Friday, May 13, 2016

Picture Book Party in July

We are doing it again! (And yes I recycled this post. So much to do. No time for fresh material.) 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!

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 seven agents on board.  The agent round will be July 20 - 22nd. The submission day is July 10th at noon Eastern time. 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 around 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 @Michelle4Laughs on twitter. I imagine I 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 July 10th at noon 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 250 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
Twitter Handle: @extracleansanta (optional)
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 July 10th! 

27 comments:

  1. Are you allowed to enter if you were picked before for the Agent round? This would be with a different story. Thanks for running this wonderful contest.

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    Replies
    1. Yes. You may enter with a different story. But if your PB was picked for an agent round in the last six month, please let someone else have a chance. This doesn't count twitter pitch parties.

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  2. I love parties - especially if they involve picture books. Looking forward to this!

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  3. Thanks so much for this opportunity! Now to decide which manuscript to submit...

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  4. Sounds like a great party! Thanks for the opportunity.

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  5. Do we submit the two different manuscripts in a singular email or two emailed entries for the different submissions? Also, do we pitch on Twitter as well or not? Sorry, I'm a little confused and I'm not on Twitter yet, so I guess I need to open an account in order to participate. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Twitter handle is optional. Just for fun. No pitching on twitter. Two different entries in separate emails.

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  6. The Rules say: "Please be a follower of this blog. You can click the "Join this Site" button in the left sidebar." I see no "Join this Site" button to click anywhere on this or any other page on this blog. The closest that comes to it is the "Subscribe to my Newsletter for Contest Information" in the right sidebar, which includes windows for email address and first/last names. Is that the place to click (and fill in windows) to follow the blog?

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    Replies
    1. It's in the right sidebar under the blog archive.

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    2. I'm also having trouble with finding it. I found the "Subscribe to my Blog" and attempted that, but haven't been sent a confirmation email from it. I've tried it in two different browsers, as well. Maybe I'm completely blind? Eep, help! :)

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    3. Just do your best and if the technology doesn't cooperate, don't worry about it.

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  7. I will have to set my alarm for 12am Monday Perth Australia time :-)

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  8. So excited. This will be my first party!

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  9. I'm excited. I have to look through my manuscripts and decide what to submit. Thank you for the opportunity.

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  10. Thanks for having a PB Party. At the end of the rules it says "don't forget to use #PBParty". Where does this go in our email entries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It doesn't go in your entry. It's just for extra fun. A place to hang out and meet people on twitter.

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  11. Should we include or skip art notes?

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    Replies
    1. You can include them but it counts toward the 50 words.

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  12. Do want the title page and table content page then the 100 words for a chapter book? Or just start with the 100 words? Do you want it with or without the chapter title and chapter one?

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    Replies
    1. Just the first 100 words of the first chapter. You don't need to include the chapter title or chapter one.

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    2. Thank you! I can add a few more words then to my 100.

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  13. So excited to read about this contest just minutes ago on the 12x12 in 2016 Facebook page. Will the selected entries be posted on your blog for anyone to read until the conclusion of the Agent Round on July 22nd? I was a little unclear about your statement "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." Thank you... and thanks for this opportunity to rise above the slush. :)

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  14. Yes. the selected entries will be posted on my blog for the agent round. They will not have names on them or personal information.

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  15. What is the link to 12x12 in 2016 Facebook page that Rita Russell was talking about above?

    Thanks!

    Marjory E. Leposky

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marjory, 12x12 is a closed Facebook group. It's an annual membership and you can check it out if you google Julie Hedlund 12x12 and then you can read all about it.

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