History: The Blueboard used to be Verla Kay's Blueboard and it had free access for anyone with a serious interest in children's literature. In 2013, SCBWI (the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) acquired the Blueboard and moved it to their website. One of the conditions Verla Kay put on the move was that the board would continue to have free access for all.
Current: Since SCBWI's acquisition, the board has nearly doubled in size - both in content and in membership! People who are not SCBWI members still have free access to the original board, but a huge SCBWI Only area has since been added to the board, including an Ask A Lawyer board for legal questions answered only by SCBWI's lawyer, a Legal Discussions board for questions to be answered by member's peers, a PAL (Published And Listed) area for published SCBWI members to share information between themselves and a Current Market Information board for exclusive information from SCBWI regarding submitting and selling manuscripts and illustrations and for writing and/or illustrating opportunities that are offered to SCBWI members only. Plus much, much more.
How to Join the Blueboard: If you are NOT an SCBWI member, Register for the board. One of the board's six Administrators will personally "vet" your application, checking your online presence, making sure you are someone who is seriously interested in children's literature and that you aren't a spammer, wanting to join only to "harvest" our board member's emails and/or flood our board with advertising messages. It can sometimes take a week or more to complete the vetting process.
SCBWI members normally have instant access to the board by simply logging in using their SCBWI email as their login name and the same password they use to log onto SCBWI's main site. Once logged onto the Blueboard, an SCBWI member can change the name people see on the board from the automatically generated first-last name to something else of their choice by changing their profile.
How to Join SCBWI:Click on the SCBWI Home button in the menu at the top of the Blueboard, click the JOIN button and follow instuctions.
