Welcome to the Chapter Book Challenge 2019! #ChaBooCha

Welcome to the 2019 Chapter Book Challenge! Are you ready to begin writing your books?

Read this entire post to learn everything about the challenge and the specifics about this year's challenge.

For those of you who are new to ChaBooCha this year, here's a little information about the challenge (which can also be found by clicking on the "About" link at the top of the page):

The Chapter Book Challenge, otherwise known as ChaBooCha, was created by Rebecca Fyfe and first ran in 2012. It runs every year in the month of March. The challenge is to write one completed first draft of an early reader, chapter book, middle grade book or YA novel in the month of March, starting on the 1^st of March and finishing on the 31^st of March.

During the month of March, there are helpful blog posts from published authors, agents and publishers to help members hone their craft, and there are prizes available throughout the challenge. 

ChaBooCha has a very relaxed atmosphere where members help each other to achieve writing goals. You can sign up on the website using the sign-up form, and you can also join the Facebook page for updates and information. There is a Twitter page at and members interact with one another throughout the year in the Facebook group.
It is completely free to join the Chapter Book Challenge. 

ChaBooCha's mascot: Nabu the badger

You also might be wondering about our logo. The Chapter Book Challenge logo is all about our mascot Nabu the Badger. Nabu loves to read, and he is really looking forward to all of the new chapter books, middle grade books and YA books that are going to be written and published as a result of this year's ChaBooCha. Nabu was named after the Babylonian patron god of scribes, wisdom and literature. Nabu became our "mascot" back in 2014, just two years into the Challenge.

ChaBooCha Regional Ambassadors

The Chapter Book Challenge has been growing year on year and, there are some things I cannot do because of the restrictions of my location, such as meet-ups. As a solution, in places where there are more than just one member, ChaBooCha has Regional Ambassadors. 

ChaBooCha regional ambassadors are the people who coordinate Chapter Book Challenge events within their region. In order to become a regional ambassador, there first needs to be more members in your region than just you, and your main duties are to arrange write-ins and meet-ups with other members within your region and also to spread the word about the challenge within your region.

Promotional materials, when they are in the budget, get sent out to our Regional Ambassadors, and printable files will be sent as well. A special RA badge will be created for RAs to use on their blogs and websites, if they so choose. Regional Ambassadors will receive a ChaBooCha RA badge to wear in their first year of joining as an RA and in their second year as an RA, they will receive a ChaBooCha keychain. As things move along, there may be more perks added for RAs. 

If you think this is a role you might like to take on within your region, send me an e-mail. (There is only one RA per region, but they may choose a co-RA.)

Teapot Tales anthologies

To help fund the challenge, from prizes to advertising to RA gifts, we have created a series of anthologies with stories all written and donated by members of the challenge. There are currently three Teapot Tales anthologies available for purchase and a fourth will be available soon. As it has taken me much longer to put together the fourth anthology in the series than normal, we did create a fufth one last year and will not be creating a sixth one this year, but we may put together another in the series at a future date. The fourth anthology will be published this year though, using stories previously submitted. Proceeds from sales of the anthologies go towards funding the Chapter Book Challenge. The anthologies can be found on Amazon. There were also two themed anthologies written and contributed to by past members which also help fund ChaBooCha: Ghostly Echoes (Halloween-themed) and Jingle Bells (winter holiday-themed).

Teapot Tales: Volume 1

Teapot Tales: Volume 2

Teapot Tales: Volume 3

Ghostly Echoes

Jingle Bells

Guest Posts

We have a great line-up of authors, agents, publishers and editors lined up for guest posts this year.  I am listing them below, in no particular order:

Donna L. Martin - international best selling, award winning author of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays

Debbie Dadey - author of the 21-books Mermaid Tales series and the Keyholders series

Melissa Stoller - author of The Enchanted Snow Globe Collection Series, two picture books: Scarlet's Magic Paintbrush and Ready, Set, GOrilla!, the adult flash fiction compilation, Kvelling, Kvetching, and Kibitzing: Celebrating Jewish Life, the family book club guide The Parent-Child Book Club: Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading, and many parenting articles

Melissa Gijsbers - author of picture books, short stories and chapter books - 3...2...1... Done! and Swallow Me, Now!

