Friday, February 8, 2019

Picture Book Party 2019

We are doing it again! Spunky. Adorable. Heartwarming.




Those are some of the words that describe picture books and chapter books. I'm happy to join with Sharon Chriscoe and Mindy Alyse Weiss to do a little something for a group that is left out of most contests. This mini-contest is for you!

Tell your friends and please post on Twitter, Facebook, and in your writing groups. Spread the word, help aspiring authors, and celebrate picture books! 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. I'd love for you to suggest some topics in the comments. It's going to be a fun week!


Edit: Just to clarify this isn't a twitter pitching contest. Instead your entries are sent to the hosts by email and we pick a variety of genres for the agents/editors to read on my blog. What happens on the twitter hashtag #PBParty is an actual party, where we celebrate our writing and picture books with a variety of topics to talk about. Topics change each day. Examples include: share your favorite picture book. Share where you get your writing inspiration. And so on.  

The agent round will be Wednesday, March 27th - Friday, March 29th. The submission day is TuesdayMarch 19th at 4:00 pm Eastern time


The window will stay open at least one hour. That way no one has to rush. 

Then Sharon, Mindy and I will go through the entries and pick our 20 favorites. We just might add a few additional ones--the amazing submissions make it hard to narrow down our final choices!  

The Rules:

Please be a follower of this blog. You can click the "Follow" button in the left sidebar under the Followers app. Or if that is stubborn and won't work, you can subscribe to my newsletter or follow @Michelle4Laughs and @MindyAlyseWeiss on twitter. We will be tweeting hints and advice 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 19 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 or Mindy on Twitter before resendingPlease note that your second submission will likely NOT receive confirmation. That does not mean it wasn't received. Just that our vacation notification only works once. Chill. If we got your first, we got the second. 


Remember: We want to get a good count of entries and duplicates make that harder. The window will stay open at least one hour in order to avoid the crush of entries and flooding us with requests to check for entries.

This contest is for unagented writers and writer/illustators with finished and polished manuscripts. They must be ready to submit if requested by an agent or editor. 

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. Note: We will still read your entry if you mess up the formatting.)

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, Sharon, and Mindy.)

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. We love artwork. If you don't have artwork, don't worry.


That should cover about everything, but you may leave questions in the comments or on Twitter. Please no DMs or emails. Don't forget the #PBParty hashtag.


And don't forget to leave your suggestion of a topic for our twitter party!

We can't wait to see all the heartwarming cuteness on March 19th! 

55 comments:

  1. Omg!! I'm so excited about this, thank you!!

    Some ideas for topics might be exploring various PB formats like concept, circular, etc. I've heard of them, but would love more info. Or how to layer your PB, like including a counting component. Or even how to use onomatopoeia effectively.
    I can't wait for March😊

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    1. Thanks for all the great topic suggestions!

      Since there's a month before our party starts, I thought you might like to read this post by Tammi Sauer. She gives fantastic examples of books that have specific story structures, like concept, circular, etc. https://taralazar.com/2019/01/04/storystorm-2019-day-4/

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    1. You're welcome! We look forward to reading your entries. :)

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  3. I love this contest and look forward to another opportunity. Thank you!

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    1. You're welcome, Nadine. We're thrilled that you love #PBParty. It's such a fun contest to run, and we love making sure that picture books have the time they deserve in the spotlight.

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  4. This is a great opportunity I never heard of! TY for doing this.

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    1. You're welcome, Kathy. We're glad you found out about PBParty with plenty of time to shine up your favorite manuscripts. We look forward to reading them.

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  5. Would love to see the topic of lyrical PB’s explored!

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    1. That's a great topic. Thanks for the suggestion, Marcy! I love lyrical PBs, like All The World.

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  6. So glad Kathy Halsey posted about this opportunity. Thank Kathy and thank you ladies!

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  7. Great parties require great food! Perhaps during the party week on Twitter, writers can suggest their main character's fave dish or sweet treat. For ex, Winnie the Pooh never parties without a variety of honeysticks :)

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    1. This is such an awesome idea! Thanks so much for the suggestion. :)

      It's not only an interesting topic, but it can help writers dig deeper and find out even more about their MCs. Brilliant!

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    2. Thanks, Mindy! I'm always thinking about food, LOL! :)

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    3. LOL--writing and food go so well together. And so do parties. :)

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  8. I am looking forward to PB Party. This will be my third or fourth time, and I always enjoy it. Maybe to name your choice for the "funniest picture book ever" could be a topic.

