Course: The Ultimate Craft and Business of Writing Picture Books (Self-Paced)
Description
Join the award-winning 12-week training that’s launched over 2,000 published books and helped students land agents, book deals, and major awards!
Led by KidLit Whisperer Dr. Mira Reisberg, this comprehensive, fun, and insight-packed course has been called “better than a university degree.” Whether you're just starting out or leveling up your kidlit career, this course gives you the tools, feedback, and insider know-how to make it happen.
🎨 Self-paced 🕒 Access for a full year 🚀 A proven path to publication
Start creating the stories only you can tell—your picture book journey starts here!
COURSE SYLLABUS:
WEEK ONE: Getting Started with Great Ideas, the Shitty First Draft, and Your Beginning Hook Gathering Great Ideas and Your Beginning Hook
WEEK TWO: Picture Book Types, Physical Structures, 2nd Visual Stories, the 2 Arcs Working with an Illustrator
WEEK THREE: Interactivity and Humor Dashka Slater • Just Say No
WEEK FOUR: Character and Plot Truths, Themes and Layers • Plot and Structure • Creating Memorable Characters • Problems
WEEK FIVE: Nonfiction • Biography • Amplifying Writing Non-Fiction Versus Information Fiction, Vivian Kirkfield, Deborah Hopkinson, Lori Mortensen, Elisa Boxer, Caroline Arnold, STEM, + Biographies
WEEK SIX: Developmental Stages More About Plotting Your Story • Interview with Bonni Goldberg
WEEK SEVEN: Rhyme • Luscious Language • Active Versus Passive Language Shannon Stocker Interview and Book Review
WEEK EIGHT: Postmodernism, the Public Domain • Manuscript Formatting Postmodernism and the Public Domain • Allison Wortche • Marsha Diane Arnold • Formatting Your Manuscript
WEEK NINE: Editing for Brevity • Jim Averbeck Picture Book Word Counts and Editing for Brevity • Jim Averbeck
WEEK TEN: Pitches Bios Cover Letters The 5 Ps of Publication • Pitches, Bios, and Cover Letters • Contracts • Bonus Workbook
WEEK ELEVEN: Lists of Agents and Publishers, All about Agents, Editors, Book Sellers and Interviews Lists of Agents and Publishers, All About Agents, Book Sellers, Editors, Social Media, Interviews and More
WEEK TWELVE: The Art of Revisions, Promoting Your Book with Social Media, Greg Pincus, Kathryn Otoshi, and Bonni Goldberg with marketing for non-marketers. Promoting Your Book with Social Media, Greg Pincus, Kathryn Otoshi, Bonni Goldberg
BONUS WEEK THIRTEEN: The Art of Revision and Other Teacher's Teaching Week 13: Revision • Other Teacher’s Approaches - Barbara Bottner Week 13: Five reminder videos from the great Frances Gilbert and Charlotte Wenger and me Week 13 Interviews with: Orel Protopopescu and agent Kaitlyn Sanchez Week 13: Diversity, Race, Gender, Class and Environment Week 13: Biographies with Barbara Kerley Week 13: Elemental Revision Strategies and Exercises Week 13: Big Bang Finale - It Takes a Village interview re Finley: A Moose on the Caboose
PRAISE FOR THIS COURSE:
"CBA courses are unparalleled! Tremendous depth and scope of the course materials. The immersive, professional atmosphere. No course I have taken, and there have been many over the years, compares in the slightest. I'm so fortunate to have found CBA! So much fantastic content!... All of the lessons are very comprehensive. The course is invaluable!" - Missy Pray
"As a newbie to this course and really to writing children's books in general, the materials were packed with so much useful information and structured in such a helpful way that it makes me feel like I was a blind person trying to navigate all this by myself previously. This sort of guided, structured approach, along with the tons of helpful references to books to check out, is exactly what I have been missing ❤️ Many thanks to Mira and team for this!" - Jun Qi Tan
"This course is so filled with information, techniques, ideas, and inspiration that it’s easy to refer to while writing a story. Mira’s intent to teach and inspire genuinely comes across and it is a pleasure to be in her course. I’m so glad to be a part of this community and recommend it to anyone wanting to write kids’ books." - Diane Stewart
Course: The Ultimate Craft and Business of Writing Picture Books (Self-Paced)
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Check out these add-on prompts to kickstart your writing!
Prompts: Chapter Book Story Prompts, Part 1
$15.00
Prompts: FAB Funny Beginning PB Story Prompts
$15.00
Prompts: Middle Grade Story Prompts, Part 1
$15.00
Prompts: Illustration Prompts, Part 1
$15.00
"This course is a MUST for anyone interested in writing in this exciting genre. Great content... great feedback... great opportunities to get your questions answered, to get an amazing critique or to just connect with other like-minded authors! And if you are someone who already knows you love writing chapter books (and maybe even knows a lot about writing them) this course gives you that "push" that you need to get in and get writing... and do it right! Don't miss it!"
Wendi Silvano
"This class has been chock-full of useful information that will no doubt propel my work as a professional writer forward. But more than that, it’s given me a feeling that I’ve tapped into the right place, the right people, the right groove. It’s as if, at long last, I’ve found the golden key that unlocks the door to writing success. To experience such a generous source of support and knowledge in the field of children’s writing is truly a blessing."
Linda Moore Kurth
"The Children’s Book Academy rocks. I’ve taken 3 classes and each one was like a mini MFA program. The depth of the information is challenging, but the support system is amazing. I have made real friends and watched my writing and illustrating get better and better. I am so happy to have found these classes and will be using these materials for every writing and illustration project I embark upon from here on."
