Regional virtual events

January 10, 2024: While being a first-time picture book author is not novel, it is a dream-come-true for this mother and physician. Christine Ko will talk about her inspiration, touch on medical culture and the need for books to represent the diversity of the world, and her specific 5-year journey from conception to publication. She will cover the many rejections, finding a literary agent, getting a book contract, and the editing process. She will also discuss marketing and book launching.

January 10, 2024 (registration closes January 9): Get a jump-start on your creative aspirations for the new year! In this 90-minute workshop with Nutschell Anne Windsor, you’ll discover how to turn your writing dream into a vision by learning strategies and tactics to set, sustain, and succeed in your writing goals.

January 15, 2024: Kelly Anne Dalton is an illustration professional with 14 years of experience. She has worked for Penguin Random House, Quatro, The Washington Post, Little, Brown and Company and many more. Kelly Anne will provide a written portfolio review for you as well as give you the option of a 30 minute Zoom meeting with her to discuss your critique.

January 16, 2024: Do you want your book to captivate and create tension that makes your readers feel as if they're walking on a tightrope suspended 50 feet above ground? Join award-winning author Valerie Bolling and learn tips, and see examples from picture books, that will show you how to heighten the tension in your story.

Program dates - January 18, February 29, April 18, June 6, 2024 (registration closes June 6, 2024): In this series of webinars, industry professionals Naomi Kinsman, Chrystal D. Giles, Anika Aldamuy Denise, and Elizabeth Law explore Creative Approaches to Storytelling, Compelling Characters, Using Filmmaking Techniques to Enhance Drafting and Pacing, and Revision. All webinars will be 7:00-8:30 pm MT on January 18, February 29, April 18, and June 6, 2024. Receive a four-for-the-price-of-three discount when you register for the series!

January 20, 2024: Whether it’s your first or tenth, writing a novel is daunting. There is no exact formula to writing one—and it takes a long time! That “long time” leaves plenty of chances to feel lost and derailed. NYT bestselling author Mary E. Pearson wants you to know you are not, that you are walking down a well-treaded path.

January 20, 2024: Mallory Grigg, Sr. Art Director at Macmillan Children's will explore the physical construction of a narrative, how an art director thinks about a picture book, and how visuals can affect the way we tell a story. A craft based talk for illustrators with some exercises for participants on picture books.

February 1, 2024 (registration closes January 30): As children’s book writers and illustrators, we know how important having our own platform is for connecting with readers, teachers, librarians, and book buyers. Join Sarah McDavis for this webinar where we will talk about finding the best place for you on social media, pitfalls to avoid when posting, why having an email list is important, and the number one mistake people make with their list. Learn how to create an overall strategy that works for you!

February 3, 2024 (registration closes February 2): So, you want to write a mystery. Congratulations! You've picked one of the world's most enduringly popular genres! But also...oh no! You've picked one of the world's most complicated genres to plot! In this webinar, Ginny Myers Sain, Crystal Kite winner and New York Times bestselling author of young adult thrillers DARK AND SHALLOW LIES, SECRETS SO DEEP, and ONE LAST BREATH (all from Penguin Teen) will take you through the basics of plotting your own mysterious story. From planting clues, to creating red herrings, to pulling off shocking plot twists, to unraveling a satisfying solution, you'll learn how to lay the foundation that will keep your readers guessing and turning pages.

February 5 and 29, 2024 (registration closes February 28): Join us for this TWO WEBINAR series--Feb 5 & 29--for an opportunity to hear from the agents of Greenhouse Literary. A limited number of critiques, pitch spaces and career consultations will be available for an additional cost. The webinars will be recorded and the recordings provided to all registered participants after the event.

February 6, 2024: Join us to talk about narrative distance with Lisa Rowe Fraustino. Narrative distance refers to how far the narrator takes the reader inside a character’s thoughts and perceptions. Understanding narrative distance helps with controlling point of view and mastering the craft of showing characters versus telling about them. In this workshop, we will look at examples across a range of narrative distance, from remote to close-up, and practice placing our own sentences on the spectrum to achieve a desired effect on the reader.

February 10, 2024 (registration closes February 7): The Promise of a Good Beginning with Erin Dionne. Writers know that a strong beginning is critical for any story: It sets the story in motion, hooks a reader/agent/editor, and establishes character. But beginnings do so much more. In this online session, we'll explore the promises and expectations that beginnings communicate to our reader. We'll assess how to carry over those promises to the middle of our novels, and see them through at the end. With some short exercises and lots of questions and examples, audience members will leave with the tools they need to keep their promises of strong beginnings.

February 17, 2024: Meeg Pincus (she/her, author), Meridth McKean Gimbel (they/them, illustrator), and Kelly Delaney (she/her, editor) will each discuss creating sensitive and authentic portrayals of historically-marginalized (in this case, transgender) people. They also will walk us through brief exercises to dive deeper into the process of this kind of picture book creating—Meeg on writing, Meridth on illustrating, and Kelly on acquiring top-quality PBs by and about historically-marginalized creators, characters and communities in today’s climate—all helping us hone our own ideas and works in progress!

February 26, 2024: Whether you’re writing a story set in a galaxy far, far away, an enchanted forest, Brooklyn NYC, an ancient dojo, or a far future dystopia, how do you keep track of your characters and worldbuilding? You can make a story bible! A story bible is a tool to help any author organize the aspects of their world-building—the cultures, rules of magic and/or science, weather, politics, ecology, economy, and all other kinds of nitty gritty details—timelines of important plot points and histories, and character interviews and designs in a handy physical or digital body of reference for when you’re fleshing out your later drafts. Member Ticket: $10 / Non-Member Ticket: $15

March 4, 2024 (registration closes February 26): Gallt and Zacker Literary Agent Erin Casey Westin covers the most important things to understand and advocate for when negotiating an offer of publication and a contract. Whether you have an agent or not, knowing what is standard, where you can ask for improvements, and what might be missing from a contract is empowering and keeps you protected. Come learn the basics you need to enter negotiations with a publisher with confidence.

March 16, 2024: A good query letter is the equivalent to a good first impression. Often the first way an agent or editor is introduced to your project, the query letter explains why the reader should be interested in your work and, really, why they should move any further in this initial “conversation.” Whether you’re starting to query agents for the first time or are publishing your 10th book, learning how to pitch your book is a valuable skill to hone. In this presentation, Kelly Sonnack, Senior Agent, will discuss the best structure for a query letter, ingredients that can help your work stand out, items to avoid, and will pull examples from real-life query letters submitted in advance.

April 20, 2024: How do the latest industry developments and practices affect your creative path? In this session, we’ll talk with Lilly Ghahremani, co-founder of Full Circle Literary, about what creators need to know about today’s book market, from advances to publication timelines, morality clauses to AI and more. If these phrases aren’t familiar, that's even more reason to join us!