Wow, that’s great advice. Thanks Alto!
I dunno Ike, what are you looking for? We’ve always got a few openings here at mega-octopus-publishing-conglomerate, but mostly just entry level drudgery. As far as editors go, I’m afraid we’re just like everyone else, busier getting rid of people than hiring them at the moment. Too bad…from what I’ve seen, you’re a lot smarter than many of the editors here.
I see I already wandered into this question in my answer to Inky, but it’s worth repeating. Don’t try to find an illustrator for your story. We’ll just ignore it. And some editors will be actively irritated by it.
We don’t necessarily match it with someone we’ve already worked with, though. Most of us have a little cache of illustrators we want to work with and are looking for a book for. Sometimes we’ll consider a project we wouldn’t otherwise be interested in (like an alphabet book) just because it’s so perfect for a particular illustrator.
One more thing, Woeg–I tried to email you about my father, but I don’t have your address. You can email me if you want.
And now I’d better get back to work or I won’t be a children’s book editor anymore!
I have a children’s book manuscript I have been polishing (for ages 6 or so). I have found that getting an agent’s ear is impossible, which is particularly frustrating for me as I am a published author of a trade science book.
How do you suggest I get the manuscript into a publisher’s hands for review? Agents don’t have phone messages except to say to mail them the ms, and I am loathe to send out 100 copies to agents hoping for a bite.
P.S. Yes, this is a brave topic, and I am suprised there aren’t a hundred posts already. 
Very basically: We read submissions (over the transom, from agents, and from authors we’ve worked with before) to find manuscripts worth publishing, or promising authors we want to encourage.
We work with promising writers to help them develop projects into something publishable.
We work with our regularly published authors to come up with new projects for them and to help them develop new ideas.
We negotiate contracts.
We work with the production department to figure out whether, and in what form, we can publish something so it will be profitable.
Once something is accepted, we work closely with the author to make it as good as possible. If it’s a picturebook, we look at sketches and discuss ideas with the illustrator too.
We discuss design ideas with the designer, to make sure the design and cover fit the book.
We check every stage of the book as it’s typset and printed, to make sure everything’s working.
We write copy for the book (flaps, catalog copy, and various things to help out the sales force).
We track reviews, sales figures, marketing trends, other books being published, etc. to make sure our books are being publicized as well as possible, that we know what kind of books will sell, and what kinds of books are needed. (This is in increasingly large part of the job)
We try to keep our authors happy.
We do a lot of other things too, but you get the idea.
I, alas, do not get to decide what gets published. I’m a rather junior person. It’s very rarely one person’s sole decision. It various from house to house, but usually editors get together formally or informally to discuss projects they’re working on. The final decision is usually made by the head of the imprint, who is responsible for seeing that the list has a good balance of various kinds of books that are appropriate to the particular imprint (and who has to be sure that we’re publishing books that will sell well enough to make our budget.) Marketing people usually play some role in these decisions too.
Correcting grammar and spelling is called copy editing, and is done by a separate editor, who also checks for accuracy and consistency. During the editorial process, the editor and the author will discuss themes, plot points, character development, language, and anything else that comes up, but (with rare exceptions) the editor doesn’t “tell” the author to do something. It’s a collaborative process; both people want to make the book as good as possible.
It’s becoming somewhat less common for books to be acquired just by a writer sending a manuscript in cold. It does happen, but fewer places are now accepting unsolicited submissions. More often an author and editor will have had some prior contact, for example at a writer’s conference, or a manuscript will come through an agent or referred by another author.
Children’s book categories aren’t set in stone, but most places do picture books, which are meant to be read to children; easy-to-read books for beginning readers; chapter books for children who have recently learned to read; middle-grade books; and young adult books. Many young adult books are also read by adults.
The easiest category to be published in is whichever category you write for most naturally. If you try to shoehorn your writing into a form just because you think it will sell, you probably won’t write very well. (That said, most publishers are looking for middle-grade novels at the moment, because that’s where most of the baby boomers’ children are.)
Almost all children’s book houses use freelance proofreaders, but mostly these are people who specialize in children’s books. The best way in, unfortunately, is through personal contact. If you can get someone who’s already freelancing for a children’s book house to recommend you, that’s best. Otherwise you can mail your resume to the managing editor of an imprint, with a cover letter explaining that you have a lot of experience proofreading (mention specific managing editors you’ve worked for who can be contacted) and that you have a special interest in/knowledge of children’s books. Children’s book freelancers are paid particularly badly, by the way.
Sorry, I know less than nothing about the musical market. But I’ll bet someone else here does.
This does keep coming up, doesn’t it? I’m happy to tell you that you should not even think about finding an illustrator.
When you’re looking for a place to send manuscripts, the best thing to do is go to a bookstore to get a feel for which publishers publish what kinds of books. Have you written an edgy modern fable, or a sweet old-fashioned story? Find a publisher whose sensibilities seem to match yours, and try submitting it there.
(As I said earlier, if you think you might want to show me something, you can email me to discuss it.)
I’ve got an idea for a children’s book. Its working title is “Mr. Policeman, Grandpa Don’t Move Or Breathe No More”.
Waddaya think?
Here’s a slightly strange question, but I used to work in children’s publishing about ten years or so ago. Late 80s, early 90s. I got out right after…uh…the head guy “fell” off his yacht.
