How Can I Get Published?
Q: I have a manuscript that I’d like to submit for publication. How should I do that?
A: First I’d encourage you to read my essay on why you shouldn’t be in a hurry to publish, and why it’s important to enjoy the process of writing. If you’re not already a professional writer (and even if you are) it sometimes takes years to write something worth publishing – it takes going to conferences, having a writing group, reading as many brilliant children’s books as you can, revising your manuscript dozens of times, and even (in my case) finishing and discarding one entire, pretty decent manuscript. But that’s all fun…truly. It shouldn’t be discouraging.
When you think you’re finally ready to submit your manuscript, learn everything you can about the submission process so that you get it right the first time. Each editor receives thousands of manuscripts a year, and she won’t hesitate to reject one without reading it simply because it’s presented unprofessionally. And really, you ought to take pity on her because her job includes a lot of drudge work. Make your manuscript easy on the eyes by sticking to the formula: white paper, double spacing, proper margins, surname and title at the top of each numbered page, 12 point Times New Roman font. In short, the manuscript should look plain, plain, plain, and it should wow her instead with your voice, fascinating characters, and a compelling plot.
If you ask around, you’ll find all sorts of suggestions regarding cover letters. I personally prefer them to be terse. “Here’s my manuscript. Here are my previous publications (if any). Thank you for taking the time to read it.” The editor is a complete expert at figuring out your manuscript, so you don’t need to elaborate or explain. Did I mention that she’s short on time?
The following mistakes earn you an automatic trip to the editor’s recycle bin: you’ve printed it in Comic Sans MS because it’s about a kid who draws comics; you’ve single-spaced it so that it will seem more like it’s picture-book length; you’ve included helpful instructions for the illustrator (or you’ve named your preferred illustrator); your cover letter tells the editor what the important message of the story is.
Q: How can I find submissions guidelines for publishers?
A: You can find the submission guidelines for each publisher either in The Children's Writer's and Illustrator’s Market, or just by looking at the individual publisher's web site. Note that even if you find publishers’ guidelines elsewhere, you still have to check online with them directly or call them immediately before you mail it, because they sometimes have random, unexpected moratoriums (moratorii?) on unsolicited submissions when they feel overwhelmed by the height of their slush pile.
You may send your manuscript to more than one house if they accept what are called "simultaneous submissions," but many houses specify "exclusive submissions" only.
Make sure to look for publishers that
have books that are similar in genre to yours. You can go to the library or a bookstore to browse
for books like yours, and check the copyright page for the publisher and
year. Each house has its own style and specializes in particular
genres and age groups.
Q: Where else can I do some homework?
A: You can find online help
in many places. Try reading the
tips on the web site of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
(http://www.scbwi.org), and on Harold Underdown’s
Purple Crayon web site: http://www.underdown.org. There are also several blogs written by editors
that include daily advice and archived submission suggestions. I particularly enjoy Editorial Anonymous (http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com).
There’s also an editor at Arthur
A. Levine named Cheryl Klein who has a blog here: http://chavelaque.blogspot.com and who has compiled some of her essays on writing
and submitting here: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeqjo1w. Miss Snark is an irreverent editor with a coiffed
poodle and a hopeless crush on George Clooney who has retired her blog
but has archived all of her responses (http://misssnark.blogspot.com). If you want to keep really current with children’s
books, check out the frequent “reviews of the day” on librarian Elizabeth
Bird’s blog: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379.html.
Q: How did you get Overboard published?
A: I published it the old-fashioned way, by pounding the pavement, so to speak. I sent it out over and over again to different editors myself. That's called sending "unsolicited submissions," and it’s an arduous process. I also took it to a couple of writing conferences. At one of those conferences I had a ten-minute critique with an editor from Houghton Mifflin, who asked to see the entire manuscript.
The Houghton Mifflin editor was still considering Overboard a year later when I received an e-mail from a new editor at Cricket Books, who knew me and remembered critiquing an earlier draft of the manuscript. She asked if she could read the latest version. I got permission from the HM editor to send it simultaneously to Cricket. The editor at Cricket liked it, and rushed to make me an offer, thinking that Houghton Mifflin might be on the cusp of buying it. In fact, the editor at HM ended up kindly rejecting, so it was sort of lucky that everyone at Cricket thought it was a hot commodity.
Somewhere in this story there’s a moral:
it’s good to go to conferences because you meet editors face-to-face,
you learn their tastes, and when you submit to them you circumvent the
slush pile.
Q: Do I need an agent?
A: Unlike adult book publishers, many children’s houses still accept unsolicited manuscripts, so you don’t actually need an agent to get published. Consider looking for an agent if (a) you dislike the process of submitting a manuscript yourself, and (b) you want help negotiating the purchase terms. Don’t worry that you’ll be giving the agent a cut of your sales: she will more than earn her keep by getting you a much better deal than you would ever have negotiated yourself.
If you decide you want an agent, you’ll go through pretty much the same process as when you submit to editors, but first make yourself aware of charlatan agents and their practices (for example, http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html). When you choose a reputable agent you’re interested in: 1) find his guidelines online if possible, and e-mail him or mail him a short query; 3) if he responds that he’d like to see your manuscript (or chapter and synopsis) send it to him with all the proper formatting, as if you were submitting to an editor. Be prepared to suffer rejection! The first manuscript I sent around after I published Overboard was rejected by five agents. I shelved that project, wrote another manuscript, and had better luck the second time.
Also be prepared to interview agents who seem interested in your work, to make sure the chemistry is right between you. It’s just as important to feel simpatico with your agent as it is to have an agent in the first place.
Q: The word on the street is that finding an agent to represent you is as difficult as finding an editor to buy your manuscript. Why is that?
A:
I suspect it’s because an agent won’t choose to represent you unless
he loves the actual manuscript you've submitted.
I get the impression that it's very rare for an agent to sign you
on because he thinks you have potential, or even because you've been successful
with a previous book. An agent has to both sell your product and
cultivate his reputation among editors for offering great stuff, so he
wants your manuscript to be as irresistible as possible from the get go.
Q: Should
I join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators?
A:
Whatever steps you take toward treating yourself as a writer will
help, and will make your work more professional.
SCBWI is a great organization when you're starting out as a children's
book writer. There are many regional chapters (in the
Q: What else can I do to take myself seriously as a writer?
A:
Get involved with a writing group.
Writing is hard to do in a vacuum – which is counter-intuitive
because by its nature it's solitary and suited to hermit types (like me).
But it's imperative to have other eyes (and not just your family) see
your work before you put it out in the world. If a few people have
questions about the same part of the story, or the language, or the pacing,
or the characterization, it causes you to seriously consider whether you've
written that part correctly. You're always free to ignore advice
or comments that people give you, but it's vital to hear those comments,
to make sure you're not missing something obvious. Your odds of
getting published go up dramatically if your manuscript is highly polished,
and that happens by having a lot of critiques with colleagues you trust,
and by revising, revising, revising.
