Five years ago I stumbled onto something marvelous--PiBoIdMo, a.k.a. Picture Book Idea Month. PiBoIdMo, an idea challenge, was started seven years ago by author Tara Lazar. The goal is to write 30 picture book ideas for each day in November. Just ideas, not even stories! Since then I've participated each year and will again try to come up with ideas for November.
Why should I/you participate you ask? Well, if you're trying to write a picture book, this is a great idea factory. In fact, research shows that it takes A LOT of picture book stories to come up with that one GEM of an idea that will grab an editor's eye and actually make it into the publishing world. One of my writing friends heard picture book author Sudipta Bardhan Quallen at a conference recently. Sudipta said for her, it's a 6:1 ratio of books that don't sell. I know many other authors said they have to write lots of stories or ideas in order for THE ONE to achieve publishing status.
Other benefits:
*Awesome posts by published picture book authors in your inbox EVERY DAY in November. This is like having a personal coach/cheerleader inspiring you to write.
*Notebooks full of ideas that I can look at for years
*Networking and collaboration with other writers like myself in a closed Facebook group
*Stories that actually make it to published status!
Why should I/you participate you ask? Well, if you're trying to write a picture book, this is a great idea factory. In fact, research shows that it takes A LOT of picture book stories to come up with that one GEM of an idea that will grab an editor's eye and actually make it into the publishing world. One of my writing friends heard picture book author Sudipta Bardhan Quallen at a conference recently. Sudipta said for her, it's a 6:1 ratio of books that don't sell. I know many other authors said they have to write lots of stories or ideas in order for THE ONE to achieve publishing status.
Other benefits:
*Awesome posts by published picture book authors in your inbox EVERY DAY in November. This is like having a personal coach/cheerleader inspiring you to write.
*Notebooks full of ideas that I can look at for years
*Networking and collaboration with other writers like myself in a closed Facebook group
*Stories that actually make it to published status!
my PiBoIdMo notebooks Here are some of my personal stats from PiBoIdMo:
2011: 2 out of 57 ideas sold. Idea #31 sold to Clubhouse Jr as a nonfiction article. #55 sold to Schoolwide as a nonfiction e-book
2012: no sales, but rewrote one story into a novel in 2015
2013 Idea #30 is currently in "revise and resubmit" status with an agent
2014: Idea #37 is also in "revise & resubmit" status
So I hope I've convinced you to join me in this FUN and FABULOUS picture book idea challenge! If I haven't, check out the line up of guest bloggers.
Joan Holub, Josh Funk, Grace Lin, Tammi Sauer, Denise Fleming, Ame Dyckman, Pat Zietlow Miller, Kelly DiPucchio, Paula Yoo, Arree Chung, Kim Norman, and many more!
And lastly, I found this on a building in Seoul...
Starting on 10/25, you can register for PiBoIdMo. Hope to see you there!
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