The 1st Annual Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest is OPEN

Hello friends!! Today is January 31st, so that means... the 1st Annual Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest is OFFICIALLY OPEN!!! I am beyond excited for this moment and cannot wait to read all of your amazing submissions. And I REALLY can't wait for our kid judges to read each one and vote for their favorites. This is going to be super exciting!

If you need a refresher on all of the rules one more time before posting your entry, please read them in detail HERE.

If you want to read all of the details on the optional submission change for PB authors, you can read that in detail HERE.

Once you post your entry below, you might want to hop on over to my twitter to let us know that you posted and to tell us all how you're feeling! Use #KidsChoiceKidLitWritingContest or comment on THIS TWEET so we can all follow along. And if you'd like, you can download this contestant badge to display on your website and/or social media pages. Just click the button for the downloadable image.

Download Contestant Badge Here

I hope you'll also come back to this post and read the other entries and leave comments for the other participants. It's always so nice to feel encouragement from other authors. Can't wait to see this community grow! (Remember to turn off the "join this site's community" option so you don't get hundreds of e-mails with comment notifications. This is an issue on all Wix sites that I super apologize for! I am hoping they change their policy and if they don't make the shift before next year, I will definitely be making a move).

Now, here is a final reminder of what you need to include in your entry below:

TITLE

By: (Your Name)

Genre: (PB, MG, or YA)

Paste your story here. (or your sample for those PB authors who plan to query/sub this story).

Optional: include any links to your blog (with your entry pasted there too if you like) and other social media platforms so that we can all follow you there.

**Note: If you have any issues with getting your entry to show up, please fill out my contact form HERE. Remember that I can't be sitting by my computer 24/7, but I promise I will get back to you in plenty of time to get your entry up during the submission window, so don't stress.

Alright, friends! That's that. Thank you SO much for participating in this kick-off year. This wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you. Our kid judges are super excited to read what you've prepared. It's going to be so much fun!

About Kailei Pew

Kailei Pew is a wife, mother, and children's book author represented by the amazing Emily Forney of Bookends Literary. Kailei's debut Middle Grade Book, KID MADE will be coming to you from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan Summer 2023

Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest Update for PB Writers

Hello wonderful readers! Thank you to everyone who has expressed excitement and support for the Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest! I cannot even begin to tell you just how excited I am. This is truly going to be epic!

I have a very brief update for PB authors. In my mind, everyone was going to be drafting something new just for use in this contest, but I have heard of a lot of people who are wanting to use something that they either are querying currently or hope to query in the near future. Which is totally fine!!

If this describes you, please follow the guidelines below to enter your story. We don't want you publishing a big chunk of the story online because that will count as "publishing" it and can lead to some problems for you. You will only need to follow these guidelines if you are a PB entry planning to query the story you submit to the #KidsChoiceKidLitWritingContest in the same form that you enter it.

PB Author Submission Guidelines:

First, post a comment on the entry page that goes live 1/31-2/2 with the following information (this ensures that you get seen and still have all the benefits of connecting with others on social media, etc):

Sample of (TITLE)

By: (Your Name)

Genre: (PB, MG, or YA)

Paste the first 20-50 words of your story here.

Second, fill out the "Contact" Form on my website HERE with the full 200 words (or less) of your entry, including all of the above information.

Again, this is ONLY for those PB authors who are wanting to query the story that they are submitting to the contest.

ALL YA and MG authors can submit their complete entry in the comments on my website. PB authors who do not plan to query their story in the form it is in for the contest can submit the full entry via my website. Read the full rules HERE.

If you would like me to delete your comment after the contest, I am happy to do that. If you want to submit privately, you can also reach out to me about that.

Thank you all and best of luck writing and revising this last week leading up to the submission window for the Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest!

The Submission Experience Part 4: Acquisitions

Hello, friends! And welcome back to the most interrupted series of all time! I am so sorry for the delays in each part of this series. I am loving everything I'm doing to prep for the #KidsChoiceKidLitWritingContest, but it is quite honestly a lot of work, and I am still in the middle of my revisions for my NF MG, so life happens. Thank you for understanding and being patient with me. This post should be much shorter than the other parts so far in this series. (Famous last words... because we all know that I am not one for brevity).

If you are new around here, you might not know what this series is all about... basically, I am trying to shine a light on the entire submission process, because it really is not clear, even for authors who are on sub. If you missed the first three parts, catch them here:

Part One: Going On Sub

Part Two: Second Reads

Part Three: Revise and Resubmit

Two posts ago we talked about second reads and last time, we talked about the potential for an R&R. So this next step comes after one (or both) of those. Some people go straight from second reads on to acquisitions, other will have an R&R first, and others might even get an R&R after a try at acquisitions. But today, we get to talk about that really awesome-really stressful moment when an editor takes your book to acquisitions!

