Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 7

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: We Did It!

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I know a lot of you have been following along and joining in on the adventure to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks. For me, the hardest challenge was actually getting a lot of the books from my local library because it’s still not fully open like it used to be.

What was your biggest challenge?

If you read all 40 books, I thought it would be fun to offer you this image that you can post on your own site. Feel free to use it however you want to because, yes! You completed the challenge.

And now that our reading is over, I want to encourage you to give back to the many amazing authors you’ve learned from and shared your time with as you’ve read their books. If you really liked their book, take a minute and post a glowing 5-star review on your favorite internet sites like Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Before you do, just listen to this story, however. A few years ago I was in a group of fellow picture book authors when we decided to read 40 picture books like this and meet together several times and discuss what we read.

We shared the positives, the negatives, the good, the bad, and the awful. One week, I had read a particularly notable book that I thought was awful. It had won an award, which brought it to my interest to begin with, and I fumed about how it the world anyone could possibly have given it an award.

But then our group met. Before I opened my mouth to share my opinion, one of the other gals said she had read that very same book. She was so excited about it! It was her daughter’s very favorite book now, and they had to read it every night at bedtime. Her daughter absolutely LOVED it…it had become THE book for her.

Well, I learned an important lesson. Just because a book doesn’t meet my criteria for wonderful doesn’t mean it isn’t a wonderful book in someone else’s eyes. So if I don’t particularly like a certain book, I just move forward. I only post 5 star reviews of books I absolutely like.

And I don’t post 4 star reviews, either. That’s because 4 star reviews actually hurt an author’s ratings. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve read a review online where the reviewer gives glowing recommendations and then only gives it 4 stars, which actually lowers the rating of that book.

So if I can’t give a book a 5 star review, I simply don’t post a review of it. But I love to post 5 star reviews as a thank you to authors who have made my world a better place with their books. I encourage you to do the same, especially for your favorite books that you’ve read this past month!

And just as another note…you never know who reads those reviews. I’ve received amazing reviews on Amazon that are noticed by the publisher and circulated among the editorial and publishing staff. The reviewers name (and often bio) gets seen and celebrated and shared. You never know what might happen when you post a great review for a book you loved.

So glad you joined in the fun. Hip hip hooray for picture books!

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: Week 4

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Welcome to Week 4 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! We’re reading 40 picture books in 4 weeks. What a journey it has been!

For my first batch of books, I focused on a topic. Grief. I wanted to write about how to help little ones through the grieving process, so I ordered in from our local library as many picture books on grief that I could find.

The next batch of books I ordered in focused on 2 authors. Mo Willems and Rosemary Wells. I really admire both authors and am constantly re-reading their books to our grandkids that I already own, so I wanted to expand my knowledge base for more of their awesome titles.

The last batch of books I read focused on an award. The Caldecott, to be specific. I always like to read these award-winning books but somehow I had gotten behind on the most current winners. So I ordered in the winners from our library as well as some of the runners up.

What have you been reading this month?

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: Week 3

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Welcome to Week 3 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! Our goal is to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks so we can immerse ourselves in our genre. This has oodles of benefits for us as writers.

One of the biggest benefits of reading so many books in such a short time is that a couple of books will outshine all the others. They’ll resonate within your author’s heart. They’ll sing! They’ll grab you like none of the others did.

These are picture books you’ll want to treasure as mentor texts. You’ll want to dissect them with a fine-tooth comb and ask yourself WHY are these books so special?

When I find a picture book that’s a mentor text, one of the first things I like to do is type it out on my computer and save it as a document file. Why type it out? Because typing out a winning picture book actually trains our brains to get a better grasp on the language, flow, pace, plot, and length of what our own manuscripts want to attain to.

So keep your radar out for potential mentor texts as you’re binge reading picture books this month. And when you find them…treasure them like gold!

Sale! Classes for KidLit Authors

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As many of you know, I’ve written over 100 books and counting. I’m a KidLit author and have written oodles of books for kids and for teachers to use with kids.

But I seriously believe in helping other writers as I’ve been helped in my career, too. That’s one of the reasons I’m an instructor at Serious Writer Academy.

And all this month my classes plus others are on sale for 20% off!

Here are 4 of the classes I teach:

Developing 3-D Characters

Writing Humor for Kids

Getting in the Writer’s Zone

Pacing the Plot

CLICK HERE to visit the Serious Writer Academy and find a list of classes (plus mine) that you can choose from to take advantage of this exciting sale!

Just type in the coupon code GIVETHANKS2020 at checkout.

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: Week 2

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As you’re plowing through reading lots of picture books this month, 40 to be exact, you might want to keep a handy list of what you’re reading.

I am.

In fact, I created a handy chart to write down my handy list and I want to share it here with you! Just click on the downloadable file to download it and print it out.

40-x-4-reading-listDownload

What do I do with my list? I’ll put it in my Children’s Writer’s Notebook, a three-ring binder, which is where I’m adding the rubrics I’m creating for the picture books I’m reading this month.

I keep all the rubrics for picture books I read in one handy place so I can refer to it while I’m working on writing my own manuscripts. This handy reading list keeps all the titles I’m reading this month in one quick place so I can remember each title and then look it up among my alphabetical list of rubrics.