Tina Wheatcraft Cho - author of Rice from Heaven, Korean Celebrations, Breakfast with Jesus, The Girl's Guide to Manners (and all that great stuff), and 85 guided reading books from Lakeshore Learning, Compass Media, Oxford University Press, and Literacy Planet. An e-book Seasons of the Asian Pear Tree,was published by Schoolwide 2015.

Victoria Corva - professional audiobook narrator and author whose upcoming debut novel Books & Bone was successfully funded on Kickstarter

Cyndi Marko - author-illustrator of Kung Pow Chicken series, This Little Piggy: An Owner's Manual & upcoming Boo! Hiss! 

Alayne K. Christian - content & developmental editor and award-winning author 

Ariel Bernstein - author of the Warren and Dragon chapter book series as well as picture books I Have a Balloon and Where is My Ballon?

Julie Grasso - a middle grade author of The Adventures Of Caramel Cardamom Trilogy and Frankie Dupont Mysteries

Marcie Colleen - author of The Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series,, as well her debut picture book Love, Triangle and Penguinaut! Marcie is an expert on creating highly acclaimed Teacher’s Guides that align picture books and middle grade novels with the Common Core and state mandated standards

Liz Kessler - author of over twenty books for children and young adults, mostly middle grade books featuring mermaids, fairies, time travel and superpowers. Also writes early readers about Poppy the Pirate Dog and Jenny the Pony and has written two young adult books about teenagers coming of age, falling in love and discovering their identity.

Laurie Kutscera - author/ illustrator of middle grade & picture books - Misadventure's of a Magician's Son (Fall 2019)

Jordan Hammessley - agent at New Leaf Literary with previous experience on the editorial side of publishing at Penguin Young Readers

ChaBooCha 2019 Badge

Facebook banner - not the perfect size, but looks good enough

(right click the images for the full-sized version)

Prizes

I usually give out many prizes during the challenge, but last year, my funds were low, so I am STILL sending out prizes from last year's challenge! (To the few of you who were due a prize and haven't received it yet, don't worry; you will still get it; I'm getting them out very slowly. So sorry!)

As a result, this year, there will be more home-made prizes. I still hope you will continue to comment on posts though. I do have one big prize to give out this year and that is a Kindle Fire 7 Tablet with Alexa, 7" Display, 8 GB, Marine Blue — with Special Offers. I bought it last year for this year's challenge, and will mail it out to whomever is the winner of it. Every signed up member of the challenge gets an automatic entry into the drawing for it, and when you leave a comment on a post during the challenge this March, you get another entry (up to one per blog post). The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on the last day of the challenge.


As always, happy writing!

10 Things to Remember When Submitting Your Work to an Agent by Carole Blake #ChaBooCha

                           10 Things to Remember When
                            Submitting Your Work to an
                                           Agent
                                    by Carole Blake

       1. Research the agency before submitting

There’s no excuse not to: we all have websites, often with a mass of useful information.  An agent wants to represent writers who are serious about their work, and that must include a professional attitude. Sending me material in a genre I don’t represent demonstrates you’ve not done your homework.  We have profiles of all our agents on our website so that you can research our tastes.

       2. Send what the agency requests

Seems simple, but I’m often sent whole manuscripts, when we clearly ask for a synopsis and the first few chapters as an initial submission.  We’ll ask for more if we like what we’ve read.  Send by email as our website clearly requests in the submission guidelines.

     3. Give the agency time to deal with it

Most agencies (certainly all the good ones) receive overwhelming quantities of submissions:  many thousands a year.  Most of us try to look at everything we are sent but working for our clients has to come first: I can only read unsolicited submissions out of office hours – and after I’ve read the work of my clients.   If you do want to chase, after a reasonable period of time, please email, don’t phone.  The person who answers the telephone will seldom be the one dealing with your manuscript: an email is much easier to respond to.  Remember how long it takes you to read a novel: an agent reading critically may read slower than someone reading only for pleasure:  I know I do.  Remember responses will take longer around international Book Fair dates and during the summer, over Christmas and New Year: agents need holidays too.