Even if an editor falls completely head-over-heels in love with your book. Even if their team agrees that it's the best thing they've ever read. Even if you nailed the R&R... you still aren't quite guaranteed an offer. There's one more step--the acquisitions meeting!

Sometimes an editor will tell you that they are about to take your book to acquisitions. Sometimes you don't find out that it went until after the fact and they send you either a pass or an offer. But either way, you have to make it through that meeting.

So, what is an acquisition meeting? Well... it's the big meeting where the entire publishing house gets together to talk about the books that each editor wants to offer on. This is a huge meeting. At the big publishing houses, it includes the entire group. Every imprint under the larger umbrella. (For example, KID MADE went to the Macmillan acquisitions meeting with my editor from Feiwel and Friends and at that same meeting, editors were there from FSG, Roaring Brook, Henry Holt, Etc.) My understanding is that some mid-size and smaller imprints don't have the massive meeting and can take care of acquisitions decisions in their smaller group, even if they are under a larger umbrella.

But those big houses have a big-ol meeting. Editors, managers/CEOs, and the heads of all the departments (more on that below) come to this meeting. And then the editors pitch the books they want to take on and everyone has to agree to it. The editors share a pitch, a profit and loss report (basically, how many copies they think your book will sell based on comp titles, how much they think it will cost the publisher to print, promote, and market the book, and what the overall profit will be), and a report on why they want the book, where they see it fitting in the market, etc. They'll likely read portions of the MS (or perhaps the entire thing with PBs) and talk about exactly why they love your book.

Now... You should know that they are trying to convince a lot of people to give them the green light on offering on your book. Because again, loving it isn't enough in this capitalist world we live in. Here's a bit more on the people they have to convince:

Publicity and Marketing: does the publisher see where this book will fit into the market and how they will be able to place it for maximum sales?

School and Library: is this a book that schools and libraries are going to want?

Sales: is this book going to sell enough copies to be worth the cost of printing it? Does the house already have something too similar? (they don't want to compete with themselves).

And then of course there are the managers and CEOs and big-boss-guys who also have to be convinced.

Everyone has to agree that this is a book they want to take on.

So, what are the chances that your book will get that offer after this meeting? Well, let's look at the statistics from my awesome survey respondents...

(As a reminder, I had 102 amazing authors who have been on sub respond to my survey. You can check out more statistics in the other parts of this series).

The statistics are MUCH better this week than they were in our last part about R&Rs. While there is still a good chunk of people who unfortunately get a "no" at the acquisitions stage, over 62% of books that made it to acquisitions ended with an offer!

To speak of my own experience, of the 4 books I had go to acquisitions, 2 of them came out with offers right away. The other 2 got "no's" the first time they went to acquisitions. But then they went to different acquisition meetings with different publishers, and ultimately received a "yes" from those publishers! So I think that this statistic is actually probably even higher on books that get a "yes" at the acquisitions point, because they maybe will go on to a different acquisitions meeting and receive a yes then.

So after the editor leaves an acquisitions meeting, they will either have the green light to send you an offer letter, or unfortunately, they will have to send a rejection. We're going to talk all about the super exciting part of offers, pre-empts, and auctions next time, but for now, I will say... there is seriously nothing as exciting as getting a call from your agent with an offer. For reals. Toon in next time for all the details on that. But before I let you go, I'll sign off with some words from my anonymous survey respondents.

"An editor can love your book and it still might not end up in a sale because the money people don’t think it’s easily marketable."

"It's all about finding the right fit. When you hear an editor gush about what they love about your manuscript, you know it was worth the wait!"

"We had a meeting with an editor and went to acquisitions at a press - only to find they’ve decided not to acquire any more picture books. It is what it is I guess."

"Publishing is incredibly slow…until suddenly, it’s not! But in the glacial wait, just breathe and take the time to get inspired by something else, rather than obsessing over your inbox!"

"It’s very subjective and informed by ppl’s prejudices , a lot depends on network and personal connections - sucks for marginalized humans."

"I think it has less to do with the quality of writing and more to do with hot topics/luck of timing. I mean, there has to be some level of quality to writing, but a lot has to do with topic/timing (I know I'm not a better writer than others who maybe haven't sold yet or as quickly)"

Well... there you have it, folks! I hope this series continues to be helpful to you. And remember, get your submissions ready for the Kids' Choice KidLit Writing Contest opening in 2 weeks!

About Kailei Pew

Kailei Pew is a wife, mother, and children's book author represented by the amazing Emily Forney of Bookends Literary. Kailei's debut Middle Grade Book, KID MADE will be coming to you from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan Summer 2023