Here are tons of tips to help get your PBParty entries ready to submit on March 1. Submission day is two weeks from Monday!
Picture book manuscript tips:
One of the magical things about picture books is reading amazing text and seeing other layers in the incredible illustrations. Don’t give details that aren’t needed in the text. This is your baby as you write it…but will have two proud parents when the illustrator comes onboard.
A PB manuscript shouldn’t have giant paragraphs like novels do. White space is your friend! Especially with fiction, if it looks like this paragraph, it’s probably too long. Some PBParty subs were only 1 paragraph! (NF can be a bit longer—but white space is still helpful.)
Watch out for an adult solving the problem—give your characters agency.
When you have a contest with a short sample, don’t waste most of it with a huge art note. Rework the beginning, streamline the note, or choose another manuscript.
Make sure you submit the first 60 – 70 words of a manuscript (this has been asked several times). If your manuscript has an art note at the beginning, you may start with the text and omit the note in your sample if it lifts out…but test it with someone who hasn’t read your book first to make sure it still makes sense. Critique groups already know your story and can fill in the blanks.
If there’s something you wish was in the first 60 – 70 words, maybe some of the beginning isn’t needed. See what lifts out so every word sings. (I’ve often made changes to manuscripts for contests or first page critiques…then loved the new version so much, I kept it that way).
Eliminate step by step stage directions like: She walked downstairs, into the kitchen, opened the fridge, reached for a can of soda… (are you yawning yet)?
For rhyming manuscripts—make sure they’re spot on! Our Rhyming Pro, Lori Degman, will check any that we consider for the final round. We have a few agents/editors who love great rhyme…but many mentioned that it’s not something they’re actively seeking. But don’t worry, we’ll definitely showcase a few of the best! Kids love great rhyming picture books, and we hope to help some of yours get into their hands.
*The PB Critique Group Checklist I created is also helpful for revising your own manuscripts.
Most manuscripts are critiqued multiple times (yay)! But…do you have your query critiqued, especially the blurb? That’s your chance to show what makes your book special.
Query tips:
*Don’t give away the ending, but make it IMPOSSIBLE for us, agents, & editors to say no.
*Make sure it’s professional-the kind you would submit to an agent (minus the personal intro).
*Don’t make it to a specific agent or editor…you don’t want the rest to feel left out!
*A query is a professional letter that shouldn’t have indents at the beginning of each paragraph. Single space each line with two spaces between paragraphs.
*In addition to having your critique groups and crit partners look over your query, get feedback from people who haven’t read your picture book. People who know your book might fill in blanks that might puzzle agents and editors at first glance.
Don’t mention rejections in a query.
Don’t say that you aren’t published—if publication isn’t listed in your bio, agents and editors will know (one savvy agent last year said she doesn’t mind seeing that this would be their debut book—I love the positive angle that adds).
The bio should highlight your important writing accomplishments.
- Publication for books and magazines
- Kidlit contest wins, awards, mentorships, and scholarships
- Professional organizations like SCBWI and 12x12PB
- You don’t need to share non-writing job experiences…unless it shows you’re the perfect person to write the manuscript—or to promote it after it’s published.
You can’t guarantee your manuscript will affect people in a specific way, so it’s not a good idea to claim that in a query.
It’s great to include current comps—and even better if you can show how each comp relates to your manuscript. For example, one of my picture books is:
The hope and longing of Boats for Papa mixed with the comfort that familiar sights, sounds, and memories of a loved one will keep them close, like in Ida, Always.
*Don’t waste space with your address on top in an e-mailed query. Agents and editors have limited time and need to get to the meat of the query ASAP. (We asked for personal info to be stripped since we don’t include names with the final round, but a lot of people still included it—so I want to share that when e-mailing a query to an agent or editor, a great place for your address and other info is directly under your signature).
*Here’s a great example of a query that dazzled an agent in the 2019 PBParty final round…and the book will be out in the world in April. I can’t wait to hold A Flood of Kindness by Ellen Leventhal in my hands.
Great places to get feedback on your picture book and query:
The SCBWI Blueboard has an amazing critique area for SCBWI members only. If you haven’t visited the board, sign into SCBWI then click message board/Blueboard (you can find it on the left side and bottom of the site). You’ll automatically be registered with access to the SCBWI only area as well as the main board.
The next PBParty New Draft Challenge & Critique Train is on February 18. It’s great motivation to write a new picture book plus give and receive a critique (which could be the PB you plan to enter in the PBParty contest…and you can ask your critiquer if they’ll take a peek at your query, too).
You can also try these Facebook groups for critique swaps:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/KIDLIT411MSswap/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/726894444063634/
12x12PB is a paid challenge that includes active query and picture book critique sections in their private forum, among other perks like monthly webinars.
Additional tips:
Have everything ready in advance so you can copy and paste it in (double and triple check it).
Read it out loud—it can help you catch mistakes! Having someone else read it out loud is even more helpful. If you can’t find someone to read it, programs like Word can do it for you.
When there’s a limited submission window, please don’t wait until the last minute. Any glitch can mess you up. If you have computer issues or your internet goes down, you might miss out! (Note: when the submission windows close, the Google form won’t open again until the 2022 contest)
Google forms strips formatting—which is great for glitches that often happen when pasting into WordPress. You might want to put titles in caps since you can’t use italics.
Follow all of the PBParty directions (just like you should follow what agents and editors request for submissions).
Don’t go over the word count! In the past, people have tried to add up to 30 or so extra words and were immediately disqualified.
Remember: Art notes count toward the 60 – 70 words!!!
Here are some of the trends we noticed with 2020 PBParty entries. I’m not sure if they’ll be the same this year—but all of these topics had to fight even harder to stand out from the rest: worms, zombies, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, zoos, bees, hair, and chickens! I’ll let you know what the trends are this year. If we’re seeing a bunch here, I bet agents & editors are, too.
If a manuscript has been in the final round for PBParty or another showcase with multiple agents and editors, it can’t be entered again. If you’ve submitted it to a lot of the participating agents/editors…PLEASE enter something else! Fresh manuscripts have a better chance of getting requests in the final round. (Note: The SCBWI manuscript showcase is new and we don’t know which agents & editors are participating—so that manuscript is permitted if you feel it’s the best, but if there’s overlap, it might reduce your chances of requests if you’re in the final round.)
Here are tips and tricks for author/illustrators from PBParty Designer & Judge, Melissa Escobar.
Do you have questions that I didn’t answer here or in the contest announcement/FAQ?
Here’s another link to the amazing list of 25 agents and 17 editors!
Next week, I’ll post a bit about what the agents and editors hope to find and what some have said they’d like to avoid (but great manuscripts—especially ones from the heart—shine through). I’ll also post another PBParty Success Story. I love celebrating these…and can’t wait to see all the magical matches that will happen this year.
4 Comments
Leave your reply.