If you are a current paid-up member of SCBWI, you do not have to register separately for the Blueboard! You are already a member. When you create your Blueboard profile, use the same email and password as you use on the main SCBWI site.
You do not have to be a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators to join the Blueboard, but if you are a member, you have access to more of its resources. Learn more about SCBWI here:
https://www.scbwi.org/about/membership-benefits/To join without becoming a member of SCBWI, click on the REGISTER link at the top right of your screen. If you're on a mobile device, it's in the hamburger menu (the three parallel lines at the right of the black bar below the blue title bar).
Registration is easiest on a computer. If you're limited to using a mobile device, work in landscape mode (horizontal) so that you can see both the instructions and fields for entering the your information at the same time.
The Blueboard is carefully moderated, and registration is not automatic unless you are a SCBWI member. The process requires that you provide:
1) Affirmation that you are 18 years of age or older.
2) A username. While this name will permanently associated with this account, you'll be able to change the screen name that's displayed with your posts after you're registered.
3) The email and password you want to use on this board. If you later decide to join SCBWI, be sure to use the same email and password.
4) Links to your online presence. If you don't have a website, your online presence can be a blog, another message board where you regularly post, Facebook and Twitter accounts, or any other place online where the administrators can go to verify that you are a real person instead of a bot.
5) Your place of residence (city/town AND state/province AND country) and your legal name (both given name and family name). This information is required; your registration will not go through if it is missing and will not be approved if it appears to be incomplete or false. To maintain your privacy, only the board administrators are able to see your legal name and place of residence unless you add this information to your profile after your registration has been approved.
6) Print the registration page or take a screenshot so that you have it as a reference in case there's an issue with your registration.
7) Press the blue "Register" button at the bottom of the screen.
Note: Because registration is not automatic, it can take administrators up to a week to verify people who register. Once you have been approved, you should receive an acceptance email from this message board. To ensure delivery to your inbox, add blueboardwebmaster@scbwi.org to your address book. Check your spam folder if you don't see your activation email relatively soon.
If it hasn't come within seven days, email blueboardadmin@scbwi.org with the information you used to register. The main reasons people are not approved for this message board are because the applicants are either known spammers or their reason for joining seems to be solely to promote themselves, their services, or their books. However, the Blueboard is first of all a community for sharing writing and illustrating ideas, techniques and information, NOT an advertising/promoting venue. Only verified SCBWI members and established board members who have previously contributed substantially to the message board community are allowed to promote their books or services on this board.
Once you have received the acceptance letter, follow the instructions to log onto the board and begin posting. NOTE: Unless you are a member of SCBWI, you must log in at least once in every 90 days to stay a member of this board. Administrators eliminate inactive members every few months, so logging in at least once every 90 days (even if you don't post anything) will keep your account active.
Finally, do not register for anyone but yourself or register for a second account if you are already a member of this board. This is to prevent trolling and other behavior that violates the spirit of community on this Board. We have safeguards against double registrations and when detected, they will be deleted without notice.