The PBChat Mentorship program is a FREE three-month mentorship to assist unagented, traditionally unpublished picture book creators (authors, author/illustrators, and illustrators) who are actively working toward traditional publication. It culminates in a private showcase for agents and editors.

Winners will be announced on May 31st, 2022 at 11am ET via Twitter (@pbchat1) and email. I’ll contact those mentees via email the same day and connect them with their mentors. From there, each mentor and their respective mentee will determine the structure and format of their mentorship together: frequency and method of communication, materials worked on, goals, plan of action, timeline, etc. The mentorships will run from June 1 through September 1, 2022.

Yes, international applicants are welcome to apply!

You may submit to up to three mentors total. Applicants who apply to more than three mentors will be disqualified.

No. The mentors will review all applications submitted within the submission window that follow and meet all rules and eligibility requirements, respectively.

Yes, you can tailor both your application and manuscript to each of the mentors you apply to.

You may submit complete manuscripts only—no works in progress. Manuscripts should be polished and as near query-ready as possible. Please submit your strongest work. Non-illustrators may apply to the mentorship with only one manuscript; however, mentors might request additional manuscripts from applicants.

No, you will not be asked to provide a query letter. However, many of the application questions asks for individual elements that one would find in a traditional querry letter. e.g. comp titles, pitch, bio, etc.

No, eligible applicants may only apply as individuals. No co-writing duos or teams will be accepted into the program.

If you’re solely an illustrator (and not applying as an author-illustrator), you may submit samples of your illustrations and/or provide a link to your portfolio in lieu of a manuscript.

The 2022 PBChat Mentorship is accepting submissions from agented applicants only who have not yet been published and have not accepted an offer of publication. Please refer to ‘Rules’ document located on the ‘2022 Mentorship’ page for more information.

As of 2022, no current or previous PBChat mentee may re-apply to be mentored for a second time.

Here is a list of PAL publishers: https://www.scbwi.org/list-of-pal-publishers/

If the publishing house of your picture book is not listed within the document it does not necessarily mean you’re eligible to apply. Please email me if you need clarification. You are still considered published even if your publisher is no longer in operation and/or your board book or picture book is no longer in print.

You are ineligible to apply to the PBChat Mentorship if you’ve published a picture book, have signed a contract, or will be signing a contract with a PAL publisher.If you’ve been published for other genres (MG, YA, adult, etc.) you are still eligible to apply to any of the mentors (even those otherwise closed to published creators) so long as you meet the other eligibility requirements. If you have had a picture book published but it was work for hire/IP and/or for the educational market only then you are still eligible to apply to mentors otherwise closed to published creators.

The maximum file size permitted for each document upload is 10MB.

No, you can not apply with a manuscript that is any of the following:

1) About to go on submission through an agent

2) Currently on submission through an agent

3) Has received an offer that you have or will be accepting

4) Currently under contract

5) Has already been or is in the process of being self-published

6) Has been queried (to agents) or subbed (to editors) widely.

If you have signed a contract with a traditional PAL publisher for a picture book or board book then you are ineligible to apply to mentors who are not accepting applications from published creators. However, you may still be eligible to apply to select mentors who are accepting applications from published creators.

If you receive an offer of representation and/or publication during the mentorship you will not have to rescind your spot as a mentee. However, if you receive an offer of representation and/or publication prior to the announcement of the selected mentees then you are expected to withdraw your application by notifying me via email.

Please proofread your manuscript and ensure all is correct and the way you want it before submitting. You will NOT be able to revise or submit a new manuscript in its place., even if you want to add updates to the information and/or materials you provided.

The mentors are very busy. They’re working full-time jobs, managing family life, writing, preparing for submission, marketing their books, teaching, taking classes, etc. So, to help them, I pre-screen select mentors’ applications for them, narrowing down the selections to 5-10 finalists, for the mentors to choose their mentees from.

I am pre-screening applications for the following mentors:

Hannah Holt, Rob Sanders, Tara Lazar, Vivian Kirkfield

Please refer to the document linked under the ‘Rules, Guidelines, Eligibility & Submission Information’ of the PBChat ‘2022 Mentorship’ page. If you still have questions, please email me at 2022pbchatmentorship@gmail.com