Do you have any idea how much an author will make from a book? I’m sure it varies widely based on how successful the book is, but perhaps you can give some average royalty numbers for a new author who prints his/her first book.
Who writes the text in children’s books where no author is listed? My kids have lots of picture books like this. “See my soft fur” type stuff.
On the other hand we have a book with an author listed that goes “Splish splash!” “I love to play in the bath!” “Splash splash splash!” What’s up with that? Was this submitted as a manuscript?
I’m interested in the mail you get from children and parents, positive and negative. How much is there? Is it more or less than adult publishers get? Any memorable mail you would care to tell us about?
Things haven’t changed fundamentally. All things being equal, we always would have preferred to make wads of money. Periodically some children’s book will make a big splash and lots of money (Babysitter’s Club, Captain Underpants, Redwall…) and those of us at other publishing houses will think Damn, why couldn’t I have found that one. (Or even worse, How could I have turned that down? I once worked for an editor who rejected Watership Down.) But we continue to look for books in the same ways we always have.
Harry Potter’s the biggest thing in a long time, and certainly no publishing house would mind making that kind of money. But there’s a downside, too. I bet JKR gets a huge advance and higher royalties by now, so that Scholastic isn’t making as much money from her as you might think. Meanwhile the people planning the budget are probably coming to take that level of income for granted, which means that when the Potter phenomenon tapers off (as it will) they’ll be under unreasonable pressure to continue sales at that level.
If more adults are become interested in reading children’s books due to Harry Potter, that will be nice for us all. And you will certainly see more book copy claiming that something is just like Harry Potter, or an ideal next step for Harry Potter fans. Sometimes it will even be true (e.g. if you like JKR you’ll probably like Diana Wynne Jones) but much of it will be wishful thinking. And there will probably be a temporary increase in the number of humorous real world/magic world fantasies, including some that might not have been considered strong enough to publish before. But that’s about it.
Quite possibly, four to six months. We get as many as 100 submissions a day, and there’s no one whose primary job is to read them. Editorial assistants and interns go through them when they can, but they tend to pile up. Periodically we have a “slush party,” order a pizza, and all sit around reading submissions all day. (I know this sounds unkind, and it’s hard on anxious authors eagerly waiting to hear something, but we tend to put off reading unsolicited submissions because the vast majority of them are awful. I estimate that no more than 1 in 3000 manuscripts we read is publishable.)
A manuscript from a reputable agent is likely to get read more quickly. Agents usually have a relationship with a specific editor, and send only manuscripts they think will be of specific interest. So a manuscript from an agent has a greater probability of being of interest. However, almost anyone can print up a business card and call themselves an agent. Random submissions from agents we’ve never heard of don’t move any faster than random submissions from the public at large.
I believe most of what I’ve said is true of adult publishing too, but I’ve never worked in adult trade, so I can’t say for sure. Where I work, the children’s imprints aren’t even in the same building as adult. It’s sort of like sitting at the children’s table at a party.
I don’t think this happens much in the US. We wouldn’t even know that you had such a letter until after we’d opened the submission. Once we’ve opened it, children’s books are so short that it usually doesn’t take us any longer to assess the ms than it would to read someone else’s assessment. On the other hand, if the assessor knows an editor personally and can send the ms with a letter saying, “This is probably worth your attention,” that would definitely help speed things up.
You’re right, it varies wildly. In general, however, it is less than an author of adult books would make (except for superstar authors). Children’s book print runs are usually smaller than adult print runs, and the prices of the books are lower.
Advances can run from about $4000 for a small print run nonfiction ms to around 8-15,000 for a picturebook or novel, to god-knows-how much for someone like JKRowling. Royalties are usually 10%, or 5% if the book has a separate illustrator. Some people contract to have their royalties raised (say to 12%) after a certain number of books have been sold. But you don’t get any royalties until enough books have been sold to cover your advance, so if a book only sells 3-4000 copies, you may never get any royalties. Even after you get a book or two published, you’ll still have to keep your day job.
Uncredited texts are usually written as “work for hire” (like GrandfatherTrout mentioned he writes. Most publishers have a few dependable writers they know they can turn to and ask for, say, a bathtime book featuring ducks. In cases like this, the publisher generates the idea and tells the writer what to write. The writer is then paid a flat fee and gets no royalties. Sometimes the writer’s name is listed anyway, sometimes not. Sometimes the very simple texts are just written inhouse.
We get a wide variety of mail, much of it complaints (“How dare you show a picture of a mother in only her bra getting ready for bed…” “I was shocked to find that this book mentions Halloween. You are corrupting the minds of our children.”) Some of it can be very bizarre. (“While I was asleep, someone from your company sneaked into my house and replaced the text in my copy of Madeline with a message from space aliens.”) But the best is from kids. My favorite letter said, “I love the books you publish. Thank you for publishing such wonderful books.” And of course we’re always hearing from sharp-eyed kids discovering typos and mistakes we’ve missed. One very little girl wrote (via her mother) to tell us that although our text clearly described a birthday cake with a brontosaurus on it, the picture was of a stegosaurus.
There is absolutely no idea you can come up with that will be more bizarre that some one the ones I’ve seen submitted!
OK, I think I got everything. Thanks guys, it’s been fun.
…thank you for all great info you provided!
