Tuesday Debut – Presenting Kimberly Shrack! PLUS A Giveaway!!!

Welcome to Tuesday Debut on a day that is actually a Tuesday, everyone!

Today we have a treat! A debut-ess who is an author/illustrator!

But first. . .

As you know from our jam-packed last week, we have LOTS of giveaways to announce today! Really, everyone is so generous we are just rolling in giveaways!

So from last week, the winner of Suzanne Poulter Harris’s giveaway of a picture book manuscript critique (under 1000 words) – can be fiction or nonfiction, prose or rhyming from Suzanne, is. . .

Jenn Gautam!

The winner of Heidi Yates’ giveaway of a signed copy of MONSTER MANNERS A to Z is. . .

Rosihollinbeck!

The winner of Kimberly Delude’s giveaway of winner’s choice of a signed copy of DIGITAL RED OR a Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Kimberly is. . .

Angie Quantrell!

Congratulations Jenn, Rosi, and Angie! Such great giveaways for you to enjoy! Please email me at your earliest convenience so I can get your winnings to you!

PLUS, we have a new giveaway for today! Actually, two! Today’s Kimberly (not to be confused with Friday’s Kimberly!) is offering a Zoom chat with an aspiring author/illustrator and/or their critique group to one lucky winner as well as offering a copy of SPOOKY SCOUTS to another lucky winner! To put yourself in the running to be one of the two randomly selected winners please leave a comment on today’s post by Monday September 7th at 3 PM Eastern!

And now, before you get too giddy to concentrate due to all those giveaways 😊, please join me in welcoming today’s debut-ess, author/illustrator Kimberly Shrack!

Title: Spooky Scouts
Author: Kimberly Shrack
Illustrator: Kimberly Shrack
Publishing House: McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster
Date of Publication: 8/25/26Fiction or Nonfiction: fiction
ISBN: 979-8347101184
age range of your book: 4-8

When wolf pup Luna has been keeping a secret from her Spooky Scouts troop – every full moon, she transforms into something strange. When a full moon is in the forecast for the annual camping trip, she must use all her scouting skills to stop the transformation before it’s too late!

SUSANNA: Welcome, Kimberly! We are thrilled to have you join us today! It is always extra exciting to get an author/illustrator who can help us see picture book creation from a different perspective! Where did the idea for this book come from?

KIMBERLY: The whole thing began with the character of Luna, this little werewolf with a secret. It came to me while volunteering in my daughter’s preschool co-op. I saw how the kids—my daughter included!—would go from 0 to 60 like something supernatural had come over them. I made the comment to one of my fellow parent volunteers that they were like werewolves, and the idea stuck!

I tried writing this little werewolf character into several different stories, but none felt quite right. Then I landed on the idea of a scouting troop, and everything started coming together. I was extremely lucky to be selected for Justin Colon’s PBChat mentorship program, in which he paired would-be picture book authors up with published writers. I was selected as Jessie Sima’s mentee (an actual dream come true!), and they helped me really push the idea and get it to a place I loved.

I cannot stress the benefits of mentorship enough! It definitely elevated my work, which in turn helped me land my agent and first book deal. If you have the opportunity to be mentored, take it!

SUSANNA:  I LOVE Jessie Sima’s work! It must have been amazing to be her mentee! When you embark on a new picture book, which comes first for you? Writing or drawing?

KIMBERLY: For me, writing comes first, BUT I start drawing before I do too many revisions. I find that creating the art inspires me to make changes to the words, even just at the sketch level. In that way, I suppose you could say I do them at the same time!

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write/illustrate this book?

KIMBERLY: Like I mentioned, I first came up with the idea of the Luna character when my oldest was in preschool… she is now entering 3rd grade!

I actually began writing Spooky Scouts in 2022. When I got paired with Jessie as a mentor, they guided me through the revision process, and helped me make it 1000x better, both in words and art. Then querying began! I was incredibly lucky to be picked up by Laurel Symonds of KT Literary, and after a few updates to the dummy, we went on sub! And then… well, crickets.

It took nearly two years before Spooky Scouts was acquired. TWO. YEARS. So many people around me were getting offers after a few months. We had many close calls, and a pretty intense heartbreaker. But then someone in my picture book author group noted they had been at a conference and heard Simon & Schuster editor Nicole Fiorica mention she was looking for silly, spooky picture books. My agent passed it along, and everything happened quickly. I’ll never forget when I got the offer call. And I sent that author friend who gave me the tip a gift and lots and lots of gratitude.

So a recap! Began writing in 2022. Agent in 2023. Offer in January 2025, and now published on August 25, 2026!

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

KIMBERLY: Did we ever! Many, many rounds. That’s the major reason you don’t do full color on a dummy, save for a couple spreads… you ARE going to have to change it. More than once. But I am so grateful to have the incredible art director Greg Stadnyk who made the whole process a delight. Every suggestion and every change made the book better. A great art director makes all the difference!

text and illustration copyright Kimberly Shrack 2026, McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster

SUSANNA: How did you present your manuscript?

KIMBERLY: For author-illustrators, we create a dummy of the picture book, which includes line art drawings for most spreads, with 2-3 spreads in full color.

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

KIMBERLY: My agent submitted the dummy to several editors at several houses. It took us two years to get an offer, but she never gave up! And when we did finally get the offer, it was from a Big 5 Publisher! Definitely worth the wait!

SUSANNA: How long was it between getting your offer and getting your contract to sign?

KIMBERLY: It was actually pretty quick because we had to get started right away. It’s normally 2 years from signing to publishing, but we only had a year and a half. My agency, KT Literary, has someone who works exclusively on contracts and helped everything move quickly.

