I attended an online webinar from called picture book summit. They provided four reasons picture books get rejected. I will list the notes below. Any inaccuracies are the fault of the note taker.

2. Lack of emotional resonance. By Laura Backers.
– Place of emotional residence, or heart in the manuscript.
– Some key phrases that editors will say that a manuscript does not have enough heart is
– – I don’t love it enough
– – I didn’t connect with the voice.
– – It doesn’t resonate with me.
– – Feels slight / one note / slice of life. (It means it doesn’t have the depth)
– Ask yourself as an author how does it not connect.
– Could the character’s voice be flat?
– Is the character relatable?
– Is the journey of the character meaningful?
– Is there some transformation that the character is going through?
– Lack of heart means your story may be a bit too much plot-driven.
– Emotional residence is the emotional connection of the reader into the book
– There has to be something universally relatable for your audience. One book has the emotional trauma of Humpty Dumpty after his fall. He has PSD and doesn’t’ dear climb. The reader wants Humpty to overcome that idea.
– The heart of the story is when the reader moves from reading the book to becoming a part of the book. It might be the place where you laugh out loud. Or even a tender moment where the reader feels Aww. There might be more than one.
– How do you provide heart> you have to dig deep within your help. If the characters are misbehaving why? Are they being ignored?
– You will have to place the characters in the worse places and make them ace them.
– If a story does what the reader expects then it prevents emotional residence.
If you have additional recommendations, feel free to add them in the comment section of this blog.