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1) All about my new ebook: Get Your
Picture Book Published
Here are some picture book writing tips © Andrea Shavick Firstly, if you're serious about getting published,
either in book form or in magazines and newspapers you will need the most recent
copy of The Writer's and Artist's Yearbook. It
contains a comprehensive list of publishers and agents ( Next, only send your manuscript (ms) to a publisher
who is interested in your type of book. In other words don’t send picture book
fiction to a publisher who only publishes non-fiction. If in doubt, ring and ask
for their catalogue or look at their website. This advice may seem blindingly
obvious but I can assure you every non-fiction publisher receives mountains of
picture books stories every week - and they all go in the bin. If you were them,
you'd do the same. When you send you ms out, present it professionally. I
devote a huge section in my ebook to this, but the absolute
basics would be: -
Use a
font like Times New Roman 12 regular, double spaced -
Check spelling and punctuation
carefully. No mistakes! -
Put contact details on every single sheet of your ms. -
Send a
covering letter with your manuscript. Sum up your story in a few sentences but
never say things like, "My children love it.” Be professional. - Enclose a SAE or you'll never get a reply and put the correct postage on the letter containing your ms. Next - for children's picture book stories - send the
WHOLE text. Don't send three sentences. Don't say it's great, here's my
telephone number! Send the whole thing. Next
- when planning a picture book remember they are mostly just 32 pages long (including the covers). My ebook gives
you a proper template for a picture book so you know exactly where to begin and
end your story - don't let your manuscript fail to make the grade because of bad
formatting.. And the word count? Keep it short. If you can get it down to 300 you're a
genius! Things
to avoid are witches, religion, swear
words, racism, gender bias, sexism, scary stuff and dangerous situations such as
kids trying to fly, fire, candles, fireworks and weapons. When they say they
want 'edgy and different' they really mean play it safe. Also
don't bother with issue books ie 'Billy was a bully' as
they’ve all been done to death. Whatever you do, DON'T PAY A VANITY PUBLISHER. A vanity publisher is
a shark who professes to love your story but then asks for a
'contribution' towards the costs of publishing. That is not
self-publishing. That's being conned. REMEMBER 1. Keep writing. Successful authors produce a lot of work. 2. Never send original illustrations, or your only copy of a text. 3. Don't leave your manuscript in the filing cabinet - to sell it YOU MUST SEND IT OUT TO PUBLISHERS! Good luck! Andrea P.S. this article is copyright so if you'd like to use it for your magazine or website (or would like me to write you something longer/shorter etc) please email me to discuss it. And if it's wetted your appetite for the real thing then for just £9.99 you can be reading my new ebook Get Your Picture Book Published in less than 5 minutes.
3)
Links to some great writing books personally recommended by Andrea
4) How to get your picture book personally appraised by Andrea I am a consultant for the critique company Adventures in Fiction http://www.adventuresinfiction.co.uk so if you have written a picture book or other young children's fiction and would like a detailed manuscript appraisal then please contact Adventures and ask for me to be your consultant. You'll get a comprehensive and honest report covering presentation, language, plot, characterisation, illustration (if applicable) as well as recommendations to help you get your story published.
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