Trick or Treat with Lynne Marie and The Little Press!

Hi, readers, writers, and witchy sisters of all sorts! We are THRILLED to have our very own Gob-Lynne Marie here today with her publisher, The Little Press, sharing their new release that recently flew onto the shelves, BroomMates: A Brewing Boundary Battle. BroomMates by Lynne Marie & Brenda Reeves Sturgis, and illustrated by the amazing Nico Ecenarro, follows mismatched sisters forced to share a single room and broom. When they can't decide on the decor because glitter and gloom don't quite mix, they get in a disagreement that leaves them with a messed-up room and a broken broom. Can the sisters find a common ground? Want to know more about this boo-tacular book PLUS want to know what tricks or treats are in store? Read on if you dare...

Q: Hi, Lynne Marie and Michele/The Little Press Publishing! Thanks so much for joining #SeasonsOfKidLit again for our Trick-or-Treat event! We’re thrilled to have you BOTH with us and can’t wait to hear about the collaboration behind your new book - Broommates: A Brewing Boundary Battle. 

Readers, if you missed Lynne Marie's first spooky interview, click here.

If you missed Michele's inspiring interview last year, click here.

Lynne Marie: Can you share more about Broommates and the inspiration behind the story? 

LM: BroomMates is largely part of a real-life experience rooming with my sisters during my childhood, as well as my imagination. It was actually written as a companion to my picture book story Tombmates, which is currently under consideration.

Michele: From an acquisition perspective, were you looking for a Halloween/witchy-themed book at the time or was it something you read and decided you must have? Can you share more about how that process works from a publisher’s perspective?

M: I am always on the lookout for really good holiday titles. When Lynne shared the BroomMates manuscript with me, I loved it from the beginning. Regarding acquisitions, as a small publisher we have very limited submission opportunities, and we have to be very selective in what we acquire. I tend to lean towards character driven stories, where you can see the characters jump off the screen. This was true to me for BroomMates.  

Q: Lynne Marie: Your book started as a story written in prose but then changed to rhyme. What was the reason behind the change to rhyme? What tips do you have for writers looking to rewrite their story in rhyme (or vice versa - change from rhyme to prose)?

LM: Great question – often stories are written in rhyme and as a developmental editor, I suggest prose, but this was an exception. As the author of Moldilocks,I was asked to submit a manuscript to a certain publisher. After reviewing their catalog, I determined that BroomMates would be a good fit. But, since further review determined most of their books were in rhyme, I believed I had best convert the prose to rhyme to target this publisher. I am pretty good at rhyming, but my dear friend Brenda is great, so I invited her to team up with me. As to tips to do this: what I here was map out the scenes to the story – I basically shared what was happening in each scene that was integral to moving the plot forward. Brenda read it over and over until she came up with a rhyme scheme and came up with some sample stanzas. Then I added more stanzas and made suggestions and we went over it again and again until the story was clear and moved forward with each scene, and the rhythm and meter were smooth. 

Q: Michele: We’re often told rhyming books are hard sells, but you’ve acquired a few books that rhyme.  What makes a rhyming book successful and what are the pros and cons of rhyming books (i.e. I’ve heard they’re harder to translate but would love your perspective). 

M: If we acquire rhyme, the story has to come first and the rhyme second.  When you’re rhyming with multisyllabic words and it drives the story along, then it stands apart. Rhyme for me with simple one syllable words tend to fall flat. These books are better geared towards a younger audience (ie: board books) which we don’t acquire for (at the moment.) 

That is SUCH an awesome tip - thanks for sharing!

Q:  Lynne Marie:  Broommates was co-authored with the extremely talented Brenda Reeves Sturgis. How did you decide to pair up on this fun project? Since you both are multi-published authors, did you find it easier to write together, or did you have some Matilda and Malin moments with the manuscript?

What tips do you have for other authors looking to pair up?

LM: Great question! I answered part of this question above, but I will expand on it. I think, like Matilda and Malin, we both have our strengths and differences and also like them, when we work together it’s magical. I do think that co-authoring can be difficult, at best, and knowing those difficulties, there are very few people I would embark on a project with, but Brenda is definitely one of them! 

Wonderful! And Michelle totally agreed that you two were the perfect pair because here we are celebrating your beautiful book.

Q: Can we talk about Nico Ecenarro’s illustrations for a minute? I mean, WOW!! I love the vibrant color scheme and comic-styled illustrations used. 

Lynne Marie: What are your favorite spreads from the book? Was this style what you originally had in mind when writing the book and what do you think now that it’s completed? 

LM: I think it’s hard to consider all the possibilities originally, so this is just one I hadn’t thought about. But I am happy and I think it works perfectly. I am always taken by the initial spread where we meet the sisters, because I think their personification is so fun and fabulous! But I also like the spreads where they battle and mix decors. I also love the zip zap zoom spread. And the resolution spread – it’s so hard to choose! 

Congrats to Michele for picking such a fantastic illustrator to bring this project to life!

Q: Lynne Marie: What’s coming up next for Broommates? Are you working on a sequel? HUGE FANS of the book (ehm…me specifically, not to mention so many others!) are dying to know!

