For childrens books, whats the best route to go, freelance or find a literary agent? Does anyone know of any links or websites where I can find literary agents who represent childrens books?
Thanks!:shrug
Thanks!:shrug
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Stephenie Hovland
I'm going to send you to Verla Kay's again.
www.verlakay.com/boards/i...pic=2155.0
Another website that has tons of articles and a board is
www.write4kids.com/index.html
www.verlakay.com/boards/i...pic=2155.0
Another website that has tons of articles and a board is
www.write4kids.com/index.html
CWGranny
The Purple Crayon also has some great stuff.
www.underdown.org
You can still get published in children's books without an agent. Editors tell me that they *do* pay slightly more attention to things like magazine publishing credits and belonging to SCBWI when a writer doesn't have an agent.
But some houses are completely closed to unagented submissions and others require queries (which are a drag). The nice part about having an agent is that you can then move on to writing your next book and not worry about pushing to publishers. But first you can to connect with an agent and if you hate sub'ing to publishers, you're going to hate submitting to agents. And it can be tricky to find an agent who really likes your kind of work.
Among children's agents, because the $$ is not so good in children's books, there is a growing trend to bill back office expenses before the first sale. These don't really amount to much -- maybe $10 a quarter -- with children's books since the manuscripts are pretty short, but it does reflect a certain...lack of faith in their ability to sell your book. And right now, children's publishing is pretty tight.
However, I don't know of ANY...not ANY...legitimate children's agent who wants money before doing anything. So if you should submit to someone who wants some kind of upfront office expenses "fund" to draw from -- walk away. That person probably won't submit your book, at all.
Before you begin hunting an agent or publisher, be sure your manuscript if flawless. Not "just as good" as some of the "crap" out there, but really competitive with the best children's writing you've read. And read a lot of children's books -- if you are a picture book writer, you aren't ready to submit until you've read 100 recent picture books and really thought about where yours fits with those. If you are writing a novel, be sure you've read 50 recent novels in the same genre (mystery, humor, etc). If you haven't read A LOT in the children's field, don't start sending out, you'll just be closing doors before you were ready to knock on them.
gran
www.underdown.org
You can still get published in children's books without an agent. Editors tell me that they *do* pay slightly more attention to things like magazine publishing credits and belonging to SCBWI when a writer doesn't have an agent.
But some houses are completely closed to unagented submissions and others require queries (which are a drag). The nice part about having an agent is that you can then move on to writing your next book and not worry about pushing to publishers. But first you can to connect with an agent and if you hate sub'ing to publishers, you're going to hate submitting to agents. And it can be tricky to find an agent who really likes your kind of work.
Among children's agents, because the $$ is not so good in children's books, there is a growing trend to bill back office expenses before the first sale. These don't really amount to much -- maybe $10 a quarter -- with children's books since the manuscripts are pretty short, but it does reflect a certain...lack of faith in their ability to sell your book. And right now, children's publishing is pretty tight.
However, I don't know of ANY...not ANY...legitimate children's agent who wants money before doing anything. So if you should submit to someone who wants some kind of upfront office expenses "fund" to draw from -- walk away. That person probably won't submit your book, at all.
Before you begin hunting an agent or publisher, be sure your manuscript if flawless. Not "just as good" as some of the "crap" out there, but really competitive with the best children's writing you've read. And read a lot of children's books -- if you are a picture book writer, you aren't ready to submit until you've read 100 recent picture books and really thought about where yours fits with those. If you are writing a novel, be sure you've read 50 recent novels in the same genre (mystery, humor, etc). If you haven't read A LOT in the children's field, don't start sending out, you'll just be closing doors before you were ready to knock on them.
gran
cluelessspicycinnamon
I definitely think it's worth it to get an agent, especially if the agent is really nice and friendly and calls you up to help you with your works in progress, and in general is just sort of like a writing mentor as well as someone who helps sell your books. As for how to find an agent, I don't know, because mine just fell into my lap.
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