Can you believe the 2024 PBParty entry day is just under a week away? It’s February 22 from midnight to 8 pm EST. The judges and I can’t wait to read your entries. They blow me away every year. It’s like taking a masterclass from the point of view of an agent or editor. I wish we could showcase everyone…but I still want every single person to feel like a winner no matter what happens. Reading through the final entries and seeing all the incredible illustrations can be like a masterclass for you, too! So many have told me they learned how to perfect their query or make their opening pop through this contest, and that makes me so happy!
I’m editing this to add links to the entry forms!
Google entry form for WRITERS
Google entry form for AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATORS
I shared the replay in the PBParty Participant Facebook group an hour or so after the Zoom, but needed time to work on more PBParty prep before putting this post together. You can always find the most important info pinned to the featured section at the top of the Facebook group.
Here’s the PBParty Prep Zoom replay!
We go through both entry forms in detail, share tips, stats, and answer tons of questions.
Password: zK7.^y?u
Here’s a screenshot of the Google entry forms!
Participants said they’d love to be able to have a place to put all their responses so they’ll be 100% ready to go on February 22, so I created a Google doc for each form. You can view it…but I didn’t allow editing to make sure the form doesn’t accidentally get changed for everyone. Just copy and paste it into Word or Google docs, then prepare your entry!
Here’s the practice For Writers form!
Here’s the practice Author/Illustrator form!
I want author/illustrators to be confident their illustrations will work with the entry form, so I created a test form for them. Don’t forget, files can’t be larger than 1 MB.
NEW! We can’t consider any manuscript lower than 200 words for the finals–to protect creatives from having too much of their work online. But we will allow author/illustrators to enter illustrations from a manuscript that’s less than 200 words, or even wordless…ONLY for consideration for the Illustration Showcase. They’ll still need to share their sample, query, etc. so we can see what kind of shape it is in.
I’ll have a link to the Google entry forms up on a new blog post by February 21 and will add it to the original PBParty announcement so you’ll have it ahead of time. You won’t be able to use it until the submission window opens at midnight on February 22. It’ll go until 8pm EST. Please submit as early as possible–once the window closes, it won’t open again until the 2025 contest.
Huge thanks again to judges Sylvia Chen and Brittany Pomales for co-hosting the Zoom. They did such an amazing job–and carried on when I briefly got booted off the Zoom. Thanks to all the judges who came to introduce themselves and share tips (and one who sent an awesome video). And even more gratitude to PBParty judge and Ninja Superstar Sylvia for creating all the incredible graphics and putting helpful stats together. Everyone loved them!
In case you’d like to take a closer look at some of the slides, I’ll include them in a slideshow below.
Some tips:
*The judges and I love keeping a list of frequent topics each year. Often, it’s similar to what agents and editors see! Since the topics are more common, the manuscripts need to pop even more to truly stand out from the rest.
*After an agent or editor says they’ll join PBParty, I happy dance (so far I’m up to 69 dances–wahooooo!). Then, I ask if there’s anything they’re hoping to find or aren’t currently seeking. And if there’s anything they believe is a tough sell. This is really helpful…but please realize that things like SEL showed up on both wishes and non-wishes. It’s still in demand in some places, but some agents and editors aren’t currently interested in it. If you have a strong SEL book with amazing hooks–don’t let that discourage you.
Humor came up on wish lists again and again – it was requested the most. Yay! I love when manuscripts make me laugh. It’s absolutely magical. We’ve seen that having strong hooks makes funny manuscripts even more desirable.
At the top of tough sells are bios again. Rhyme is always tough, too. The meter needs to be spot on (for the first 70 words as well as the entire manuscript). We usually only have a few of each of these in the finals, so please make sure yours really stand out.
For illustrations, many love to see textures. It was on wish lists–and what received the most love in the showcase last year.
Are there any other tips you’d like me to share before February 22? I’m thinking about putting together a post focusing on writing an amazing PB query.
I love seeing how you’re all helping each other prepare for the contest! I hope you’re making new PB creative friends and potential critique partners. I love this community so much. Thank you all for your generosity!
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