The KSMO SCBWI Writer Mentorship focus for 2026 is Young Adult with author and local Kansas/Missouri SCBWI PAL member Erin Beaty!
Who is eligible?
Applications open October 1-31, 2025 to any current KSMO SCBWI premium member with two or fewer books under contract in YA and who have not won a previous KSMO SCBWI mentorship.
What do you win?
The winner will work with the mentor during the calendar year of 2026 on the manuscript submitted for this program. Following the initial reading, the mentor and mentee will "meet" via phone, ZOOM, and/or email (up to 3 times {at the mentor’s discretion} before the year is over) to discuss questions and revisions.
About the Mentor: Erin Beaty
Erin Beaty is a native of Indianapolis, IN and a US Naval Academy graduate, studying (of all things) aerospace engineering. In the Navy, she served as a shipboard weapons officer and a leadership teacher. Now she writes young adult novels with Macmillan, including The Traitor’s Circle, a political fantasy trilogy, and the fantasy thriller Blood and Moonlight duology. Her books have been translated into several foreign languages, and she has been a guest at the Flipop Literary Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Fierce Reads National Tour, and the Romantic Times Convention. She also teaches workshops with local writing groups and conferences, the Armed Services Arts Partnership, and is a yearly Teen Author Mentor through The Muse Writers Center. She and her husband have five kids, three cats, not nearly enough bookshelves, and live wherever the navy tells them to go, which has ranged from Korea to Kansas. Read more about Erin here.
Cost: Free to SCBWI KSMO members
Applications Open: October 1, 2025
Deadline: October 31, 2025
Winner to be announced in December 2025!
How to Apply:
Please submit the following to [email protected] with two Word attachments: the first 30 pages/10K words of your manuscript, double-spaced with 12 point font, and one (optional) query letter and/or 1-page synopsis. (Include things like where/how your idea came to you, something you learned in research, or what you have knowledge/experience in that adds something only you can to your story-- any one of those three will help Erin make a connection with you and the story. 5-10 sentences max, you do not need to write a huge essay. Think of it as something you would say if introducing yourself to a writing group.)
Please read and follow these guidelines fully in order for your manuscript to receive full consideration:
1. Do not place your name on either the cover letter or manuscript because the mentor will see both. Instead, choose a nonsense word or phrase, and replace your name with that word on both the cover letter and the manuscript.
2. Save your documents with that same nonsense word. For example: Lollyland letter. Lollyland manuscript.
3. Attach both the cover letter and the manuscript to an email. These attachments must be Word documents.
4. In the body of the email only, reveal both your name and your nonsense word or phrase. Anyone who puts her real or pen name anywhere in the attached application materials will be disqualified.