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Question
I have written a story for children that would make a wonderful picture book. How do I find a publisher?

Answer
Before submitting to a publisher, make sure your story is as close to perfect as you can make it. Find a few readers who will give you honest feedback on the overall story, as well as specific items such as grammar, spelling, etc. Remember, in today's market, very few text-heavy picture books are being published. Your manuscript should be absolutely no more than 1,000 words, and preferably fewer than 500 to 600 words.

After you have whipped your manuscript into shape, you are ready to start looking for a publisher. If your book is what I might term a "general" picture book, you probably don't need to do a lot of legwork to identify publishers that will take a look at your manuscript; most big-name publishing houses (Simon & Schuster, Holt, Harcourt, FS&G, Harper, etc.) will consider your work. On the other hand, if your story is more specialized (for example, retold folktale, issue-based, of regional interest, etc.), it's probably worth your while to identify publishers that specialize in this type of book. Spend a few hours in your local bookstore and/or local library, and make notes of books like yours and who publishes these books.

The next step is to find the names of specific editors at publishing houses. Several resources will help you with this step. One is Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's Market (CWIM), a book updated and published annually by Reader's Digest Books. You might be able to find this book at your local library or bookstore, or you can buy it from an online retailer. The other great resource is the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators ( www.scbwi.org). To access all of SCBWI's literature, you will need to join up as a member, by paying annual dues (I think the dues are about $60 or $70 per year); after joining, you will have access to the SCBWI Market Survey, a pamphlet updated annually with the names of children's book publishers and editors. The Market Survey also includes a brief description of each publishing house's current submission policy (I'll get back to important submission policy terms a little later).

As you're choosing editors to whom you'd like to submit, whether through CWIM, the SCBWI Market Survey, or another resource, consider looking for junior editors or associate editors, rather than senior editors or executive editors. Editors higher up in the food chain tend to already have many authors with whom they work, whereas more junior editors are more likely to be actively seeking authors to bring into the fold.

Question
I have a wonderful picture book manuscript, but no illustrations. How do I find an illustrator for my story?

Answer
The quick answer is, you don't! It seems a common misconception that authors and illustrators work closely together in the creation of a picture book. In fact, publishers make a point of keeping communication between the author and illustrator of a book to a minimum, to allow each his or her creative freedom; though I've corresponded and met with my illustrators subsequent to publication of my books, I never speak to them during their work on the book, and have no input on the illustrations. So, as an author who is not also an illustrator, your process, in sum, is as follows: 1) Write manuscript. 2) Submit manuscript (without any illustrations!) to publishers. 3) Sign contract with publisher who wants your manuscript. 4) Keep busy working on your next book while the publisher finds an illustrator, the illustrator does his or her job, and book #1 is being produced! Note that if you are an author who is also an illustrator, your process will be a little different; you will send a dummy and one or two of your completed illustrations with your submission to publishers. Also note that there are some significant exceptions to the general rule about author and illustrator separation. For example, my understanding is that Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith have developed all of their co-created picture books together, and submit their projects to publishers as a done deal, text and pictures both, take both or leave both. Most authors, however, would be ill-advised to take this course, as editors much prefer to receive a manuscript without illustrations, develop a vision for the book based on what they see in the text, and choose an illustrator that best matches that vision and best suits the sensibilities of the text.

Many writers with whom I have spoken are dismayed at the idea of relinquishing creative control over their work, by allowing the publisher and illustrator to develop the visual element of the book. To address this concern, I would say a couple of things. The first is that publishers have access to illustrators that the average novice writer could only imagine in his or her wildest dreams; you may think your neighbor or officemate is a decent artist who could create passable illustrations for your story (so long as you stand over his or her shoulder and dictate the content of the illustrations), but the chance that your neighbor or officemate is the very best illustrator for your particular story is slim to none. By contrast, the chance that an established publisher has access to an illustrator who will be the very best match for your story is close to 100%. A second consideration to keep in mind is, the minute your story becomes a book, the story is, in fact, no longer altogether yours. Much of the beauty and power of a truly wonderful picture book lies in the fact that the story is told through both the words and the pictures; the pictures are not simply a pictorial representation of what is revealed in the text; the pictures bring a new layer and depth to the story; in some cases, the pictures introduce entire sub-plots. Thus, if you want your story to become a truly wonderful picture book (and certainly if you'd like to be published by a traditional publisher), take a deep breath, surrender creative control over the illustrations, and allow the illustrator to bring that new depth to the story. Bear in mind that the illustrator is not a hired hack brought on board to do the author's bidding; the illustrator is a talented, highly-trained artist with the ability to bring your story to life with layers and depth you might never have imagined.

Question
Do I need an agent to sell my children's book manuscript to a publisher?

Answer
As described in the answer above, many children's publishing houses do accept unsolicited submissions. So, the simple answer to this question is, no, you don't need an agent to sell a children's book manuscript. This differs from all other book markets and genres, in which you absolutely must have an agent; only submissions through agents are considered. The children's market is moving in this direction; each year, more and more houses change their official policy to "no unsolicited submissions."