Alto, perhaps you can help satisfy my curiosity about how long a book has to be to be a book- I never gave much thought about anything but books for adults before this, so I hope you don’t mind the thread bump. Can you suggest any guidelines about the typical word/page length to aim for when writing a book that would be classified as “young adult” and/or for older children (12 and up)? A fictional book, that is.
What can you tell us about this SOYOUWANNA.com article on writing children’s books? Fairly accurate? Loada’ crap?
Is there a slow season for book publishers to receive manuscripts? Or is it busy year round?
If I submit my manuscripts and query letter ( “Here is my manuscript, thanks for reading it.”) with a bottle of cognac or box of chocolate, will I get bumped to the top or bottom of the slush pile 
Is it true that if you receive a rejection letter back with actual physical handwriting on it ( jottings of " Nice, not our area of interest…" etc) that it means you have reached the top 10 percent of the slush pile?
What is the oddest thing that has been submitted to you that made you and your coworkers just laugh?
(This is a very informative thread, btw. Thanks for starting it!)
The soyouwanna article has some good advice.
Shirley, chocolate and cognac is a very good idea ;). IME and I’m not Alto there’s not really a season for submitting although you can find that certain publishers will have their list filled. We’re shopping a book around ATM and a few minutes on the webpages of various publishers showed me that Lothian are not even looking at m/s until the end of 2004, Penguin say they are accepting nothing unsolicited but a personal phone call to the children’s editor got past that hurdle. Omnibus have an excellent receptionist it is impossible to get past. Etc etc etc. So it’s a matter of doing your research. Writer’s mailing lists can be an excellent source of industry gossip and networking.
Alto, where are you? Come back…
:::::::bump::::::::::
(He stated that he posts from work.)
I hope it’s not too improper of me to bump this threat–I didn’t realize there were more questions. (I thought if I was subscribed to the thread I got an email whenever anyone posted to it? I had been in the past.) Anyway
This is a very good question. YA novel can be as long as you want, but a very thick novel will probably scare lots of kids away unless it’s one by an already well-loved author (e.g. Harry Potter). On the other hand, fewer than 100 pages is problematic because the book is so thin people feel they’re not getting value for their money. (Also some teachers require a book read for class to be at least 100 pages. Books come in signature of 16 or 8, so practically speaking 100 pages means 112 pages.) We have been known to “stretch out” books–adding more front matter, chapter opening pages, dingbats, and so on–to make a book reach 112 pages. A good length to have in mind would be 100-200 pages. (A typewritten page will translate into slightly less than a set page usually.)
HOWEVER–instead of aiming for a length, it’s much better to write until you’ve said what you have to say, and then stop. If it comes out too long, an editor can help you cut it, or maybe it’s really two books. And you certainly don’t want to pad it out with things that don’t belong there. Maybe it was meant to be one of those few shorter novels, or maybe an editor will see places that need to be expanded.
Actually, I think it’s quite a good article (and you’ll notice it agrees with me on a whole bunch of things). The one place I disagree is where they recommend you write to a publisher asking for publishing guidelines. Many publishers don’t take unsolicited submissions. If you actually send your manuscript, someone will almost certainly look at it anyway, but if you ask for guidelines all you’ll get is a note informing you that the publisher is not accepting submissions.
I also don’t think writing magazine stories first is of any particular use. It certainly won’t hurt, and if you want experience with the submission process it may make you more comfortable. But the fact that you’ve published stories won’t make us any more likely to publish your manuscript. We’ll just be looking at the manuscript you’ve send.
Judging from the section on what not to do with your submission letter, I’d say the article was written by someone who’s had plenty of experience.
We’re pretty much overwhelmed year round. At least here, as I believe at most places, we ignore the slush pile until it gets frightening, then we all get together and plow through it. So submissions are dealt with in fits and starts, but at unpredictable times. Very often the envelopes don’t even get opened until we have a “slush party,” so nothing inside the envelope will have any effect on how fast we respond.
People do include funny things with their submissions (I’ve never gotten cognac or chocolate, alas, but I’ve seen little furry toys, lucky charms, hats, and dolls made to look like the character in the book). We love it when there are cute things in the letter because it makes the slush reading more fun–but it won’t make your manuscript any more likely to get published. Seriously, the only considerations that affect publication are the quality of your manuscript and whether or not we think we could publish it successfully.
Any handwritten note–especially if it includes a person’s name–is a very encouraging sign. It means someone’s decided you are among the very very few people wanting to be writers who might actually be able to write. Direct any further submissions to the name on the note.
I want your job!
I’ve been considering getting my MLS soon, and I’ve also thought about getting a master’s in Children’s Literature (concurrently). Would either of these help me in getting to where you are? What kinds of jobs would you recommend I do in the meantime?
Thanks for this thread!
At the moment, I’m not so sure you do want my job. The publishing industry isn’t doing so well. In any case, an MLS or masters in children’s lit won’t do any harm, but I’m not sure how helpful they’d be beyond proving your interest in the subject. Actually having worked as a children’s librarian might help, because you’d have some insight into the way children are reacting to new books. The Radcliffe or Denver publishing institutes are probably the most helpful classes you could take, because they will help you make specific publishing contacts and teach you about the business of publishing.
But probably still the best way to break into publishing is just to keep applying for jobs as an editorial assistant until you get one (they open up fairly often), and then work your way up. Getting your foot into the door is the most important step. (But you should know that editorial assistants are the worst paid people on the planet). Some publishers offer internships for a few hours a week to students, and I’ve seen these lead to jobs.