeleteMost of the submission will not be posted. Only the 15 to 20 which are picked will be on my blog for the agents to read. That's how the agent round is run. Agents come to my blog and read and request. I've offered to remove the post after the agent round to limit how long it's out in public.
DeleteAnyone really uncomfortable with their entry being public shouldn't enter.
Thanks, Michelle. Didn't know your process.
DeleteIn order to follow the blog, it looks like I'd need a Google account. Is that correct? I don't have one....I do follow you both on twitter, though. Does that count? I'd like to enter the contest but I also want to be a good citizen! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat's fine.
Delete
ReplyDelete"You can click the "Join this Site" button in the left sidebar" I Do you mean "Sign up to recieve contests..."? ON RIGHT sidebar? Hope so 'cause can't find on left!Thanks for fun contest.
This looks like a great opportunity and lots of fun...thanks so much, Michelle and Sharon. :)
ReplyDeletelooks great- thanks for opportunity
ReplyDeleteExciting - thank you for the opportunity!
ReplyDeleteCan we enter a self published picture book? This contest is awesome! Hope we can do lots of sharing!
ReplyDeleteJulie, I don't believe most agents will look at something self published unless it has generated thousands of sales. I'm going to have to say no. It must be something unpublished.
DeleteHi there, I will be posting a picture book (artwork not yet completed) of six short stories. Approximately 2000 words. Do I enter 50 or 100 words? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI would say 100 words as your group of stories is longer.
DeleteIs this contest open to those of us outside the USA?
ReplyDeleteFor sure. Just be aware the times are US Eastern.
DeleteHello again, I am new to this and just want to make sure I understand correctly. Is it under the query section that I write the 100 words of my story? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo. Under the query section, you would include your query letter. This will show a little about a query letter: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/query-letter-_n_2434095.html A query letter explains your plot and characters to the agent in a way that will hook them to read more. You do not give away the ending of your story in a query letter.
DeleteYou first 100 words from your manuscript will go under the FIRST 50 section of the entry. That is the last part of the entry. Hope this helps explain.
If we have a short but vital art note, is that part of our 50 words or separate? Thanks for putting on a pitch party for PBs!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to say it is part of the 50 words. First time I've been asked that.
DeleteThis contest looks fantastic! Thank you. I just joined, followed, and shared the post on my FB page.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a twitter account. Is it absolutely necessary?
ReplyDeleteIt's not "necessary" at all. I would call it wise, though. Just from the amount of information about publishing you can learn on twitter, not to mention the support system you can gain.
DeleteWhat an awesome contest! Thanks for sharing it with me, Michelle! Pending the arrival of our baby girl, I'll definitely plan to submit on March 16th!
ReplyDeleteSincerley,
_ Matthew
Should our queries include address, email, website, etc?
ReplyDeleteThanks--
Michael
No need to add that. It would get stripped out if chosen anyway.
DeleteI have one art note that's vital to understanding the text. Does it count toward the fifty words?
ReplyDeleteThanks again,
Michael
Yes. Art notes count toward the 50 words. Just like saying "chapter one" would for longer books.
DeleteHello, I just wanted to make sure I was understanding the rules correctly. According to the rules, it appears that we are not actually submitting our picture books but just a query and the first 50 words. Am I understanding that correctly?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Karen Sawyer
Yes. It's just an entry of the query letter and first 50 words. Normally in contests I ask for 250 words but picture books are too short to require that much.
DeleteThank you, Michelle and Sharon!
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle and Sharon,
ReplyDeleteI found this blog thanks to Susanna Leonard Hill.
I'm looking forward to submitting tomorrow.
I am also not on Twitter, but perhaps it's time.
Thank you,
Tracy
P.S. Off to share on FB.
My picture book is illustrated by my photography. It has an accompanying original recorded song that is a download inside of the cover. May I include an attachment of the cover as well as a Dropbox link for the accompanying song? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYou may include an attachment of one artwork/photo. I don't believe we will listen to songs. There's just not time with 111 entries.
Delete:( I missed out
ReplyDeleteSecond window tonight at 10:05 PM.
DeleteThank you so much for the second chance!
Delete