12x12 Picture book challenge

Debbie V

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I came upon this recently and was wondering if it was worth the money. Does anyone have experience with it? Only one of the agents listed for the Gold Level is otherwise closed to submissions. I checked.

The link is below. If you click to Julie's You Tube channel, you'll find a video with even more info. Thanks for any thoughts.

http://www.juliehedlund.com/12-x-12/
 

Tromboli

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Looks interesting. I was going to say that I would only consider the first teir because 160$ is a lot of money (45$ isn't so bad) but honestly, if you compare it to conferences or webinars, the price is actually pretty fantastic. People pay 300$ for a few hours with an agent for WD webinars. This is a full year of support, knowledge and some agent feedback. Its really not a bad deal.

I'm considering hoping in on the first teir because I've never written a picture book in my life but wouldn't mind trying it out. Not a bad way to throw my hat in, you know?

Let me know if you decide to do it.
 

Debbie V

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I'm focused on writing novels these days and marketing a couple of chapter books. Therefore, I won't do this this year. It just got me curious.

I posted to the SCBWI boards also and found that Julie had some very good feedback there. There were people who've participated all three years and loved it.

I do feel that if you work at it, you can build your own support network for free by using forums and local critique groups. However, the money may be worth less than the time for some of us. I had something to share with my group every month last year.

Tromboli, if you decide to hop in, let us know how it goes.
 

Lineykins

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Sounds interesting Debbie - thanks for the link.

I'd love to know if any of those 100s of PB manuscripts written over the last couple of years has found a publisher...
 

escritora

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Writers I know who participated praise the FB group more than anything else. YMMV
 

Raen

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Did anyone ever do this? I'm kind of considering it, but it's rather expensive. Wish they had a month long trial period or something to see if it's something worth doing.
 

Debbie V

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I still haven't done it because I'm not focused on picture books, but I know people who have. I've never heard negative feedback about this program, but it was what you make of it. The more you participate, the more you are likely to get out of it. If you think of the cost of an SCBWI conference and then look at the number of hours for each, I think you may find the cost is well in line. Research other conferences and consider costs of attending too. There is no travel here. (Again, I don't know Julie and have not participated in this. My comments are hearsay. Perhaps do a Google search for reviews.)
 

rainbowfish

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I was in 12x12 for two years.The webinars were initially very useful, and the primary reason I joined. I agree that you get what you put in, and the comraderie/networking aspect is a big element of the experience for most. It didn't increased the number of manuscripts I wrote, but PBs were really a sideline for me. I didn't participate in the forum, and was never a "Gold member", which offered submission opportunities. To me, that's overpriced because you can query most of the agents on your own, but YMMV. To sum it, I do think it's worth trying a basic membership for a year, especially if you're a beginner.