Applicant Prep Party Q&A

These questions and answers are from the Applicant Prep Party! If you want to read more FAQs, check them out here.

Another great way to get information about our program and prepare to apply to be a 2026 PB Rising Stars Mentee is to watch the event replays below:

Hi Michele! Unfortunately we do not know the exact word count because does not disclose this, but we always recommend typing up your answers ahead of time and having them saved in a word document just in case you need to make an answer shorter to submit. We have also seen people have success switching browsers to submit IF they get a word count error. And, of course, try to be concise with your answers while still showing your personality and saying what you’d like to say!
That will often depend on the mentor. Some are requiring a dummy, and that is very clear on their page. Others are more than happy with a manuscript and a portfolio to see your art style. or a partial dummy with a full manuscript. Each mentor page will be clear on what they want you to submit. But we definitely recommend submitting something that shows the full text of the story and an idea of how you see that art coming to life, even if it isn’t complete art + your portfolio.
We are shifting personally and professionally. We will be pouring into the community in new ways, actively getting into classrooms, fighting book bans, and working with our alumni community in new and meaningful ways.
Our mentors are very open to mentees at all stages. It’s okay if your dummy is super rough! Whatever stage you are in on the dummy you would like to work on with that mentor is good! If you submit a dummy with rough sketches only, it would be helpful to submit a portfolio with finished art so they can see examples of your art at your best.
Refer to the Applicant Prep Party replay for more on this, but you can upload a doc with all of the links you need to share inside of that document. We will bring up on the screen what that can look like. It is VERY important that you make sure these links are public or that you provide the correct password to us on your application so we can access it.
This can be a link on your website, a Google Drive link, or wherever works for you! As long as we can get access to it!
Since this is a picture book only mentorship, you can only submit picture book manuscripts and/or illustrated dummies / portfolios.
It can refer to any of the illustrations in your portfolio—they do not have to be part of specific dummies or stories!
Not at all! We got into this a bit, but it’s a great idea to submit something that needs work and that you feel a mentor could help you with! You will also be able to share a portfolio that shows more of where you are now. But it’s a great idea to submit something that you need and want help on and feel like a mentor can help!
Only a couple of our mentors are requiring a dummy. And even they are okay with very rough drafts. So definitely okay to have only sketches. We welcome mentees in all stages!
Yes! We suggest looking under "not a good fit for" for each mentor and as long as wordless stories isn't under there, you can submit one!
One :) But each Mentor will also pick 1 Runner-Up, who will receive a different prize! They will also select 1 Honorable Mention who will win a group Ask-Me-Anything with our co-founders Ebony & Kailei!
Great question! If you are already on submission if you get selected, that's ok! But we'd ask not to keep submitting anything new during the program. Also, we encourage you not to submit anything to this program that you plan to go on submission with before the May 12th announcement!
Yes! You can absolutely submit your manuscript to a text-only mentor as long as you’re okay with only working on the text with them over the summer and not the art :)
The LIVE Mentee Announcement will be on Zoom on May 12, 2026, from 8:00-9:30 PM Eastern Time! You can click to register on our website under the Mentorship Information tab. There is a calendar of events with the links included :) If you cannot attend live or choose not to, we will also email selected Mentees, Runners-Up, and Honorable Mentions that evening after the live event. We will also email selections out after the event as well. There will be many ways to tune in!
We take care of this internally with everyone submitting their choices. It’s actually very rare that someone chooses the same mentee, but we have a smooth process for when it happens to make sure everyone connects with the best pairing.
We suggest that you don’t submit something that has been queried extremely widely because then it doesn’t have anywhere new to go unless you do a FULL overhaul to the point it is a new manuscript.
Absolutely! You can apply to as many mentors that you feel are good fit for you and your work, and you can use the same manuscript for every application OR a different one for each. Whatever you feel is best. Just keep in mind any triggers or “do not send” items on each mentor wish list.
We have free resources for this in our sample application! Go to our website www.pbrisingstars.com and under DOWNLOAD there is a sample app and resource there! You will see pagination resources there!
Refer to the Applicant Prep Party replay for more on this, but more like a snappy elevator pitch! Think the length of a book jacket description.
If you watch the whole Applicant Prep Party replay, we go in depth about this! But make sure to infuse yourself into the application. Show who you are and be honest about what you need help with.
This is hard to answer! There's no one thing that makes you stand out. What's for you is for you. Sometimes it is about timing. Sometimes it's about the right mentor for you! Tonight is all about how to bring the best version of YOU to your work and application answers. The rest is out of your hands! But definitely control what you CAN control!
You only have to pause querying if you are selected for our program. If you do sign with an agent or sell a book before the announcement, we ask that you email us the update. That said, if you are seeking mentorship, you may consider waiting to query until you feel fully ready.
Sample application is on our website, under the DOWNLOADS section: https://www.pbrisingstars.com
Great question! Each Mentor will only see the applications submitted to them. They will not have access to applications to other Mentors. We also make sure the mentors don’t talk among themselves about who applied to them, how many people applied to them, etc. :)
This is rare, but if it happens, we have a system in place to match the mentee with the perfect mentor. That’s why your application answers are so important!
Mentors select their Mentee, Runner-Up, and Honorable Mention on their own :) We stay out of their reading and selection process!
No specific reason other than mentors may just not feel comfortable or confident in teaching rhyme or they do not write rhyme :) The mentors who ARE asking to see rhyme feel very confident in helping other creators with their rhyming work. And feel free to submit your rhyming work to any mentors as long as they don’t have rhyme in their “not a good fit for” section of their page.
You can if that works best for you! A website link or a Google Drive link works great! As long as we get access to it! You can also ask this question in our applicant discord to other author-illustrators and they may have some great resources!
You can absolutely include what you already have! No need to create anything new for the application.
Only one manuscript is required to apply! There will be a place to write pitches for your other projects (if you have them), but that is not required if you only have one to work on :)
Anoosha Syed has great resources on her website and YouTube! We also recommend having characters with different expressions, sequential scenes, and even some pieces with backgrounds and settings!
There is no ranking system! We just encourage you to apply to any mentors you would be happy to work with, if selected :)
It’s definitely okay to include in your portfolio! You will be working on PB in the mentorship, but it’s good to showcase all that you want in your portfolio!
Yes, absolutely! Most of our mentees are not requiring a dummy. There are a couple that are asking for just a rough dummy at least, so keep an eye out for that.
We can’t tell you specifically number wise because it really depends on the piece of work and where it can be queried, but we mean not so widely that it can then not be submitted anywhere else.
There is no set number, as long as you can show your strengths and weaknesses!
Pagination is not required, so that is entirely up to you if you want to include it or not! And you can mention in your answers that you would like help with that :)
That really depends on if you feel like you could still have places to submit it. Most agents say that once you’ve sent something, you cannot resubmit the same work. So just be aware of that. If it’s the book of your heart and you HAVE to get that one out into the world and you are fully ready to do a complete overhaul to get it into a place that you could then query again, then that’s okay!
Every mentor has a different plan for the summer. Some want to work on multiple, and some want to work on just one. ALL of them will be open to doing what is best for YOU as a mentee. We only require ONE manuscript to be eligible to apply to ALL of our mentors.
For the submission itself, we only ask for ONE for each mentor. Some might ask for additional work from some applicants, but no one will require multiple pieces at submission, and it’s okay if you ONLY have one piece! It is also okay if they DON’T ask to see more from you before the mentee announcement. Every mentor is different during the selection process!
Yes! We get it!!! If you are ready to do a complete overhaul and get it to a point that you can go back into the query trenches with it, then yes! But remember that most agents say that once you have submitted a piece, you cannot submit again unless it is basically a completely new story. If you also have a list of agents you’d love to submit to but haven’t yet, then it may be a good book to work on this summer with a mentor.
Yes! Google forms saves your progress. But we always recommend having your responses saved in a separate document somewhere just in case there are technical issues outside of our control.
Yes you can include all of that in your portfolio for sure! And you can explain more about your portfolio pieces on your application in your responses, too.
As for how to apply, it depends on what you want to work on in the summer. If you only want to work on illustration, then apply as an illustrator. if you want to work on the text side as well, apply as an author-illustrator!
Yes, your responses will be emailed to you! Check your spam folder!!
We suggest you link to somewhere else so that you can have the file size be whatever you need!
Yes! We will help you fill out your application. Please email us for accommodations at pbrisingstars@gmail.com but just make sure to email us soon to schedule a time for us to help!
This is okay! You will have space to write more about the pieces in your portfolio so you can talk about the inspiration there. But we'd encourage you to also have some original pieces as well!
Yes, absolutely! It’s okay to showcase your work however feels best to you. You can indicate on the application how you are applying (as an illustrator)
Yes, it’s okay to know yourself and know what you need in a mentor. We do hope that you can look at those specific areas and know what you might need and then be open to a mentor’s thoughts.
You can be honest about that in your answers! When I applied, I was COMPLETELY new to picture books and had a lot to learn. What helped me was spending some time thinking about my goals as a creator and the kind of books I want to see out in the world. You definitely don’t have to have it all figured out yet, but these application questions might help you learn more about yourself and your work. I hope that helps :) - Layla
It truly depends because every Mentor/Mentee pair will have a different structure for how often they meet and how they communicate! There will be one virtual workshop Zoom per month (usually 1.5-2 hours). You can both work around each other’s schedules. The general summer calendar can be found here: https://www.pbrisingstars.com/mentees

