Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Picture Book Party Submission Day 2018 and Twitter Party




The agent round will be April 4th - 6th. See the list of agents here

Please be a follower of this blog. You can click the "Join this Site" button in the left sidebar. Or if that is stubborn and won't work, you can subscribe to my newsletter or follow @Michelle4Laughs on twitter. I imagine I will be tweeting hints as well as partying!

You may send two entries for different manuscripts in separate emails. 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.) 


You will receive a confirmation email for the first submission. Usually nothing will go out for the second submission. That's perfectly normal. Do not expect to get a confirmation email for your second submission. Yahoo just doesn't work that way. Have confidence that if the first got through, the second did also. 

On March 27 at 4:00 pm EST 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 get a receipt for you FIRST submission, please contact me on twitter before resending. (Please don't ask about second submissions.) We want to get a good count of entries and duplicates make that harder. The window will stay open one hour. 

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 If this is OWNVOICES, please say so here!
Word Count: xxx (round to nearest ten, hundred for chapter books)

Query:

Your entire query letter here. Include your comps, bio, greeting, closing. Please be sure to note diversity and ownvoices in the query as well. (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.

For short picture books, less than 50 words may be submitted. Any count under 50 is allowed.


Art notes do count toward the 50 words. 
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. 


Messed up formatting won't hurt you, but forgetting to include some part of the entry will. Double check before sending.




Now for the twitter party fun! Visit daily under the hashtag #PBParty to meet and greet and scout out slush hints. Here are the suggested topics for each day to get you going, but feel free to start your own on twitter. Just remember to be kind and be inclusive. 



Tuesday, March 27th  PM: Tell us what genre you write and when you entered. Then share your muse. What gives you inspiration to write? All day: What qualities make a picture book beg to be read over and over again? from Margo.

Wednesday, March 28th
  AM: Do you listen to music when your write? Have word count goals? Set aside BIC time (behiney in chair)? Share your daily writing routine. PM: If you could spend one day exploring the imagined world of a certain illustrator, which illustrator would you choose and what world/book of theirs would you explore? from Stacy Burch.

Thursday, March 29th     AM: How do you handle writer's block? How many drafts do you write before finished? PM: What three things should every picture book writer know?- from Mindy Weiss.

Friday, March 30th  AM: Animal, vegetable, mineral. Tell us if your MC is human or something else. PM:
What are your top tips for getting that word count down?

Saturday, March 31st     AM: What picture/chapter book gives you the warm fuzzies? And shout out some books with diversity to spread the word on them! PM: What is your go-to picture book to gift children? And why? From Rachel Tomlinson

Sunday, April 1st  AM: What picture book character would you like for a best friend? What picture book do you remember fondly from your childhood? PM:
Picture book manuscripts (even good ones) get rejected a lot. What are your strategies for dealing with hearing the word "no"? Chocolate? A drink? Chewing a towel? From Betsy J.


Monday, April 2nd     AM:
Are you the type to have a book spring into your head, write it down quickly and then take a long time editing your words?....or, do you spend a long time meticulously planning and drafting? From Rachel Tomlinson.  PM: Who has helped you through the writing and querying process? Time to share your thanks. 

Sharon and I are not sure when the picks will be announced, but it should be around Monday. We are so excited for the fun to start. As you've probably noticed we have a great group of agents and editors.


Good luck everyone!  

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