I sold my first three manuscripts without the help of an agent, and have only recently signed on with an agent. I love my agent! A good agent has strong, established relationships with editors at a wide range of houses, which means that a good agent will be able to get your manuscript in front of many editors, and will ensure that these editors give your manuscript a serious read in a timely fashion. An agent is wonderful in that regard! The downside is that, prior to publication of your first book, you may not be able to get the attention of an agent. I think many writers take the route that I took, placing their first book or books themselves, and then signing on with an agent (often using the offer on the first book to get the attention of an agent, signing on with the agent after receiving the offer, but before negotiating the contract). If I had it to do over, I would have looked for an agent with the offer on my first book, rather than waiting for my fourth book! But at the time I sold my first book, I'd heard mixed reviews about agents. These mixed reviews might have resulted, in part, from the fact that anyone can put "agent" after his or her name; there is no certification or testing or other process to become an agent. After any amount of time in the publishing world, you're likely to hear the adage: "A bad agent is worse than no agent at all." So make sure you sign on only with a good, reputable agent! Quite a few websites list warning signs of "agents" who are more likely to be scam artists, as well as information about specific agents, whether they're known to be reputable within the field, whether they've actually placed any manuscripts with reputable houses, etc. One of these sites is at http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/. SCBWI (www.scbwi.org) also has information on agents. Please educate yourself about agents before submitting!

Question
I want to write in rhyme, but I've heard that editors won't consider books in rhyme. Why not? I love books in rhyme!

Answer
Kids, parents, and editors all love good rhyme: love to hear it, love to read it, and love to publish it, respectively. But editors do not love bad rhyme. And they get a lot of it. Many aspiring children's authors automatically assume that a children's book must be written in rhyme. So, a lot of people write in rhyme, when the rhyme does not necessarily serve the story, or when the writer does not necessarily have a knack with rhyme. If you've written a story in rhyme, before submitting to an editor or agent, consider these questions: Does the rhyme serve the story? Or is the story bent and twisted to serve the rhyme? Is the rhyme natural? Or is the language bent and twisted to force rhyming words at the ends of lines? Would a prose approach better suit the story?

Question
Why are author visits so expensive?

Answer
I decided to post this FAQ because I hate for schools to think of authors as mercenary and exploitive, charging exorbitant prices for visits--when in fact authors like me recognize that schools have limited budgets, and do their best to work within the constraints of that budget--but in the end, do find it necessary to charge for a school visit.

Authors visit schools for many reasons, for example, to encourage literacy, to share their books with children, to meet the audience for whom they write. In addition, many authors visit schools to supplement their writing income. Very, very, very few authors make a living strictly from the sale of their books. On a hardcover picture book, an author who is not also the illustrator typically makes a 5% royalty on the sale of the book; this means that, for the average picture book priced at about $16, the author makes about 80 cents for each copy of the book sold. The royalty rate for paperbacks is even lower, typically about 3%. As paperbacks are priced lower than hardbacks, perhaps an average of $6 or $7, the author receives about 20 cents for each paperback copy sold. For an author to make a living (similar to that of an elementary-school teacher, for example) through book sales, then, the author's books would have to sell at a rate of at least 40,000 to 50,000 or so hardback copies a year, or 200,000 or so paperbacks a year, or some combination thereof. Award-winning books and books by very well-known authors sell at these rates (and much higher), but most of the hundreds and thousands of other books published each year will never reach these sales numbers. Consider the narrow spine of a book, camouflaged among hundreds and thousands of other spines on the shelf of a bookstore or library; how would tens of thousands of people ever even find this book (let alone decide they like it and choose to buy it!), without the high-profile publicity of a national award or a big-name author? So, the vast majority of authors make a bit of money from the sale of their books, and have a few choices to actually pay the bills: 1) Marry well! 2) Hold a day job and write in the evenings, early mornings, lunch breaks, etc. 3) Work as a full-time writer and support the time spent writing through supplemental sources of income, such as school visits.

So, when you pay an author to visit your school, you are, often, to one extent or another, subsidizing that author's writing life. We subsidize the lives of professional athletes, actors, musicians, etc., to a much greater extent! We pay about $10 to see a movie in the theater, we pay much more than that for a ticket to a concert or a football, baseball, or basketball game. If you pay an author, say, $500 to $1,000 to visit your school, and that author presents programs to several hundred students, you might think of that as $2 or $3 per ticket for each student to see the author. Quite reasonable, really--especially if you prioritize books, reading, and literacy at least at one-third the level you prioritize movies, sports, and music, as I think most schools would.

Please also keep in mind that an author who visits your school likely has hours and hours invested in the visit: the three to six hours alloted to the visit itself, of course, plus hours of travel time to the school, hours of preparation time, hours of time spent communicating with the school and arranging the visit. The author also likely has materials and resources invested in the visit. For example, when I visit a school, I provide a book tie-in project for the younger students; the materials I provide for this project typically cost me $100 or more per school (given that I am providing materials for several hundred students, as would be the case at an elementary school of average size).

Finally, I imagine that most authors who visit schools on any sort of regular basis quickly come to realize that visits are most beneficial for everyone when the school is invested in the visit. I have visited many schools, and I have had wonderful visits and, well, not-so-wonderful visits. To a one, the wonderful visits correlate with preparation on the part of the school. When schools talk up the visit ahead of time, get students involved in projects related to the author's books (reading, writing, and other projects that can easily tie into existing curriculum), and prepare for the visit in other ways, students on the day of the visit are excited, attentive, and eager to learn from the author. This makes for a wonderful visit--both for the students and for the author! By contrast, when schools fail to prepare for a visit, students on the day of the visit are apathetic and inattentive. This makes for a miserable day for the author, and an opportunity wasted for students who end up deriving very little from the visit. All this said, it is an unfortunate reality that when schools reach into their budgets to bring an author in for a visit, they have a very real investment in the visit, which tends to result in a much greater likelihood that they will prepare for the visit in a way that leads to a wonderful experience for everyone.