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A few 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 together with names, addresses and details of what types of books they are looking for. It's not expensive, I use it and so does every other author on the planet - see the link further down the page. 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 large section in my ebook to this - I even show you one of my (highly
successful) picture book texts exactly as I set it out when submitting it... but the absolute
basics would be: -
Use a
font like Times New Roman 12, double spaced -
Check
spelling and punctuation
carefully. No mistakes! -
Put contact details on every
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. - Put the correct postage on the letter and always enclose a SAE. -
For picture books send the whole text. Don't send 3 sentences. Don't say it's great, here's my
telephone number! Send the whole thing. - Remember picture books are mostly 32 pages (including the covers). My ebook gives you a proper layout template so you can see exactly where to begin and end your story: invaluable for planning plot contents and length and reducing text. - Keep the word count short. Aim for 500 or less. - Avoid 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! 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's not 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 - SEND IT OUT! 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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