Regional virtual events

March 1, 2025 (registration closes February 27): Whether you're traditionally published or blazing your own trail in self-publishing, this marketing bootcamp is your all-in-one guide to marketing and selling your children's book with confidence. Join us on March 1st, from 8 AM to 2 PM CST for our first bootcamp of the year, a focused and practical event designed for authors and illustrators who want to master the business side of books. From growing your audience to increasing book sales, this event is packed with expert insights, real-world strategies, and hands-on workshops tailored to help you reach your readers and make an impact.

March 3, 2025 (registration closes March 1): Build your synopsis from the inside out with developmental editor and certified book coach, Erin Halden.

March 3, 2025 (registration ends March 2): Join us as we chat with Kizzi Roberts about chapter books; What they are, where they fit, and why we need them. Chapter books have long been a staple on the shelves of voracious young readers, but what are they exactly? And who are they for? From long-running series spanning over 150 books to new arrivals, we’ll explore key features that make a chapter book different from other middle grade books. From beginning readers to those reading above grade level, we’ll discuss all the ways chapter books meet the needs of readers ages 6 to 10.

March 3, 2025: Explore excerpts from published middle-grade and young adult novels in verse to examine elements and choices that create powerful impact. Consider ways to make your own poetry come together to make a satisfying and striking overarching story. A limited number of MG/YA Novel in Verse OR PB manuscript/dummy critiques available.

March 4 and 15, 2025 (registration ends March 4): Are you ready to get your children's book project into the world of traditional publishing? Pitch Madness 2025 offers the chance to polish and present your pitch to an acquiring faculty member.

March 6, 2025 (registration closes March 3): STAND TALL & STAND OUT: A KIDLIT SELF-PUBLISHER'S GUIDE TO MAKING & MARKETING GREAT BOOKS. In this session you will learn insights and tips on how to successfully create and market your books in this crowded kidlit space from expert Michele McAvoy, multi-award-winning author and publisher at The Little Press. Attendees will come away with an understanding of self-publishing and the rules and pitfalls, to better explore if it's a viable avenue for you. You will also gain practical knowledge of marketing and growing your creative platform. This session is great for creatives who are both looking to explore self publishing and/or simply want to learn about the business side of publishing to empower their personal journeys.

March 8, 2025: Novels in verse have exploded in popularity over the last several years. In this one-hour workshop, featuring Irene Vázquez, Associate Editor, Levine Querido, we’ll dive deep on poetic forms and narrative voice and how you can craft a poetic, page-turning novel in verse.

March 8, 2025 (registration closes March 7): With a wealth of high-octane experience in Hollywood & Nickelodeon - combined with a genuine support for writers and their best interests - Eddie Gamarra will share insider tips on how and where to pitch ideas that could get your book a fighting chance. Former college professor and now media right consultant, Eddie Gamarra was most recently VP, Literary Affairs where he scouted, acquired, and developed books & other IP for Paramount's Nickelodeon & Awesomeness brands. His client roster included NYT best-selling authors & illustrators as well as Oscar, Emmy, Annie, Caldecott, Newbery, and Geisel winners/nominees. He has a BA from Vassar, a Masters from NYU, and a PhD from Emory.

March 10, 2025 (registration closes March 9): 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.

March 11, 2025 (registration closes March 10): Join us as we learn from award-winning author Darcy Pattison about the basics of marketing your children's book with pre-publication tasks, launch strategies, and post-publication maintenance. We'll talk about when and how to use metadata, review copies/arcs, newsletters, social media, interviews, conferences, teacher's guides and more to help you sell more books.

March 11, 2025: The first weeks after your book releases are when you generally have the most publisher support and reader attention. Join Tonya Duncan Ellis, author of the picture book THEY BUILT ME FOR FREEDOM (HarperCollins 2024) and the self-published SOPHIE WASHINGTON chapter book series which has sold over 175,000 copies as she share strategies to maximize your book launch experience during the early days of your release and beyond. Attendees will learn why early reviews matter and how to get them; media and blogger pitching tips; how to use launch groups to promote your book; book launch party tips, including an ultimate launch photo list for future marketing; and ways to build relationships with local bookstores to keep sales moving long after launch. This webinar will be recorded and available to attendees for 30 days following the event.

March 12 and April 30, 2025 (registration closes May 30): This is a two-part webinar series through SCBWI Midsouth. The first session (March 12 at 6:30 Central / 7:30 Eastern) is Start Here: a Roadmap to Building Your Creative Business, presented by Tanisia "Tee" Moore. The second (April 30 at 6:30 Central / 7:30 Eastern) will be The Definitive Communications Primer: Building Communities through Narrative Communication, led by Lys Fulda. You may take both sessions, or just one. Both sessions will be recorded and made available to those who registered for 30 days. Early Bird Special: Register for both sessions in a single transaction by Feb. 22 and get half off the second session!

