Critique Carousel 2024

Want the opportunity to put your manuscript in the hands of an acquiring agent or editor? Then SCBWI-MI's Critique Carousel event is for you!

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REMINDER FOR CRITIQUE CAROUSEL REGISTRANTS: To find the link for submitting your materials - Go to your member home page. Click on the My Events tab. You should see a tile labeled "Registration" with the name of your chosen agent/editor listed below. Click on the "Meeting Info" button. The link to the submission form is on that page. Deadline for submission is Oct. 1st at 11:59 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: The Critique Carousel is open to Michigan members for the first week, and then it opens to all regions. We'll do an email reminder to all regions to let them know when registration opens to them on September 24th. Thank you for your excitement for this event!"

 The Critique Carousel is a virtual SCBWI-MI event for members to receive a critique from an acquiring agent or editor. Ten amazing kidlit professionals are lined up for this year’s carousel and they’re looking forward to seeing your work!

Agents participating this year are open to critiquing the following categories: 

• Picture book (fiction and nonfiction)
• Picture book dummy
• Chapter book
• Middle grade (fiction and nonfiction)
• Young adult (fiction and nonfiction)
• Graphic novel (fiction and nonfiction)
• Novels in verse 
• Portfolio review (illustrations)

Registration Fees: $55 for Premium Members; $70 for Preview Members

Agents and editors participating in the 2024 Critique Carousel are being profiled over at our region’s blog, The Mitten. See the first post here.

Be sure to choose the agent or editor who is the best fit for your work (see faculty bios below). Participants may submit only one manuscript/portfolio/dummy to one professional.

Your chosen agent or editor is expected to complete your critique and the Critique Carousel Coordinators will email the completed critiques to you on or before December 2nd, 2024. Please be patient and kind as the event is run entirely by volunteers, and while we love doing it, we do have other jobs and commitments. 

Your chosen agent or editor is also expected to be open to ONE submission from you for six months after this program. Submission instructions will be included via email with your completed critique.

Please Note: Participating in the Critique Carousel is a two step process:

1. Register for your chosen agent or editor on this website, beginning September 17, 2024 at 8 AM (Eastern Time) for Michigan residents and September 24, 2024 for all other regions. Deadline: 11 PM (ET) on October 1, 2024.
2. Once you’ve successfully registered, you’ll submit your manuscript for critique via a Google Form. The link to the Google Form will be provided to you on the "Events" section of your member home page. We check all submitted materials against the registration list (i.e. Name, payment, agent/editor chosen). Deadline: midnight ET on October 1, 2024. Please honor these deadlines so we have enough time to get the materials to our critiquing professionals.

Submission Instructions:

• Submit your materials by midnight on October 1, 2024 using the Google Form link provided in the "Events" section of your member homepage. **It is not in your confirmation email**
• Email submissions will NOT be accepted. If you have issues with the form, please contact Wendy at critiquecarousel@gmail.com.

Submission guidelines for written critiques:

In the header of the manuscript or manuscript sample (including any synopsis), include your name, email, and title of the manuscript. Make sure the header with your information is on each of your pages. These are not counted toward your word limit.

Picture Books:

Fiction: up to 800 words, 1-inch margins, double spaced (sample here). 

Non-fiction: 1,200 words, 1-inch margins, double spaced.

Art notes and back matter do not count toward word count, but please know they are supplemental materials and will not be critiqued.

For Portfolio Submissions:

• Create a single PDF file of 7-10 jpg images
• Name your file in this format: Lastname_portfolio 

      Example: Doe_portfolio

For Book Dummy submissions:

• Dummies should consist of a fully laid-out sketched picture book with 1-2 completed pieces of artwork. Books should be assembled into a single PDF file.
• Name your file in this format:  Lastname_bookdummy 

      Example: Doe_bookdummy

Novels: 6 pages, 1-inch margins, double spaced (sample here). You may include a single-spaced one-page synopsis (at the end of your pages), but the synopsis will not be critiqued.

Graphic novels: 

Art and text: 6 sample page spreads in jpg or pdf format, as well as a summary/synopsis.

Text only: 6 pages of script.

You may include a single-spaced one-page synopsis (at the end of your pages), but these will not be critiqued (sample here).

Novels in Verse: 6 pages, 1-inch margins, single-spaced, no page breaks at the end of a poem. Run them right up after the one before (sample here). You may include a single-spaced one-page synopsis (at the end of your pages), but these will not be critiqued .

General guidelines:

Please use standard font formatting; Arial or Times New Roman, size 12.

If your manuscript is intended to be author/illustrated, you may add the line "author illustrated PB" (or MG, CB, etc.) in your contact information.

Please name your file in this format: YourName_AgentsName_GENRE 

For genre, please use: PB, CB, MG, YA, GN, NV

Example: JaneDoe_AgentX_PB

Preferred file formats: Word doc or PDF

We will review your sample to make sure it meets the guidelines. Please understand that it is your responsibility to submit in accordance with the guidelines. We will do our best to let you know if you are not meeting the guidelines. 

For this reason, if you haven't already done so, we recommend that you submit your materials prior to the October 1st deadline. There are no refunds offered for material submitted after the deadline or that does not meet the submission requirements. There are also no refunds/cancellations for this program.

Please contact Wendy at critiquecarousel@gmail.com if any questions or issues arise.

Thank you for taking part in this unique SCBWI-MI opportunity!

Check out our incredible Critique Carousel faculty and their manuscript wishlists!