Picture-Book-Summit-Podcast_feature_image_Emma-Walton-Hamilton
June 15, 2021 In Podcast

Podcast – Is Your Manuscript Truly Submission Ready?

Picture-Book-Summit-Podcast_feature_image_Emma-Walton-Hamilton

Is your manuscript submission ready? In this episode, Picture Book Summit Co-Founder Emma Walton Hamilton helps us figure out if our manuscripts are really ready to be sent to an agent or editor with specific things to be looking for in the craft of your story and in the details of your query letter and submission. What’s necessary and what’s not? Emma’s got your covered.

Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling children’s book author, editor and writing coach.  With her mother, actress/author Julie Andrews, Emma has co-authored over thirty children’s books, eight of which have been on the NY Times Bestseller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series. She is Director of the Children’s Lit Fellows program at Stony Brook University and co-host of the Julie’s Library Podcast.

If you are questioning whether your story is ready to be out on submission, take a listen. If you’re sending out your manuscript and not getting a lot of response, do not miss this episode. You will find Emma’s tips to be invaluable on your submission journey.

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June 1, 2021 In Giveaway, Speakers

2021 Early Bird Pricing Now Open!

We’ve been teasing you with our Superstar Speaker announcements (Yuyi Morales! Jon Klassen!), workshop descriptions, and agent and editor panel reveals. NOW, you get to do something about it.

2021 Early Bird Pricing is now available!

It’s time to get your ticket to the biggest day of picture book writing fun all year! Register NOW to save $100 with your 2021 Early Bird ticket to Picture Book Summit 2021: Discover the Story Only You Can Tell, coming to a computer near you on October 2, 2021!

This year, we have two options for you!

Summit + Submissions – $247
You’ll enjoy the full online Picture Book Summit program (7 hours of content, replay access until January 31, 2022, the private FB group, and an invite to the exclusive pre-Summit PJ Party), plus the opportunity to submit to our SIX featured agents and editors after the Summit.

The regular price of our Summit + Submissions Ticket is $347 but register during the Early Bird period to get your ticket for just $247. That’s $100 off!

Summit Only – $177
Choose the Summit Only option to get a full day’s worth of Picture Book Summit online presentations (7 hours!), replay access until January 31, 2022, the private FB group, and exclusive PJ Party. This is the perfect option if you already have an agent or you don’t need submission opportunities at this time.

The regular price of our Summit Only Ticket is $277 but register during the Early Bird period to get your ticket for just $177. That’s $100 off!

PLUS – Extend your Summit Experience with Founders’ Session workshops! Once you put one of the 2021 Summit Ticket options in your cart, you’ll have the choice to extend the Summit’s value by adding four online post-Summit workshop sessions with the PBSummit Founders.

These 1-hour sessions take place once a month in the four months after the Summit and are designed to help you keep your Summit buzz going long after the conference ends. The focus of these sessions is Connecting with Your Readers from Idea to Bookshelf. Once you have ideas for the stories only you can tell, how do you know if they will resonate with readers? Join the PBSummit Founders in four post-Summit sessions as they take you on the next step of your writing journey—connecting with your audience, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction.

Choose the Founders’ Session Add-On for only $97 AFTER you add your Summit + Submissions or Summit Only ticket to your cart.

Don’t waste another minute (or dollar!)! Jump on the Early Bird offer now!

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May 27, 2021 In Giveaway, Speakers

Scholarship & Giveaway Winners

It’s always a fun day when we get to give stuff away! Today we get to announce the winners of our BIPOC Scholarships and our Superstar Speaker Reveal Ticket Giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered and helped get the word out about this year’s Superstar Speakers and BIPOC Scholarship.

These winners get a Summit + Submissions Ticket to Picture Book Summit 2021: Discover the Story Only You Can Tell.

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Laura Backes - Picture Book Summit Podcast
May 18, 2021 In Podcast

Podcast – Creating Memorable Characters

Laura Backes - Picture Book Summit Podcast

In this episode, Picture Book Summit Co-Founder Laura Backes gives us insight into creating memorable characters for picture books by discussing the cognitive development of kids in the picture book audience. You’ll look at your main characters and how you develop them in a whole new way after this mind-opening episode.

Laura Backes publishes Children’s Book Insider, The Children’s Writing Monthly. Laura and her husband Jon Bard co-own WritingBlueprints.com. She has edited and critiqued thousands of picture book manuscripts. Her credits include Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read (Random House) and articles for Writer’s Digest, The Writer and Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. She was also the technical editor of Writing Children’s Books for Dummies. Recently, you may have seen Laura on her weekly Kidlit Distancing Socials.