March 13, 2025: Whether you are writing an epic fantasy with dynamic world building, a suspenseful thriller, a creepy horror, a dramatic family saga, a charming romance, or an otherworldly adventure, it is important to build characters who are complex and distinct. Each character has a backstory and personality that provides them with dimension, and that character's background should influence how they communicate and connect with others. In this workshop, we'll talk about the different ways we can enhance a character's voice through dialogue and other forms of communication. A limited number of MG & YA critiques are available at an additional cost.

March 15, April 19, May 17, and June 14, 2025 (registration closes June 11): A motivational series presented by the SCBWI Montana region. Do you occasionally feel like an imposter? Or has that inner critic convinced you that you have no talent? Is perfectionism leading to procrastination? Or do you feel creatively overwhelmed, or lost? Fear not! SCBWI Montana is here to help you. Join us for this monthly four-part series during which we will explore ways to find your artistic voice, battle perfectionism and procrastination, define your creative vision or just overcome the blahs and set you up for book-creating success. Panelists from Session 4 will also be open to submissions from session attendees.

March 18, 2025 (registration closes March 16): Agent Monica Rodriguez is on a mission to help uplift underrepresented voices in publishing, specifically within the Latinx community. With her marketing experience, her taste tends to lean commercial but she loves discovering new voices across all categories and genres.

March 20, April 9, May 1, and May 22, 2025 (registration closes May 22): "Ready to take your creative career to the next level? Join us for the RMC Webinar Series: The Publishing Path! Whether you're sketching your first storyboard, polishing your manuscript, or already have published works under your belt, this series is designed to meet you where you are. From aspiring illustrators to established authors, we've crafted sessions that will help illuminate your unique path in the publishing world. Speakers include: Molly Idle, Juana Martinez-Neal, Jo Knowles, Rajani LaRocca, and Karen A. Chase. Register now to secure your spot in this valuable professional development series.

March 20, 2025: Join Bianca Schulze in a curated conversation with two extraordinary talents in children's literature—where you get to ask the questions you've been burning to have answered! Caldecott honorees Molly Idle (Flora and the Flamingo, Witch Hazel) and Juana Martinez-Neal (Alma and How She Got Her Name, Fry Bread) will share their creative journeys and processes. This thoughtfully structured session will explore the bookmakers' personal and artistic paths, and will answer the questions you have that will help you design unique paths for your career, and yourself! Submit your questions in advance via a Google form and be part of this intimate conversation with two of the industry's most celebrated author-illustrators.

March 23, 2025 (registration closes February 23): The NJ SCBWI Team invites you to join us on Sunday March 23rd, 2025 for our Virtual Critique Day! Receive valuable feedback from one of our industry professionals with an exclusive submission opportunity.

March 25, 2025: Ever wonder how social media platforms actually work? How the algorithms determine what to show you? How to reach new audiences while engaging existing ones? Join us for a special webinar, and get a behind the scenes look at the world of social media from an insider. Killian Abuan, a seasoned social media strategist, specializes in connecting brands with their audiences through thoughtful storytelling, community engagement and data-driven strategies. She’ll give us the ins and outs of the top social platforms and how we as writers and illustrators can harness their power to market and engage ourselves and our work.

March 25, 2025: In this webinar, Debra Shumaker will share her process for writing in rhyme while also maintaining accurate information. She’ll utilize examples from her own books and other rhyming nonfiction books.

March 26, 2025: Ernest Hemingway said, "The only kind of writing is rewriting." Revision literally means "to see again." There is joy in refining words over and over—let's explore the power of revision together! Join award-winning author and poet Lesléa Newman as she shares her passion for revisions and discover how the true magic of writing happens in the rework!

April 5, 2025 (registration closes April 4): Just like first impressions, first pages can matter a lot. They help set up reader expectations, as well as reader anticipation. How do you polish your first page to where it needs to be to get a reader hooked? We'll be looking at examples of strong first pages and discussing what makes them work, as well as chatting about what might NOT work on a first page. Presented by Foyinsi Adegbonmire, Editor at Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing. She was named a PW Star Watch Honoree and her acquisitions include New York Times-bestseller Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Indie Bestseller Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao. When not reading or thinking about her very large TBR pile, she can be found watching Black sitcoms from the 90s/early 2000s, obsessing over crafting, or being sucked into Twitter and TikTok (@Foyinsi_Pub).

