SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S BOOK CREATORS
Manzanita Children's Book Classes and Community — Create and Share Your Story!
Manzanita Children's Book Writing Workshop
Are you ready to become part of a thriving ecosystem of children's books creators? Award-winning author and editor Laura Atkins is offering a monthly children's writing workshop, starting in January 2025. We will meet online on the third Wednesday of each month, from 6:00-8:00 pm Pacific Time. The cost is $100 per month.
What's Included?
📅 Monthly Gatherings: Join Laura Atkins for engaging two-hour sessions covering a variety of writing and creative topics, plus creative prompts and community building. Two members will get manuscript feedback at each gathering, plus lots of time for sharing.
🌐 An Online Hub: Dive into our vibrant online platform, where members can easily connect, ask questions, share successes, access resources, and more.
Join Today! Ready to become part of this supportive and empowering community? Fill out this interest form! I'm happy to schedule a discovery call to talk more about the program.
Here's what a previous participant said:
"I feel incredibly lucky to have joined Laura's cohort. I've been in few picture book spaces at this point, and Laura's facilitation was by far the best experience I've had. I felt so supported and connected to the community (not always the case in an online format) and my writing and knowledge of picture books grew exponentially. The class felt safe and Laura brought in materials and necessary discussion around representation. Laura has a real ear for story and a simple, effective way of teaching story theory. She also introduced us to many experts in the field, who all so generously shared their knowledge of the publishing landscape." —Lila, "Create Your Children's Book" cohort member
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Past offering—"Create Your Children's Book" Cohort
Create Your Children’s Book Cohort – The first cohort ran in January 2024
with Laura Atkins, Manzanita Children’s Book Community
What: Unlock the world of children's book creation with the supportive "Create Your Children’s Book" cohort. Members will gather to support each other as they develop their concepts into children’s books. The goal is for people to tell the stories that THEY want to tell, for themselves and their communities. While this will support all creators, it will especially highlight alternative publishing options, such as self-publishing or going with small publishers.
This cohort will be held and guided by Laura Atkins who has thirty years of experience in the children’s book world, including working at Children’s Book Press, Orchard Books, and as an editor at Lee & Low Books. For much of this time she has offered freelance services to publishers and individuals wanting to develop and publish their stories – increasingly folks who are self-publishing. Laura is also in the process of self-publishing her own picture book, which is adding to her experience in understanding this process.
What Others Say About Working with Laura:
- "Laura was instrumental in helping me take a ten-year-old manuscript that I was stuck on and turn it into a polished story." — Rob Trujillo, Fresh Juice
- "Laura Atkins does exactly what you hope she'll do—and way, way more." — Kate Schatz, Rad American Women A-Z
Weekly Sessions Include:
- Weekly prompts with videos and exercises: Craft your project at your own pace and share with the community for feedback.
- Twice monthly in-person online sessions: Tentatively Wednesdays, 6-8 pm Pacific Time.
- Events with visiting speakers: Live and recorded sessions at least once per month. Past speakers included creators Zetta Elliott, Innosanto Nagara and Rob Trujillo.
More!
- Community conversations: Engage in our community space.
- Resource sharing: Indie publishing resources, craft and tool links, and more.
- Manuscript feedback: Get community feedback on your writing.
- Responsive to members' ideas and desires.
Timing and Costs:
- Cohort will run September through November.
- $250 per month, a total of $750 for the three-month commitment.
- Reach out to Laura for financial options; no one will be turned away.
- Add on monthly one-on-one sessions with Laura for extra support for $300 (instead of $450 at usual rate). So $350/ month or $1050 total.
One-on-One Mentoring Sessions:
- Members enjoy reduced rates: $100/hour for up to ten hours per month.
Have Questions? Reach out to Laura here.