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge Week 1

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Welcome to Week 1 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! The challenge is to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks. Come on, we can do this!

It’s always a great idea to read, read, read in our genre, but if you’re like me sometimes I get too busy working on my manuscript to immerse myself in actually reading. So this month, I’m going for the gold! I’m glad to hear from you that you’re joining in the adventure, too!

For my first batch of books (my library only lets me order in 15 books at a time unless I borrow my husband’s card and up it to 30) I’m focusing on reading a bunch of picture books on a certain topic. Grief, to be exact. I wanted to write a picture book on grief, so I ordered in as many as I could find from a list I found for the best picture books on sharing grief for kids.

I already started reading through these picture books, and as I do I am taking notes. I’m filling in a rubric I like to use when I read picture books. If you’d like to use the same rubric I do, CLICK HERE to visit my site Writing According to Humphrey and Friends. On there you’ll find a list of various worksheets I’ve made that you can download and print out to use.

Look for the rubrics for fiction picture book, nonfiction picture book, or informational text picture book. As you evaluate the books you’re reading, it will help you evaluate your own manuscripts you’re working on. Have fun!

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: Where to Find Books

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Today it’s not always easy to find books to read. Here are a few places to check into that just might have what you’re looking for!

Your own bookshelves. During this challenge it’s perfectly okay to re-read books on your very own bookshelf. The goal is to binge read 40 picture books all in 4 weeks and if you already have titles on your own bookshelves that fit into your goals, these can count!Your local library. My library has been closed, open only for pick-up, and open for limited access during different weeks during this time. If your local library is open for pick-up, you can visit their online site and request books to come in for you to borrow. I always like to encourage authors to support their local libraries!Local bookstores are sometimes open, too. If you have one near you, it’s a great place to visit to read picture books, even if you don’t purchase any. (But hopefully you’ll buy at least one to support them!) I’ve visited my local bookstore with notebook and pen in hand and read through quite a number of picture books all in one sitting!Online bookstores, of course. Authors love your support, especially when you’re a fellow author!WorldCat. This is an amazing site where you type in the title of a book you’re looking for and it tells you the closest libraries that carry it. If you live in a metropolitan spot with various libraries, this is a great tool! Click here to visit WorldCat.

6. Online sites that offer ARCs or Advanced Reader’s Copies for book reviews. If you review books like I do, you might be able to get digital copies of books to review and add these to your reading list. Check out places like NetGalley and Edelweiss to see if you can request a digital copy of the titles you want to read.

Image by Comfreak from Pixabay

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: What to Read

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Welcome to the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! This challenge will take place during the month of November here on my blog.

For starters, what should you read during this challenge? Well, it depends on your goals.

Goal #1: Familiarize yourself with the PB genre.

For one thing, you could read any picture book you can get your hands on. A variety. From all sorts of publishers and on all sorts of topics. From classics to the newest title. This will give you an overview of the genre. This is especially helpful if you want to write picture books but aren’t really sure what a picture book is all about.

Goal #2: Target a specific publisher

If you want to land a contract with a certain publisher, however, a great idea is to search online for the publishers most recent catalogs. Look over their catalogs and collect a list of current titles of the picture books they’re publishing. Plan to read as many as you can find for this 40 x 4 Picture Book challenge.

Goal #3: Target a specific niche or topic or subgenre

Want to write a bedtime story? Want to write nonfiction? Want to write a biography of a famous female? Recently I wanted to write a book on dealing with grief for kids. So I searched online for “The Best Books on grief for children.” Amazing lists came up!

Goal #4: Other goal

Perhaps you have a different goal in mind. You might want to write a book that would win a certain award. Or you might want to write a book that uses a similar style or voice as a successful kidlit author you know. Just search online for lists of those picture books and that will be what you want to read.

In my next post I’ll share some great places you can find these books to read during our 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge!

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

STEM Book Giveaway!

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Are you a parent or grandparent? Teacher, Librarian, Educator or Home-schooling family? Or fellow KidLit author?

If you’re any of these, you’ll want to join this exciting giveaway that’s happening over on Instagram.

CLICK HERE to visit my site nancyisanders on Instagram and join in the fun!

40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge

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Ready to roll up your sleeves for a fun adventure?! Then join the challenge to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks.

I know there are a lot of challenges out there to write, write, write. November is famous for this already. But what if you don’t have time or the energy or the ideas to write? Then this reading challenge is for you.

All through the month of November, I’ll be posting here on my blog about an amazing way to recharge, revitalize and revamp your life as a picture book author. It’s all about binge reading in your genre…picture books!

The benefits are many.

This will give you ideas about what to writeThis will give you topics to post about if you post book reviewsYou can really study a publisher’s catalog and get to know them wellOr you can really get to know a lot of the books in today’s market about the topic you want to write aboutYou can really get to know one author if you focus on her booksYou could choose the most recent books to win a certain award if you want to write an award-winning book yourselfI could keep on listing the benefits!

So get ready to get started! I’ll share how and what to do in my posts ahead.