April 5, 2025 (registration closes April 4): Whether you're beginning, powering through to the end, or revising a novel or longer non-fiction book, much of writing is about time. Where's the best place to start? How do you time the key changes that structure your book? Do scenes move at a pace matching the action? When do readers need a breather? And what words and rhythms best echo the pace of your story? Suzanne Morgan Williams’s presentation will touch on all of these, based on her experiences writing and re-writing her own work and coaching other writers with theirs. Bring your questions.

April 5, April 19, and May 3, 2025 (registration closes April 3): A comprehensive writing course for novelists planning their first draft, stuck in the messy middle or preparing for revisions.

April 7, 2025 (registration closes April 6): Join us to learn how agent Natascha Morris reverse engineers a story. From inspiration and MSWL, she will walk you through the outline steps to creating a new manuscript. Whether you are working on a picture book, novel, or graphic novel, this proven method will help you crack the code on how to give editors and agents exactly what they might be looking for. Handouts will be provided, and some pre-class work will be required.

April 8, 2025: What keeps a reader in the story? In this workshop session, Kat will share strategies for creating well-developed characters. Infusing characters with passion, purpose and place will pull readers into the story and make them care about what happens to the characters. We'll work through some examples and attendees will leave with a better idea of who they're writing about. This webinar will be recorded and available to attendees for 30 days after the event.

April 9, 2025: This workshop will explore the power of strong beginnings, whether in picture book, novel, memoir, or graphic novel format. How do authors hook the reader on the very first page? What kind of risks must they take in order to achieve a quick connection? We'll look at published texts with powerful, brave beginnings to study what makes them work. We'll also create new first pages to put what we've learned to the test! Get ready to be brave—and have fun!

April 17, 2025 (registration closes April 16): How Imposter Syndrome can affect creators, agents, and even editors at all points in the writing, querying, submissions, and editorial process, and how to battle through it in your own writing and publishing journey. A limited number of PB, MG and YA CRITIQUES available at an additional cost. (Note: Those who register for POCONO BELIEVE 2025 are automatically registered for this event.)

April 22, 2025: School visits offer authors a fantastic opportunity to connect directly with young readers, promote their books, and encourage literacy and creativity in the next generation, all while supplementing their income. Yet school visits remain quite mysterious for many newly published authors. Developing effective school visit materials takes time and requires some trial and error as you learn about your audience. Join author and illustrator Aram Kim for a workshop where she will share her insights on creating and tailoring school visit programs for different age groups, as well as how to prepare for and follow up after these visits.

April 26, 2025 (registration closes April 25): In this highly informative webinar, with a detailed case study about his self-published graphic novel, author and illustrator Roger McMullan teaches you how to find people who want your book, how to build a community around those people, and how to sell your book - all without spending a penny on ads. He'll rate his wide range of promotional efforts with how effective they were in relation to cost and effort, and if they would be worth doing again for a future book.

April 26, 2025: Christyne Morrell, contracts attorney and kidlit author, will walk us through some common provisions in agency and publishing contracts, provide examples of red flags to avoid, and reveal the legal provision that almost ended her writing career.

May 1, 2025: The key to writing a successful book is to make it unique—to tell a story in a way that only you can. But how do you mine your own life and experiences for stories while still keeping them fresh? Newbery Honor and Walter Award-winning author Rajani LaRocca talks about her author journey and uses specific examples from her books to inspire people to dig deep and write their own stories.

May 13, 2025: Have you written something that’s not a picture book and don’t know what it is? Are you interested in engaging our youngest readers? Join author Kari Allen for a workshop on creating early chapter books and early readers. Kari will talk about the form, ways to engage readers, how to play within the constraints of the format, and how these kinds of books are used by her Second Grade readers. Participants will leave with a stronger understanding of early chapter books, a list of mentor texts, and hopefully some ideas!

May 17, 2025 (registration closes May 16): Join SCBWI San Diego for a virtual one-day conference for authors and illustrators! MayFest features a keynote speaker, Eliza Wheeler, Award Winning Author/Illustrator. An editor panel with Foyinsi Adegbonmire, Kristie Choi, Celia Lee, and Sally Morgridge. An agent panel with Chad Beckerman, Jolene Haley, Jennie Kendrick, and Sandra Proudman. And an art portfolio showcase judged by art directors Katie Fitch and Mariam Quraishi. Optional Zoom critiques available. See pricing on the "Info for Everyone" sub-page.

May 22, 2025: Every author needs an author-centered (not book-centered) marketing plan, regardless of how you publish, how many books you have, or in which genre. That plan also defines the tools necessary to build engagement through each subsequent book. In this class, we'll help participants understand brand and marketing plans, including a defined network/audience, a platform-tools list, and marketing outlets. We'll also discuss how to manage writing time versus marketing time. It's all to help you be the boss of your author career.