Do I know you?
Okay, how about this:
In the wake of Harry Potter, is the world of childrens publishing looking for the ‘next JK Rowling’ or is it business as usual, and things are relatively unchanged by that phenomenon?
i.e. is it all myth and hype that publishers are looking for sensations that they can market and make wads of cash out of? (especially now that there’s that taste in the air)
Children’s books used to have more latitude to show some kinds of things–and less to show others. Until Judy Blume, you couldn’t mention e.g. menstruation, but we used to have to worry much less about being politically correct.
The Freddy books are actually now back in print (and fairly popular), but you’re right that we probably wouldn’t have chosen to illustrate that particular scene today. I suppose it is in somewhat poor taste, since guns (and tragedies involving them) are so much more common than they used to be) but I doubt it bothers kids much. Didn’t you ever squirt someone in the face when you were a kid?
Very good question. People tend to include much too much in a cover letter. For starters, you don’t need a plot summary for a 32 page book; it’s short enough that you can send the whole manuscript and we can figure out the plot for ourselves. For a novel on the other hand, you might want to include a chapter by chapter synopsis along with some complete chapters, since we might not have time to read the whole novel. (Some publishers prefer to receive the whole novel)
Other things not to include:
Your biography unless it is somehow relevant
Your resume
Your GPA
Your marketing ideas or reasons why you think the book would sell (“unicorns are very big right now”)
Your plans for sequels, spinoffs, or product lines
Rhetorical questions (“Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a unicorn with a blue horn?”)
The fact that your five-year-old or the students in your class love it
One editor I worked with used to say that all he wanted to see in a cover letter is “Here is my manuscript. Thank you.”
A few other things you might want to include:
Any special qualifications for writing the book (particularly for nonfiction–“I am the world’s leading authority on unicorns.”)
Your previous publications if any, and their success (if any)
The main thing to remember is that your manuscript is going to have to stand on its own merits. It doesn’t matter how many clever things you find to say if the manuscript is no good, and if your manuscript is wonderful we will notice without your pointing it out.
Always include a self addressed stamped envelope. Some people also include a self addressed stamped postcard and ask to have it returned immediately so they will know their manuscript has arrived. (But very often this doesn’t happen, since the envelope may not be opened right away.)
Be prepared to wait a long long time before you get any response. Most publishers have huge stacks of manuscripts waiting to be read, and more pouring in every day.
Yep. That’s why I started this thread.
Is your book nonfiction? (I know I shouldn’t assume it is–it’s just that you’re the Bad Astronomer.) If so, you should find books on similiar subjects and in similar formats, and submit to those publishers. A lot of young nonfiction is published as part of a series–if you come across an appropriate series, you can write specifically to the editor of that series.
If you don’t want to send your manuscript to agents or editors cold, one good way to make connections is through the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). They hold conference every year in most major cities. A lot of agents and editors go to these meetings, and there are usually various panels where you can go to ask questions, meet editors, and even get a critique of your manuscript. It’s also a good place to meet other aspiring writers. If you encounter an editor at an SCBWI meeting whose style appeals to you, you can submit to them specifically, mentioning in your cover letter that you heard them speak/met them/discussed your manuscript at the conference.
You can also check in a current copy of Literary Marketplace to get the names of specific editors to submit to. Try sending your manuscript to an Assistant or Associate Editor. Someone young and just starting out is as eager to acquire manuscripts are you are to publish one, and is may have more time for you than a more established editor. (Or you can email me…)
I wondered if we’d ever crossed paths too, after you commented on slushpile submissions awhile ago. In the 80s I was at Orchard Books and Bantam/Doubleday/Dell.
Originally posted by Alto
Be prepared to wait a long long time before you get any response. Most publishers have huge stacks of manuscripts waiting to be read, and more pouring in every day.
Curious…how long is a “long long time”? Weeks?..Months? Also, do you find that
you are more apt to read a manuscript submitted by an agent FIRST over an
authors mailed in manuscript?..any ideas on the best way of finding an agent?
and lastly… “Children’s” Book Publishers vs. “Adult” Book Publishers… are they
at all similar (as in the way you’ve answered these questions posed of you)?
Thanks a bunch, Alto…
Probably not, then. I was at Bradbury Press, and didn’t really know enough or have enough juice to network outisde the Macmillan imprints.
binx
a long time is usually months. Weeks would actually qualify as a reamrkably quick turn around. I had a book I co-wrote with my partner accepted and contracted within a 24 hour period but that was just a fluke and it was also a case of working contacts.
Getting an agent can be harder than finding a publisher. My partner had an agent accept him as a client last year although we didn’t sign up with her as there was nothing she could do for him that he couldn’t do for himself. But he’s had 14 books published, been shortlisted for awards and received grants so he is fairly established. He was knocked back as a client by about 10 agents.
Books submitted by agents in general will be read ahead of books submitted by new writers. The agents usually will/should be known to the editor and one would hope they have done some prior screening of the ms. A way around it for unagented submissions (and I don’t know if this happens in US publishing) is to have your ms assessed by a REPUTABLE ms assessor and they will give you a letter to say nice things and that can get an ms out of the slushpile a tad faster. I only write those letters when I think the ms is at a publishable standard.
Going to conferences is an excellent way to network and get contacts as Alto said.