Picture Books and Chapter Books

RoseWrites said:

I've researched this a bit, but still have questions. When submitting your manuscript for say, a picture book, do you submit more than one manuscript at a time so they know you have other story ideas and it's not just a one time deal? what about chapter books?

From what I understand, easy reader books are about 20 pages. Is this 20 pages of a manuscript that you'll want to submit? or is that the total number of pages in the finished product including the pictures? And with a chapter book, they say about 40-60 pages, again is that the submission or finished book they're talking about.

Any answers to any of these questions would be very helpful!

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I'm not an expert, but I'll give it a shot.

Submit one manuscript at a time (usually) so your mss don't compete against each other.

20 pages is the finished length with pictures.

Check out this site for much more info: http://www.write4kids.com/colum44.html

The quality of a submission tends to vary in inverse proportion to the number of stories contained in it. If you open an envelope and find ten picture book texts, each one is usually ten times worse than average.

Just send one picture book text at a time, and make sure it's the best thing you've got. It doesn't matter too much to a publisher that you have more than one idea in you. They're interested in one book at a time.

Slightly off-topic, but the other thing in a cover letter that makes your heart sink is: "I have ideas for forty more books in the same series and think it would make a great animated TV series."

Torgo said:

Slightly off-topic, but the other thing in a cover letter that makes your heart sink is: "I have ideas for forty more books in the same series and think it would make a great animated TV series."

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And the author keeps wondering, "Why am I getting all these form rejections?"

It's usually word count that matters, not number of pages. PB's are anywhere from approx. 300 words (very young) to approx.1,000 words. That's a ball park figure. Easy Readers are about 2,500 words with short easy to read sentences. Then there's the transitional chapter books or early chapter books. That's around 5,000-15,000 words. Again, ball park figure.

Inspired:
Get one book accepted first. Do not say in the cover letter that you have X amount more because that only adds unneccesary pressure. Sell one book, get it established and then get your series going. They will want them then but no sooner. They only want one book to prove itself at a time.

Just a suggestion, but every children's book publisher I have come across only want one submission at a time.

Sara

Nuts!

I submitted 8 children's poems to a publisher at the beginning of May and they haven't responded yet--though I'm still in the 2-3 month response time period they wrote on a response card returned within 10 days of submitting. Each poem has a familiar theme which resonates throughout each poem. I suggested in my letter that they might consider it either as individual picture books, or as a collection or treasury.

Though, by everyone's comments in here, it sounds like my poems are probably in a landfill somewhere.

Since submitting the poems, I've been in touch with a peer who has published a children's book and I mentioned that I have written a couple subsequent poems and wondered whether I should send them in, referencing the other poems already submitted and she advised against it, saying that it would sound desperate...which I realized was probably quite accurate.

However, now I'm all bummed that my poems may not have even made it to second base, since I did it the exact way everyone here is advising against.

DRAG!!

So, do I send ten poems off individually to the next publisher on my list? I really think these might work better as a treasury. How do people get treasuries published, then?!

kim

Kim,
It's difficult to get poetry published for kids. What little there is on the market tends to have been commissioned (treasuries especially) or written by an established, well-known poet.
You will be very lucky if your poems find a publisher who's thinking at that moment about putting together a treasury - and then you have to get over the next hurdle, which is about whether your work is good enough for publication.
As far as publishing a poem as a picture book goes: a picture book has a particular set of factors that you have to think about. It's a different form to a poem. For example, the way the text breaks into pages, is there scope for an interesting illustration on every page? Picture books should in general be written as such. It's difficult to turn a poem straight into one.
With what you've already got, I suggest you look for a market that is specifically looking for poetry. More general children's publishers will likely reject every poetry submission they see. Those are the people you should send single picture book texts to.
Sorry to sound like the Voice of Doom...

Poetry can be hard to sell, but I think you still need to wait. If they actually sent back a reply card, you're doing better than most writers. Don't give up until you hit the 6 month mark. Seriously. Double the time they tell you it takes to review your material. They have piles of slush to work through. Don't rush them and give up.

Meanwhile, work on other stuff and pick the next place to send those poems. One rejection is nothing. Most writers need to get around 15 or 20 rejections for one acceptance.

Keep in mind that this is a slow business. You'll have plenty of time to work on other material while youre stuff is making the rounds.

I just went back and re-read your post. I was thinking you were talking about magazine submissions instead of books. I still think you should wait, but poetry books are a VERY hard sell these days, unless you're a well-established name.

Thanks for your inputs.

Now perhaps this question is more suited for the poetry stream, but in regards to children's poetry, do poetry magazine editors and poetry contest judges snub their nose at children's poetry? Dr. Seuss might not make it to the top ten greatest poets of our time, but Geisel was entertaining and fairly ingenious when it came to getting the honest, moral message through silly verses. Yet I would think an editor or a judge would put "Oh the Places You'll Go" in a literary magazine next to "The Raven".

No, my poems are not in any way reminiscent of Seuss, but it certainly makes me wonder if they are the calibre to seek publication through any press except a children's.

kim

Re: Nuts!

Kim:

I have seen magazine writer's guidelines that ask for up to six poems at a time so maybe you won't look that bad, especially when you suggested that they could consider them as a collection.

I know it takes longer, but every publisher has manuscript guidelines and most of them would rather that you sent for these first before submitting. It does take some extra time but it makes you look more professional and it saves these worries later. I know because I have been guilty of this myself.

Good luck

Thanks for your encouragement, Watcher!

I don't write to make money nor to sell a million copies. I write to enjoy and I write to let others enjoy. So I went out and bought some nice paper and picture frames, and printed my collection to hang in my childrens' rooms.

I decided it was time to pull the poems out of my CPU, and seeing them in nice frames feels perfectly satisfying.

kim