In addition to what’s on the calendar, there is a monthly workshop (3 in total), which usually run about 1.5 hours long on Zoom. These are optional to attend, and sometimes are recorded (although this is not guaranteed)! Then in September, there is a business intensive with Ebony and Kailei. This is a weekly workshop that usually runs for 2-3 hours on Zoom. Again, this is optional to attend but highly encouraged as the business intensive is NOT recorded due to how much information they share! I hope this helps a little bit. But rest assured you can set up a schedule that works for both you and your mentor for the 1-on-1 mentorship aspect :)
If your status changes at any point in the process, we just ask that you email us at pbrisingstars@gmail.com to let us know. If you applied to a mentor who only works with unagented mentees, then you will no longer be eligible to work with them. If the mentor you applied to is open to unagented or agented creators, then your eligibility doesn’t change and you can still be selected!
Nope, that’s okay! You don’t have to let us know if you submitted it to any other mentorships or competitions, etc.
Querying is the process of submitting/sending your manuscript to literary agents for consideration. Agents then decide if they want to sign you as a client (to represent you) and submit your book to traditional publishers. If you have queried your book widely, this means sending your manuscript to dozens and dozens of agents and getting rejected. If the work has already been seen by all of the agents who represent picture book creators, it might not be the best use of your time to spend your mentorship working on that book. You will get a lot more out of working on a project that hasn’t been seen by a lot of people already! The mentorship is the perfect time to polish your work so that you can query the best version of your stories/art. I hope this makes sense :)
Definitely not! Formal education (or even lackthereof) will not hinder your application! But you can totally mention it!