Happy Sunday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight.
And just like that...another PBCritiqueFest was over. And what a festival it was! The reviews, purchases, pre-orders, promotions, and other posts were so cool to see! All of that energy and enthusiasm translated into the biggest turnout we've ever had. Then 31 critiques turned into 39 critiques. What?! Yepp. That happened. We had 335 individual registrations and...wait for it...4,754 raffle ticket entries! MADNESS!
So, if you won, do some quick math and calculate your odds of actually winning one of those 39 critiques. Slim odds indeed! Not all of our winners had the maxed out 200 possible entries (in fact, most didn't). Some had less than twenty! If you won and had less than 20 raffle entries in a pot of 4,754 entries...go to Vegas. Like yesterday. Because you are HOT with luck!
You never really know what might happen from a critique. Sometimes, it's just helpful to see our work in a new way. Sometimes, it's just nice to know our work had meaning to another human being. Other times, it leads to something more significant. Like finding an agent or getting a book deal. Anything can happen and I can't wait to hear all about it!
However happy I am for our 39 winners, it's hard not to have a twinge of sadness because nearly 90% of those who participated didn't end up winning. But the beauty of the kidlit community is there is always something going on. Always another festival, or mentorship contest, or another opportunity to win a critique, or a book, or to connect with others and find community (or commiseration). For instance, the next several weeks at PB Spotlight will have lots! We'll have nine books to give away in the month of November alone. NINE!
Here's the lineup...
Later this week, we have an AMAZING interview and giveaway opportunity with Chris Haughton on his new book, Maybe. This was one of my favorite interviews to write this year. Love, love, love this book! (and all of Chris's books for that matter)
Then, we'll have a special Book of Rules post on pub day (Nov 16) featuring editor, Melissa Warten, illustrator, Tom Knight, and myself. This interview will be a ton of fun and has a killer giveaway opportunity...5 copies of Rules will be up for grabs!
Next, we have a dual-interview and giveaway with Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld on their new follow-up book, Stick and Stone Best Friends Forever!
Finally, we'll wrap November up with a fantastic spotlight on Matt Forrest Esenwine's I am Today.
Lots to look forward to at PB Spotlight. If you happened to miss all of the fun of our live-tweeting of the winners, here are the graphics of our winners for this amazing PBCritiqueFest 2021. Thanks again to all who participated!
Many congrats to all our winners! 🥳
Whelp. That's a wrap for PBCritiqueFest 2021. Now that that's all done, I'm off to go (checks notes) fall into the abyss that is my life in this current season.
Speaking of which, there is only one more week of pre-orders for THE BOOK OF RULES. Bah! That means Dennis is nearly on the shelves. Hide your kids. We should all be terrified...
(robot voice) Please leave your message for Brian Gehrlein. Sorry, Brian is currently unavailable right now. He is imploding in on himself like a dying star. If you feel you've reached this message in error, press the pound key (the hashtag key). If you'd like to fax him, please travel back in time to 1997. If you'd like to run head-first into a child-eating monster's mouth, please do so now. Dennis is hungry and willing to accommodate. Beeeeeeeeeep!
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