Any tips for a childrens writer?

[paul]

Hi Debra,
I've written a children's book and was wondering the best way to go about getting published. I was in waterstones in sutton this morning (I live in Morden) and one of the girls said to look on your website so here I am
My book is about a green dog who takes children to a magic land. I love writing, I'm up at 5am most mornings to start (I have 3 small children)
Any tips you have would be most welcome. Thanks for sparing me the time

[Debra]

Hi Paul,

Getting published - where do I start? You need the hide of a rhino and determination for starters! Other than that ...

Firstly, you need to have the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook. That became my Bible. In there you will find a list of children's agents to submit your work to and the criteria they require.
Your manuscript has to be completely ready i.e. proof read, edited, usually double-spaced on white paper etc. This kind of thing can be found on agent/publisher websites.
You send off your work with an SAE then sit back and wait!

For me, the rejection slips came thick and fast which was not terribly encouraging. I couldn't find an agent or publisher to take my book on. But after talking to children about my books (I'm also a teacher)I decided that if they would read it I would publish it myself!

Now self-publishing is an altogethe different thing which I can go into at another time if you need to go down that route.

After selling 4000 of the first book and writing a second book I finally found an agent. That was five years after I originally started writing - see how determiniation pays off!

Now, with book three due to hit the shops in July, I'm still waiting for the lucrative publishing deal, but until then I'll keep writing - it's what I do!

Hope that's helpful.
Debra

[Trish Campbell]

Yes I think the Children's Writers' and Artists' Yearbook is a wonderful start. I have bought it every year for a some time now and I found it very useful as it tells you how to summit work and who to. I narrowed my search down to 14 agents, as they all seem to handle the sort of illustrated books that I am producing. I spend a lot of time getting it right and sending very professional looking manuscripts and colour copies of my artwork. It is hard to start out as an illustrator/writer, as most agents/publishers tend to have their own in-house artists.

Good luck!

[paul]

Thank you both, I guess its the luck of the draw. I have the writers n artists yearbook which i most admit is very useful. Trish just keep going, I'll be published, just hope I'm not grey and old by the time that happened. Thanks again