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    1. Thanks, Jim! Great topic suggestion. I could read funny picture books all day. I have a feeling this topic will give me a huge must-read list. :)

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  9. Thank you so much for doing this! I look forward to participating. I have a few PB stories that need work. My goal for today - pick one and start revising (again!). :)

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  10. I am so excited to participate! This will be my first #PBParty. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

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  11. I'm looking forward to participating again. Do illustration notes count in the word count?

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  12. Topic suggestion: Picture book voice versus chapter book voice. How do these voices differ?

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  13. How about rhyming picture books? I know they can be either great or awful, and it's hard to tell in a tweet. But by submitting the first 50-100 words, an editor should be able to descide if they want to see the whole thing.

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    1. We welcome rhyming picture books, if that's your question. Sharon is our expert on those. :-)

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  14. thank you for offering this opportunity. topic: picture books in first person pov vs picture books in third person pov with narrator. What do people think?

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  15. Sounds like a fun party. I'll be there. But what's the dress code? Do we need party hats or noisemakers? :-)
    A possible topic--word count for NF PB. How many words are ok for these longer stories??

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  16. Like Kathy Halsey, I had not heard of this before. Thank you so much for doing this; it sounds like a lot of effort, but has the potential to help so many beginning writers. Marcy Salenieks mentioned lyrical PBs, and I'd appreciate mentor texts for this topic.

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  17. Like Kathy Halsey, I had not heard of this before. Thank you so much for doing this; it sounds like a lot of effort, but has the potential to help so many beginning writers. Marcy Salenieks mentioned lyrical PBs, and I'd appreciate mentor texts for this topic. Oops! Sorry! I am new to this and clicked in the wrong spot.

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  18. Aargh! I may get it right yet! Otherwise, I remain as Unknown.

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  19. How exciting! Can’t wait to learn and par-tay!

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  20. I'm looking forward to my first PB Party!

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  21. Oh my! This looks like so much fun! Looking forward to joining the party. <3

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  22. Oh, this is very exciting. Thank you for the opportunity to party with you! I can hardly wait!!!
    While looking at the submission format, it says to write query letter addressing it to Dear agent, Michelle, Sharon and Mindy. Does that mean one gets to choose agent or is it simply, Dear Agent?

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  23. Wonderful opportunity. Thanks for doing this!!!

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  24. I cannot wait until the 19th. So excited to have this wonderful line up of agents and editors! Thanks so much!

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  25. So excited to take part in this! Thank you for organizing an opportunity for PB/CB authors. It's appreciated!

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  26. Thank you creative organizers for this marvelous take on PB submissions. I’ve marked my calendar and have some party prep in mind. March 19th is a red letter day.

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  27. What a great opportunity. Thanks for doing this!

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  28. Thanks for the opportunity! Who doesn't love a party? I'm in. Sounds like great fun.

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  29. This event is such a great idea, and definitely appreciated! ❤ Thank you!

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  30. Tic-toc! Tic-toc! If feels just like Christmas Eve. So excited to see what's under the tree. Good luck everyone...let the magic begin.

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  31. Thank you for organizing a contest! I'm hoping to submit some writing, my first attempt here.

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  32. Hi! Looking forward to it! I have some ideas for topics:

    - Name a book you wish you had written
    - name a book that never gets old
    - pick a book from your own childhood and discuss how it would be different if it were written now
    - name an illustrator whom you would love to have illustrate one of your PBs and why
    -

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  33. I'm setting my alarm for 1pm pacific time. What a great opportunity. Thanks!

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  34. Though I was able to follow the Twitter handles, I'm having trouble following the blog. When I look on the left hand side, I don't see a Follower app, just a selection of tweets, and a bunch of labels for the posts. What am I missing? Thank you!

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  35. Thank you for creating this contest! And for being open to rhyming manuscripts.

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  36. Thank you for providing this opportunity "for a group that is left out of most contests"...it's wonderful to have your support!!

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  37. Feels like the night before Christmas! So excited and soon all the magic will be released into the universe at 4pm! Good luck everyone.

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  38. Thanks Mindy and gang for putting this together. I second (or third...) more info on alternative structure styles for PBs.

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  39. Can't wait for this amazing contest. Thank you for the opportunity! A topic I'd like to see would be how to include mentor texts/comp titles in your query.

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  40. Ahhh! I fell into a deep asleep on the sofa and woke up at the last minute to join the party. I tried to get it in on time...

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  41. Thanks for organizing this!! Just sent in my 2 PBs....

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