Simon Runs for Team Paws

 

Leadership author and educator Simon Cleveland (There Is No Box) will run the Chicago Marathon 2024 to raise awareness and funds for TEAM PAWS. Please consider investing in his journey. Even $5 can make a difference for this no-kill organization.
 
Here are two ways you can contribute and benefit from your donation:

 

*** OPTION 1 ***

Critique-and-Zoom with Joyce and Marisa

 

Director of KidLit Joyce Sweeney and Literary Agent Marisa Cleveland are donating joint critiques with 30-minute Zoom sessions to the first 4 individuals to donate $25 or more toward Simon’s Team Paws fundraiser.

 

These four donors will be able to choose one of the following for their critique:

 

-   2 picture books up to 2,000 words combined

-   1 chapter book up to 5,000 words

-   1 middle grade partial up to 10,000 words

 

Zooms will be 30-minutes with both Joyce and Marisa on the zoom and can be a further discussion of the critique or anything else the donor wishes to discuss.

 

To donate, click HERE.

 

 

*** OPTION 2 ***

Query Critique with Marisa

 

Literary Agent Marisa Cleveland is donating query critiques for individuals donating $5 or more toward Simon’s Team Paws fundraiser. Donors will receive a critique on their query letter for any project, with track changes and a paragraph detailing thoughts on the query and viability of the project.

 

To donate, click HERE.

 

OTHER DETAILS

 

Once you’ve made your donation, please email Marisa at marisa@theseymouragency.com to begin the conversation of collecting your gift. Please include the name you used for the donation, and which critique-and-zoom or critique you’d like.

 

 

ABOUT JOYCE AND MARISA

ABOUT JOYCE

Joyce Sweeney has been working in the Kidlit industry for four decades. First as an award-winning novelist, and soon after, leading invitation-only workshops for aspiring writers. Within the first two years, seven of Joyce’s students had obtained traditional publishing contracts and a second career was born. Joyce and their students decided that everyone who could secure a contract should get a special “Magic Bean” to mark the achievement.

​

Continuing to publish their own work, Joyce expanded into weekend writing retreats, conducted with Jamie Morris, under the name NEXT LEVEL WORKHOPS. That led to ten years of online classes, taught by Joyce and produced by Cathy Castelli and CAFÉ CLASSES conducted in Fort Lauderdale.

​

Using their contacts as an active SCBWI volunteer, Joyce continued to promote their students and help them find agents. The Magic Bean count continued to rise.

​

By 2020, Nicole Resciniti, who is also Joyce’s agent, offered them the chance to take this lifetime of mentoring to the next level and become a literary agent. Joyce finally found their dream job as a kidlit agent and the Magic Bean count is currently 83 and hoping for 100! At the agency, Joyce began to help and coach other agents who wanted to move into the kidlit space, and continues to represent authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grades and graphic novels.  

 

Follow Joyce’s journey on Instagram: sweeney1217

 

ABOUT MARISA

Marisa Cleveland joined The Seymour Agency as an author in 2009. With more than two decades in the education and publishing industries, she is adamant about supporting the efforts toward the betterment of the human condition. In June 2020, she started signing her own authors who write in the children's, general fiction, and nonfiction spaces. 

​

Marisa has been featured, participated, and moderated at book festivals, panels, and workshops on branding, communication, cultural agility, diversity, leadership development, and the state of the industry. 

 

Gulfshore Business and D’Latinos magazines honored Marisa with the Arts and Culture 2015 FACE Award, and in 2014, Gulfshore Business selected her as a “40 Under 40” honoree. In June 2015, her young adult novel hit the New York Times as part of an anthology, and her other publications include academic peer-reviewed articles, an academic book chapter, and fiction and nonfiction books. 

 

Follow Marisa’s journey on Instagram: thereisnobox

 

***

 

Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this and consider investing in Simon’s charity run!