April 2002
Should I Break Up My Story Collection Into Ten Books?
Your advice in last month's column about waiting for a response came just in time for me. I have been waiting since the end of November to hear from two publishers about my children's book and I was wondering if I should inquire about the status or not. Now I think I might wait a little longer.So you're the one who reads my column! Just kidding. Seriously though, thank you for saying so, and I'm always delighted to hear that writers not only read my column but also find the information helpful. More than anything, I enjoy hearing from my readers.My children's book is ten short stories and a newspaper friend of mine suggested today that I should break it into ten books with large print and lots of pictures. The age group it is geared at is early elementary. What do you think?
As for breaking down your story collection, it depends on the strength of each individual story. Story collections by an unknown author can be difficult to sell to a publisher, since they tend to produce anthology collections, which include stories by several popular authors with whom they have previously worked. Authors can usually publish story collections once they've already published something else, unless they self publish or go thru a small press, such as Bedtime Story which publishes stories from new and unknown authors. They offer editing and publication services at no charge to writers.
In order to sell each story it must be quite strong on its own, especially for today's competitive children's book market. Spend some time at the library and bookstore, look at picture books that are similar to yours, and make a note of the publishers. The 2002 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is a good resource for markets and publisher guidelines. Also read my November column, "How To Gain an Edge in the Competitive Children's Book Market," featuring four publications for children's writers that contain specific information about what publishers are looking for from writers.
Consider sending one or two of the stories in your collection to children's magazine editors to gauge their response.
How Should I Submit My Picture Book Manuscript?
I am about to have my first picture book critiqued! I'm looking forward to the response. Once I have rewritten it 10 more times, I am going to submit it to a publisher. I have selected 5 from Writer's Digest based on the number of picture books they publish per year from new authors. My question is, when I submit it, what should I put in the cover letter and am I right in thinking it's okay to submit a book that when double spaced only takes up two pages? Is there some standard number of words for a picture book? If the publisher chooses to publish my book, will they choose an illustrator for me or will I have a say so?A cover letter accompanying a picture book manuscript can be as brief as a few short sentences:
Dear Editor,If you're submitting to a publisher imprint, you can suggest reasons why your book fits in with the program. If you don't have a lot of publishing credits yet, you can include a paragraph about your writing experience and background. In other words, a brief, one paragraph resume can be included in your cover letter.Enclosed please find my picture book manuscript, "Fabulous Picture Book," and SASE.
Thank you for your consideration.
Always submit your picture book in manuscript format. You will hear some writers say they submit a dummy or the editor requested a dummy, however this usually happens between editors and authors who have worked together before. Editors always choose illustrators; writers seldom have any input in that decision. Read "Who Draws the Pictures?" at Harold Underdown's web site, The Purple Crayon. He goes into more detail on why editors choose the illustrators.
There is no standard word count for picture books, however there are different categories. Read "Understanding Children's Writing Genres" by Laura Backes, for more information.
How Should I Submit Illustrations With My Children's Book?
I am submitting an illustrated children's book to literary agents. The book is a travel scrapbook. The illustrations are pretty much the essence of the book because they not only illustrate but also guide the child to record memories of his or her trip. How do I submit the illustrations? I am not a professional but I have been drawing for many years. I appreciate all the information you can give me. Thank you very much.When submitting to agents you should send both the text in manuscript format and a dummy of your book, including text and illustrations. At his web site, renowned picture book author Eric Carle illustrates the basics of creating a dummy. However you will need to create a professional looking dummy to attract the interest of an agent. In his book Writing With Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books, Uri Shulevitz shows writers how to create a dummy worthy of submission. Ultimately the agent will determine whether to submit your illustrations to the editors.
Be sure to make several copies of your professional dummy so you can submit to several agents, and always keep one copy for your files, in case any copies are lost.
I also advise reading "Who Draws the Pictures?" by Harold Underdown, for a clear understanding of "what to do if you if you really want to illustrate" your own book.
For more information:
- Bedtime Story
- http://www.the-office.com/bedtime-story/publish.htm
- How To Gain an Edge in the Competitive Children's Book Market
- http://www.writing-world.com/caterpillar/cat10.shtml
- Who Draws the Pictures? by Harold Underdown
- http://www.underdown.org/cig_ch14.htm
- Understanding Children's Writing Genres by Laura Backes
-
http://www.writing-world.com/childen/genres.shtml
- How I developed the idea for From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
- http://www.eric-carle.com/bb-H2Tnotes.html
Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market
Peggy Tibbetts has been a professional writer, editor, and full member of the Society for Children's Book Writers & Illustrators for the past 26 years. She offers courses in children's writing and has edited several successful children's manuscripts. She is the author of the children's novel The Road to Weird, as well as the adult novel Rumors of War. Peggy also moderates the The Write List discussion list at Yahoo.
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