Posted by When should you join a professional group for authors or illustrators?
Anytime. Always. That might look like joining a Facebook Group, SCBWI, or a group associated with an art/writing program.
Professional groups share content for continuous learning, support opportunities for manuscripts or illustration swaps, encourage critique groups for accountability, and often provide paid critique services.
Which Group Should I join?
It depends upon your goals, but I recommend joining one or two (unless you have a lot of free time) and really dive deep. There’s usually an FAQ for beginners as well as slightly different social etiquettes in each.
🔰Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI): Professional organization, paid, but includes lots of opportunities to learn and network.
🔰KidLit 411: One stop shop for all things kidlit, free.
🔰Reforemo: Reading for Research was founded to help picture book writers reform writing by reading and researching mentor texts, free.
🔰Kids Comics Unite: A community for kids comics professionals, paid & free options.
🔰Writers for Diversity: A group of writers who are interested in writer more diverse characters and worlds, free.
What about social media #hashtags?
There are so many wonderful, giving, and knowledgeable kidlit creators and groups out there. This list is just a start of some that I have personally followed on Twitter (in alphabetical order).
🔰#BlackCreatorsinKidLit
🔰#LatinxPitch
🔰#kidlitart
🔰#PBChat
🔰#PBParty
🔰#Storystorm
🔰#12x12PB