Persevering Past Rejection: Tools & Tips to Save Your Sanity
Mar 10, 2025
Online event
Every would-be author or illustrator has faced rejection in their quest to find a literary agent and/or land a book deal. Those passes can tear you down or propel you towards achieving your goals. Author Susan Johnston Taylor will share the sanity-saving strategies she used over her seven years(!) in the query trenches. Want to hear how she sold her first two books to a publisher without an agent? Or see examples of other authors using rejection art to keep their creative spark alive? Don't miss this candid discussion on dealing with rejection.
Webinar Date and Time
Monday, March 10, 2025, at 7:30-9:00 PM Eastern
The webinar is 90 minutes long.
Registration will close at 11:59 PM on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
Please note registration confirmations are no longer emailed. You can find your confirmation and the Zoom link on your member home page under My events. The button is located between your News feed and Resources buttons.
If you do not register for a critique, please check Show this registration in My Events when you register.
If you do not receive your registration confirmation, please email mddewv@scbwi.org with “(name of event) registration issue” in the subject line. Emails must be sent no later than 24 hours prior to an event to ensure a response.
A link to a recording of this event will be emailed the day after the webinar and will be available to registered attendees for 30 days.
Prices
Premium member price: $15
Regular price: $30
You must be an SCBWI member and logged in to your SCBWI member account in order to register.
Note: if you have a current paid SCBWI membership, you are now a Premium Member.
Optional Critiques
Susan Johnston Taylor is offering post-event picture book manuscript (up to 1000 words) critiques.
If you DO NOT purchase a critique, when you register you must check Show this registration in My Events (if you signed up for a critique you DO NOT NEED to check this choice)
Details on submitting your manuscript will be emailed the day after the webinar. Submissions are due one week after the webinar.
Critique fees paid are non-refundable.
PB manuscript (up to 1000 words) critiques: $70
About the presenter
Susan Johnston Taylor
Neurospicy author Susan Johnston Taylor is the author of over a dozen books for the educational market and the self-proclaimed "Susan Lucci of querying." As an actor, Lucci was nominated for an Emmy Award 18 times before winning. As an author, Taylor queried agents more than 400 times before landing representation and winning a Crystal Kite Award for her debut picture book, Animals in Surprising Shades: Poems About Earth's Colorful Creatures, in 2024. She also turned her query experience into a series of short humor videos on Instagram and YouTube. Her second picture book, If Pets Wrote Poems, unleashes with Gnome Road Publishing in 2026. Find Susan on Instagram @sjohnstontaylor