Storyteller Academy

Is Your Story Idea Worth Writing?

Before you spend months drafting, revising, and wondering whether the idea itself is the problem, find out what you’re working with.

Answer six quick questions. Get one clear verdict on your picture book idea, plus three specific things to do next.

About two minutes.

Give us the story in one or two sentences.
What actually happens, not what it’s about.
Tell us three things: who they are, what they want, and who actually solves the problem at the end.
That last one matters. A lot.
If a grown-up swoops in and fixes everything, say so. No judgment. It’s exactly the kind of thing this diagnosis is designed to catch.
Format, age and length Required
Not why you think it will sell.
Why you? Why this story? Why now?
Don’t polish the answer. The honest one tells us much more, and it’s one of the strongest signals in the diagnosis.
Don’t worry about finding a perfect match. A couple of books that feel like cousins is plenty.
The image that keeps pulling you back to the idea.

Drawing a blank on either of those? Skip them. You’ll still get a diagnosis, just with a little less confidence.

Where should we send your diagnosis?

Your verdict appears on screen as soon as it’s ready.

We’ll email you a copy too, so it doesn’t disappear into the same mysterious void as all those browser tabs you were definitely going to come back to.

You’ll also start getting Storyteller Academy’s emails on picture book craft. Unsubscribe anytime, in one click, from any of them.

One idea at a time, up to three an hour. Your idea is never shared and never posted anywhere. It goes to the diagnosis and into our private log so we can keep the scoring honest.