Check out this whole new perspective on creating memorable characters in ways kids can naturally understand.

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PBS 2021 BIPOC Scholarship
April 30, 2021 In Scholarship

BIPOC Scholarship 2021

Great news for you today! Announcing the Picture Book Summit BIPOC Scholarship!

Picture Book Summit is offering 5 scholarships to unagented BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) children’s authors and illustrators to this year’s Summit. Our 2021 Summit will be held on October 2, 2021. Don’t worry if you can’t attend live. The entire conference will be recorded, and scholarships include access to the replays through the end of January, 2022.

PBS 2021 BIPOC Scholarship

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Katie Davis - procrastination and your first 1000 readers
April 27, 2021 In Podcast

Podcast – Digging for Diamonds

Katie Davis - your first 1000 readers

In this fun episode, Picture Book Summit co-founder Katie Davis show us how to dig into research and make our writing sparkle! Did you know research is a integral component in writing fiction and nonfiction? Katie uses two fiction picture books, Renato and the Lion by Barbara DiLorenzo and Shark Nate-O by Becky Cattie and Tara Luebbe, to illustrate how research in fiction can bring a whole new layer to your manuscripts—and maybe a few surprises!

Katie Davis is the author/illustrator of over a dozen traditionally published books for children (picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels). She edited and self-published How to Write a Children’s Book and How to Promote Your Children’s Book, both debuting  at #1 on Amazon.

Katie is a co-founder of Picture Book Summit and is the former director of the Institute of Children’s Literature and its sister school, the Institute for Writers, where, as of this writing, over 470,027 people have taken college-level writing courses and learned to write for both children and adults.

In this episode, Katie uncovers the diamonds in picture book research.

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Matthew-Cordell
April 13, 2021 In Podcast

Podcast – Matthew Cordell

Matthew-Cordell

In The Bridge Between Pictures and Story, Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell helps us find the magic of picture books as he explores the bridge between text and image .

Matthew Cordell has illustrated many books for children including works of poetry, novels, and picture books including The Only Fish in the Sea by Philip Stead and the Justin Case series by Rachel Vail. He has written and illustrated several picture books himself including King Alice, Hello! Hello!, Wish, Dream, Explorers, and Hello, Neighbor. Matthew’s books have been recognized as Best of the Year selections by the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and his first wordless picture book, Wolf in the Snow, was awarded a 2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book honor award and the 2018 Caldecott Medal.

Listen in as Matthew Cordell breaks down a few of his favorite award-winning picture books to find that special connection between words and images. Matthew even shares his struggle with finding the bridge in his early work. Join us for this magical ride.

 

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blog_featured_image_We-are-Water-Protectors
April 1, 2021 In Caldecott

We Are Water Protectors

Today is the day we celebrate this year’s Caldecott Medal Winner WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS. This is the fifth and final video in our 2021 Caldecott Medal and Honor breakdown series. If you missed the first four installments in the series, catch up here:

Pull up a chair for today’s analysis of 2021 Caldecott Medal Winner WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS illustrated by Michaela Goade and written Carole Lindstrom.

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela GoadeHere’s a brief description of this poignant book:

Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption―a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade.

“Water is the first medicine.
It affects and connects us all . . .”

When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth
And poison her people’s water, one young water protector
Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

As well as receiving the Caldecott Medal, WE ARE WATER PROTETORS was also awarded the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text. Talk about the perfect marriage of text and illustration! In this video, Julie Hedlund reveals what makes this book so stunning and why it deserves all the award praise it’s received this year.

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Emma Walton Hamilton and Laura Backes - Revision First Steps
March 30, 2021 In Podcast

Podcast – Revision First Steps

Emma Walton Hamilton and Laura Backes - Revision First Steps

In Revision First Steps, Laura Backes and Emma Walton Hamilton team up to give you tips on approaching the first big revision of your first draft.

Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling children’s book author, editor and writing coach.  With her mother, actress/author Julie Andrews, Emma has co-authored over thirty children’s books, eight of which have been on the NY Times Bestseller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series. She is Director of the Children’s Lit Fellows program at Stony Brook University and co-host of the Julie’s Library Podcast.

Laura Backes is the publisher of Children’s Book Insider, The Children’s Writing Monthly, and co-owner of WritingBlueprints.com (along with husband Jon Bard). Laura has edited and critiqued thousands of picture book manuscripts. Her credits include Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read (Random House); articles for Writer’s Digest, The Writer and Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market; and technical editor of Writing Children’s Books for Dummies.

Listen as they dig deep into revision first steps by taking you on a tour of the first act of a fiction picture book and a nonfiction picture book to show what your manuscript needs at the beginning of the story to get started on a firm foundation.

 

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