       4. Pitch carefully

This is a business proposition: don’t send in jokey letters that won’t seem funny when the agent is reading dozens, late at night.  Don’t compare your work to the literary greats: I want to form my own opinion.  Don’t trash other authors: they might be my clients, or my friends.

      5.  Gain some distance, after you finish your manuscript

Never submit as soon as you have finished your draft.  Put it aside for several weeks at least, read it again with clearer eyes, revise.  Submitting too early, without revision, may gain many rejections.  I  certainly don’t want to receive a sequence of submissions with one revised version after another.

       6. Accept rejection graciously

Most people do. But every agent I know has received abusive responses, or emails pleading for detailed feedback.  Abuse will not gain you an agent.  Asking for feedback shows a lack of professionalism.  I take on 1 new client a year maximum: sometimes none at all.  See no 3 above: do the maths.   It would be highly unusual if you were not to receive some rejections so accept that and move on to another submission,

       7. Submit professionally

Have your own email address.  Don’t send 3 manuscripts at once. Don’t send your own cover design.  If sending by snailmail (I would MUCH rather you sent by email) don’t mark the parcel ‘Private & Confidential’.  It isn’t, it’s business.  Don’t submit simultaneously to 50 agencies with an open list of their email addresses.  Choose carefully and submit separately. We like to think you’re looking for a special partnership, rather than submitting to any and every agent whose email address you can find.  If you have submitted to multiple agencies (perfectly acceptable) and you accept representation from an agent before I have responded to you: please do tell me.  I don’t want to spend hours reading a manuscript that is already represented by someone else.  The same applies if you give up on the submission process and decide to self-publish.  It’s only courteous not to waste an agent’s time.

       8. Don’t fib.

If you’ve read my book, or been recommended by one of my authors, please do say so.  But if you send me a science fiction novel, or a film script, while praising my book, I will know that you have not read it.

       9. Social courtesy

By all means follow me on Facebook, or Twitter, or Pinterest.  I love these sites as a means of winding down, and am happy to chat to many.  But social media is just that: keep it social. Pitching should be done as the website advises: by email.  If we meet at parties or conferences by all means pitch your project to me succinctly: if I am interested I’ll invite you to submit it.  What I do not want is to be pinned to the spot while you tell me every nuance of the plot over the next 5 minutes.   Ordinary politeness is appreciated in the book world as much as anywhere else.

      10.   Stay hopeful!

Agents WANT to discover exciting new writers: it’s our livelihood.  And I always remember that a large proportion of my clients have come from unsolicited submissions.

© Carole Blake 2013

Author of FROM PITCH TO PUBLICATION: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Novel Published, Macmillan £14.99

Website: www.blakefriedmann.co.uk
Twitter: @caroleagent
Facebook:  carole.blake50
Pinterest:  caroleblake

photo by Jack Ladenburg

About the author:

Carole Blake founded her own literary agency in 1977 after 14 years working for publishing houses, finally as Marketing Director of mass market paperback imprint Sphere.   President of The Book Trade Charity: BTBS.  Past President of the Association of Authors' Agents, past Chairman of  The Society of Bookmen (only the 2^nd woman, since it was founded in 1921). .  She is a member of the advisory board for the post-graduate publishing studies courses at both City University and UCLA.  Author of  FROM PITCH TO PUBLICATION (Macmillan,1999) now in its 13th printing.

Carole's clients include Elizabeth Chadwick, Barbara Erskine, Liz Fenwick, Ann Granger, Peter James, Lawrence Norfolk, Joseph O'Connor, Sheila O'Flanagan, Tess Stimson and Julian Stockwin.

The prize with this post is a copy of Carole's book, "From Pitch to Publication: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your novel Published." If you are already a signed-up member of ChaBooCha, then all you need to do to be entered for a chance to win this book is to comment on this post no later than noon GMT on the 27th of March.

Now, I understand that, as so many ChaBooCha members already buy writing books, some of you might already have this book. Because of this, if you are the winner and you already have the book, you can do one of two things; you can choose to give the book as a gift to someone else in the challenge, either anonymously or with your name attached and it will be sent directly to them instead of you OR you can choose ONE of the following two things from the Chapter Book Challenge 2013 shop in place of the book.

 The Chapter Book 2013 Journal

 The Chapter Book 2013 mug