SUSANNA: How did you celebrate signing your contract?  (If you care to share 😊)

KIMBERLY: I don’t remember how we celebrated the signing, but I remember how we celebrated the day I got the offer! I had been at work, and when I came home, my husband and daughters had confetti poppers. I asked how he got them so fast, and he said he just had a feeling it was coming and had bought them the week before. I still keep one of the un-popped poppers on my desk – I’m looking at is as I type! It was such a special moment!

SUSANNA: So special that they were all in on the celebration! 😊 Can you tell us a little about the artistic editorial process?

KIMBERLY: I was incredibly lucky to have a great team guiding the revision process. I got the offer after I did an R&R (revise and resubmit), so a good chunk of the revision work had already been done. Honestly, each and every change made the book better! And my team was very collaborative. It was never “do exactly this,” but rather, “we think this would improve it… what do you think?” For the illustrations, those revisions were typically small – adjusting positioning, color, etc. But, of course, it adds up, and it takes place over a relatively short amount of time, so there were many late nights and marathon illustrating sessions!

text and illustration copyright Kimberly Shrack 2026, McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster

SUSANNA: Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc? What was that like?

KIMBERLY: I did! The first review I saw was from Kirkus, and it was very positive – lots of squealing and jumping up and down! After years of work, it felt really affirming to see other people liked the characters as much as I did.

SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

KIMBERLY: I got the offer in January 2025, and had a physical book in my hand in July 2026, so about a year and a half. A pretty quick turnaround in picture book world!

SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

KIMBERLY: My book was included in my publisher’s overall marketing efforts for Fall 2026 picture books.

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

KIMBERLY: I did – and am still doing – as much as I could! I knew one of my primary audiences was teachers and school librarians, so I started by creating content that would remove some of the barriers to purchasing/utilizing the book for their students.

First, I created a School Visit Guide that included information about different classroom workshops I could offer and the different Common Core standards they addressed. I also created a copy-and-paste-able School Visit Grant Application Cheat Sheet to make seeking funding/approvals easy and effective.

I worked with Marcie Colleen, a curriculum developer, to create a Spooky Scouts Classroom Guide. This gives teachers grade-level appropriate activities and worksheets that incorporate the story into ELA, math, science, and social studies curricula.

I then began outreach to several kid lit and school librarian influencers, offering them an advanced copy of the book and sharing the above resources.

For the caregiver audience, I’ve created downloadable coloring sheets and an online quiz. There will be more coming on that front this month. I’ll give you a hint… boo baskets!

But my FAVORITE bit of marketing has been the book trailer. I made it with the help of my two daughters Wren (8) and Opal (5). I did the animation in After Effects, and had the girls do the voice over and sound effects. I love the way it turned out, and they are so proud of their work, too!

Kim’s book trailer for SPOOKY SCOUTS!

SUSANNA: Fabulous resources! Thank you so much for sharing them! I have also worked with Marcie Colleen – she has done a number of classroom guides for me. Her work is terrific and so is she! 😊 How long was it between the time you started writing and illustrating seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

KIMBERLY: Ooo, this is a great question! Prior to children’s books, I had a small calligraphy business and did a lot of hand-lettering for surface pattern design. A big chunk of my income came from in-person calligraphy classes and parties. And then 2020, and you can guess what happened next. I added more illustration into my repertoire during that time to get more surface design work, and thought, hmm, I wonder if I could illustrate a book. Then that morphed into, I wonder if I could WRITE a book! That’s when I took your class!

It was a little under 5 years from when I began adding illustration work to my portfolio to the first book sale.

SUSANNA: I’m so glad you found my class when you wondered if you could write a book! I hope it was helpful! What is the most important/helpful thing you learned on your way to publication? (Or what is your most helpful piece of advice for up and coming author/illustrators?)

KIMBERLY: A couple things! First, I want to reiterate the importance of mentorship and community. Publishing is an opaque industry, and it’s also very personal. We put our whole selves into our work, and there’s a lot of rejection. It helps to surround yourself with others going through the same thing, offering encouragement and advice. Plus, there’s nothing quite as exciting as seeing one of your book friends on shelves!!! The kid lit community is very supportive – lean into that!

The second thing I want to note is the importance – and luck– of timing. My first book was on sub for nearly two years before it sold. It wasn’t right for any slate at the time it went on sub… and then, two years later, it was. And that’s not the only time that’s happened to me. My second book to go on sub also struggled to get much traction in the beginning. We got one of those heartbreaker passes that every writer is familiar with – “we love this, but our slate is full.” A little over a year later, we were about to shelve it (when you stop submitting a story to editors), when completely out of the blue, we got a call from that same publisher with an offer. The timing was finally right. The truth is, there isn’t much we can do about timing – it’s tough to predict. And that’s hard! But it also gives me hope. We’ve shelved other projects since then, and I don’t despair like I used to. Because now I know that someday we may get a call out of the blue. So if you’re currently languishing on sub, remember that just because the timing isn’t right now, doesn’t mean it never will be. And believe me when I say that it’s worth the wait.


SUSANNA: So much good advice and helpful info, Kim! Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers! We are grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and wish you all the best with this and future title!

Readers, if you have questions for Kimberly, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond! And remember, your comment on today’s post by Monday September 7th at 3 PM Eastern puts you in the running to be one of the two randomly selected winners of 1) a Zoom chat with an aspiring author/illustrator and/or their critique group, or 2) a copy of SPOOKY SCOUTS!!!

Author/Illustrator Kimberly Shrack

You may purchase Kimberly’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound/Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– suggesting them as visiting authors at our children’s schools and our local libraries

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 😊

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out HERE!

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