LM:  Another fun question – Michele is such a visionary and Nico Ecenarro brought these characters to life in such a wonderful way, that we are currently working on developing other projects, including a possible companion picture book. Nothing solid, but I am super excited about the possibilities and thrilled that BroomMates is now in its second printing! 

Q: Michele: What’s currently on The Little Press’s wish list? HUGE FANS of yours are dying to know! What tips do you have for submitting a manuscript to The Little Press when you have an open submission window?

M: We have a full release schedule for picture books, so I don’t see us opening up for picture book submissions for a while. I see us opening for early reader and chapter book series.  For those, submissions will be at least 1 full story (written in prose) with outline for 2 more books. I can also see us opening again for middle-grade. 

Bonus question: What’s your favorite Halloween Candy? OR What was your favorite costume as a kid? 

And what candy is Matilda and Malin’s favorite?

M: My favorite Halloween candy is mini-Snickers. Yum!  I steal them out of my kids’ buckets.

I can see Malin liking black licorice and Matilda gummy bears. 

LM: So for me, it’s hands down Reese’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups and also Twizzlers Pull and Peels. I used to trade a pile of other candy with my siblings for just one of these items! 

For Malin it would be Creepy Coffin Candy from Dylan’s Candy Bar and for Matilda it would be Mermaid Rock Sugar Candy Pops. But I also agree with Michele’s choices for them. 

Thanks again to both of you for joining us! It was such a pleasure having you with us today!

Readers, want to know what I thought about Broommates? Check out this Peek-a-Boo Review!

You can also find our reviews are also on Amazon and GoodReads.

Q: Would you like to leave a Trick or a Treat for our readers?

Lynne Marie says: I'm leaving a Trick AND a Treat!

Trick: When writing a Halloween story, try and make sure it has another hook that will appeal to readers outside of the Halloween season, as well.

Treat:  I am happy to offer a ½ hour The Picture Book Mechanic Zoom Mentoring Session with me to one reader and a Rate Your Story Speedpass to another. 

Michele/The Little Press says: I'd like to offer a HUGE TREAT - a skip-the-slush pass for one winner!

Wow, thank you both for such enchanting treats!

Giveaway Details: Readers, to enter to win these super-sweet treats 1) share this post on social media and 2) leave a comment below to thank Lynne Marie and Michele/The Little Press for stopping by. Let us know which treat you're most interested in, too! Halloween & wickedly cool GIFs are totally encouraged.

Winners for the Trick-or-Treat event will be drawn on or about 10/22!

*Books will be shipped in the US only.*

Note: Those who leave a comment on all posts will be eligible to win one (1) of ten (5) Rate Your Story Speed Passes, perfect for quick MS feedback, provided by Agent Mentee Lynne Marie & Author Heather Macht.

About Lynne Marie:

Lynne Marie is an award-winning picture book author of several books, including  The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project and The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project Coloring Book -- art by Wendy Fedan (Mac and Cheese Press 2022), The Palace Rat -- art by Eva Santana (Yeehoo Press 2023), BroomMates: A Brewing Boundary Battle co-written with Brenda Reeves Sturgis – art by Nico Ecenarro (The Little Press 2024) and Henny Penny’s Weather Worries and more, forthcoming. She’s the Director of RateYourStory.org, a Developmental Editor at ThePictureBookMechanic.com, a Co-Ghost of #SeasonsOfKidLit (www.seasonsofkidlit.com) and more!  Visit her at www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. 

Here’s a picture with Lynne Marie as Morticia and Kayla as Wednesday and Douglas Sills, the actor who played Gomez in the touring production of The Addams Family on Broadway.

For more about Lynne Marie, check out the below links:

Twitter: @Literally_Lynne 

Instagram: @literally.lynne.marie 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiterallyLynneMarie 

Website: https://www.literallylynnemarie.com 

To purchase Lynne Marie's books on Amazon, or to leave a review, click here.

About Michelle & The Little Press:

Michele McAvoy is an inspirational speaker, an award-winning children’s book author from New Jersey, and a children’s book publisher. As a child, she read Judy Blume and drew Garfield comics. For her 10th birthday, she asked for a pink typewriter. Michele always loved the smell of new books. Now all grown-up (typewriters near obsolete) she loves bringing joy to children through her own stories. Michele currently has 5 published titles with another on the way! Her titles include Willa the Werewolf, Buckingham Gets A New Shell, Cookie & Milk, The Gorilla Picked Me!, My Superhero Grandpa and Toby Undone with Clear Fork Publishing coming 2024. You can find Michele on social media @michele_mcavoy (Twitter) and @michelemcavoy (Instagram.)

For more about The Little Press, check out the below links:

Instagram: @littlepresspublishing

Twitter/X: @little_press

Website: home (littlepresspublishing.com)

To purchase Michele's books on Amazon or to leave a review for them, click here.

To browse The Little Press Publishing's bookstore, click here.

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A special thanks to David Rodriguez Lorenzo for the amazing custom-signatures!