More About Ebony Lynn Mudd (She/Her)

Ebony Lynn Mudd writes picture books and novels for underrepresented kids who aren’t portrayed as main characters in the media.

She spends her time fighting fiercely against inequalities, toxic masculinity, and gender stereotypes. As a former professional dancer and current owner of a tuition-free dance company, she is a bridge for underprivileged kids that hope to work in the arts. She’s energized by the creative freedom that dancing gives her and often compares choreographing to creating stories on a blank page.

Her other interests include all-you-can-eat sushi, quoting Phoebe from the T.V. show FRIENDS, and eating anything edible that she didn’t have to cook.

She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the co-founder of the PB Rising Stars Mentorship Program, and the creator of picture book writing courses through her program, The Voice Roadmap.

Ebony is represented by Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Ebony’s upcoming picture books include:

JUNIOR TAKES A LEAP, written by Ebony Lynn Mudd and illustrated by C.G. Esperanza (Scholastic, 2025)

+ An unannounced picture book with Scholastic

JUNIOR TAKES A LEAP, written by Ebony Lynn Mudd and illustrated by C.G. Esperanza to be published by Scholastic in 2025

You can find her online at:

www.ebonylynnmudd.com

Twitter

Instagram

Goodreads

Watch a clip from Ebony’s course: How to Break Down a Picture Book to Build Up Your Manuscript

Testimonial

“In three short months, you can completely level up your writing (and how you view your entire writing process) if you go into this mentorship with a growth mindset.
What are some things you could use some help with? Brainstorming? Outlining? Revising? Querying? Before applying, try to think of a few specific goals you’d like to achieve, and apply to work with the mentor(s) who have that experience and can teach you the tools necessary to make those goals attainable.
For me, revising was an unstructured and often chaotic process, but with the help of my mentor, Ebony, I now have a whole toolbox and revision process to refer to for every single book I write. That is life-changing!”
-Layla Fallah, Ebony’s 2022 PB Rising Stars Mentee

Ebony’s strengths include…

Breaking the “rules” in a way that won’t make anyone blink and teaching YOU how to do the same!

Ebony can help you develop systems to level up your manuscripts in the following areas:

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT & CRAFT

Finding the true heart of your story
Teaching you how to make manuscripts sing with literary devices, but in a purposeful and tasteful way
Analyzing what macro-level parts of a story work well and what parts don’t, based on what you want to leave a reader with
Learning tools to analyze and correct pacing problems
Crafting effective and engaging page turns
Cutting the fluff to allow your real story to not get lost in a rubble of words
Stepping away from the European-style story structure formats to make stories stand out
Crafting realistic dialogue that drives stories forward
Character development

BUSINESS

Polishing strong query letters
Researching agents, agencies, and making a plan to determine who can help you reach your career goals
Spicing up story ideas to make them fresh and marketable from the brainstorming level, beyond
Business development and author career strategy
Building a brand before the book

If you need help with some or all of these things, Ebony is great with them, but she is also stellar at educating others to be great at them too so that you can leave the mentorship knowing more than when you came.

What Ebony is looking for…

Ebony is looking for a mentee who wants to be a career author— even if your confidence is shot and you need a boost to get there.

Do you dream about being a full-time author?

Do you want to travel to school visits and see a line of children with your books in their hands?

Do you want to publish more than one book per year?

Have you always thought that getting published is all luck and you’re just refreshing your inbox, waiting your turn?

Ebony wants a mentee who not only wants guidance on their manuscripts, query letter, and submission package, but she wants someone who is ready to make big moves when it comes to their brand, author website, marketing, and author business plan.

And while, sure, some of this business is luck and timing, a lot of it is constructing the right business strategy and having the right tools in your toolbelt.

If you are ready to work as creatively off the page as you are on the page, Ebony is looking for you.

Ebony is a good fit for…

Fiction — super open. The visual wish list is just a guide.
Fresh & Funky Non-fiction that will change the game.
Cultural (only if you come from that cultural background).
Biographies: that haven’t been done before, about special kids, or ones centered around well-known people BUT with an angle or spin that hasn’t been explored before (this can include a unique structure).
Lyrical, Verse, and Prose
Manuscripts that will surprise readers in any way.
Non-typical / Unique structures.
Multigenerational / Family.
Manuscripts highlighting topics that are “hard” to talk to kids about — grief, death, transitions, change, depression, etc.
Slice-of-life manuscripts.
SEL that focuses on reaching kids, not teaching kids.
Manuscripts without “conflict” and “just-for-fun” manuscripts.
Holiday (especially Kwanzaa).
Stories set in or about Africa.
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
Traditions — especially something niche to your family or culture.
Fantasy / Magical / Whimsical
Folktale / Fairytale with a twist
Humor with an edge— Ebony is drawn to CLEVER funny. The kind of funny that afterwards makes you think, “Genius!”

Ebony is not a good fit for…

Rhyme
Toilet humor
Authors who only write with animals as main characters in fiction work

A Note from Ebony:

“Look, I get it. You’ve been putting yourself out there and nothing has stuck. Rejections keep coming. Other people are winning the writing contests. Your number is never called. It feels like you are the square peg, and the publishing industry is the round hole.

But, look at you. You’re still here. and that’s pretty dope.

The fact that you are even reading this tells ME all I need to know about you. You still believe that kids need your words. You’re still creating. You still love this thing. And you aren’t going to let gatekeepers ruin that for you.

If nobody has told you…I’m proud of you for that. It’s not easy.

And to my future Mentee and ALL applicants,

Yes, do I want to help you get the agent that is right for you, if that’s your goal? Absolutely. But, even more than that…I want you to walk away from this process — the application process, the one-on-one with a Mentor, the workshops, building community with other mentees — knowing that your art is the prize.

You have something to offer the KidLit community and children all over the world. And I can’t wait to spend the summer pouring into you so you walk away feeling 100% confident about that!

Continue to scroll down to view my Visual Wish List and apply if we seem like a good fit.”

If Ebony created a Visual Wish List, it would be made up of…

*The below serves as a wish list only. Ebony is VERY open and wants to be surprised with a manuscript she can’t stop thinking about and an applicant that knows exactly what they need. Please apply if you think she’d be a good fit.

Manuscripts that get Ebony’s attention like these…