Best Literary Agents For Children’s Books
Those who are ready with their children’s book script must be seeking one of the Best Literary Agents for Children’s Books they can find. The literary agent would act as a primary key in approaching prospective publishers who would find interest in the yet-to-be published books. Since publishers find it difficult to interact with every approaching writer, he prefers to interrelate with literary agents. Here are some useful tips and suggestions that would help an eager children’s writer to find a suitable literary agent who would, consequently, help in promoting writer’s work.
The primary thing to consider before finding a literary agent is to have a complete and ready manuscript in your hand. Writer should also be clear over his or her expectations from the probable publisher. A ready manuscript will ensure rapid execution of various steps for publication of book.
A thorough and meticulous research is also necessary before finding literary agents for children’s books. An informed writer will not only impress a literary agent but also save writer from many hassles and confusions. Another thing to keep ready is the cover of the book that is the first impression the buyer/reader would carry.
The writers ready with their children’s book must be socially active and savvy within the publishing realm. A well-resourced and socially active writer will find no problem in finding one of the Best Literary Agents for Children’s Books. Apart from this, there are several other resources also available that can help in finding the literary agents, such as literary agent directories, websites, portals and publications. Writer can check the credibility of the literary agents along with their accomplished projects, before approaching them.
Internet is a potent and effective tool that can help writers in finding a suitable literary agent. Once the contact numbers of prospective literary agents are found, a one-to-one meeting can be conducted to discuss relevant details. Personal meeting between writer and literary agent will help in establishing a cordial rapport between them.
Another thing that will be of immense help in finding an appropriate literary agent is the ‘Pitch Letter’. This pitch letter will help in making the agent understand your needs and demands, consequently making him interested in your project. This letter should be drafted in a professional language with zero mistakes in it. It should neither be too long nor too precise. In nutshell, the pitch letter should be comprehensive enough to include all the relevant details without sounding frivolous.
Next thing to ponder is a ‘book proposal’ that will enable literary agent to understand your book, and your aspirations from it, in a better way. After going through the book proposal, the literary agents are going to devise appropriate strategy for book’s marketing.
Now, once one of the Best Literary Agents for Children’s Books has been found, few more things are to be considered. There are high chances, that the agents will ask the writers to make some changes in the script to make it further appealing and engaging. This implies that writers must not think their job is over after finding a literary agent for their children’s book. They might have to rewrite or revise some portions, as suggested by the agent.
Who are the best children’s novel literary agents and how can I contact them?
I have recently completed a manuscript and I’m looking for literary agents to send it to for evaluation. The book I wrote is for the same age range as the Harry Potter series was for. So I am assuming this would be the young adult novel category. I would like to know who the best literary agents of this genre are and how I could contact and send my manuscript to them. Somewhere I could see a listing would be great, and any other help given.
Another thing to try: Look on the web sites for writers’ conferences for a list of the conference presenters. Some of these will be agents, and agents who attend conferences are generally agents who are willing to consider new clients.
Even better: Go to some conferences near you and sign up for a pitch session with those agents. You might land an agent that way, but even if not, agents will at least give you pointers in presenting your book in the most compelling way.
I have written a children’s book – It’s called ‘The Cheese People’. How do I best publish it?
The book is about The Cheese People living in Wensleydale Vale (www.cheesepeople.co.uk) it is well illustrated and is written in rhyme. There are 40 different cheese people characters and they all have different cheese personalities. The book is written to appeal to children and parents and so far there are over 20 different story lines. The first book details all about 30 of The Cheese People and tells 4 stories, but there are lots more on the way!!
Charlie Cheshire, one of the main characters also writes a News Blog (www.cheesepeople.co.uk/blog) updated every Mon to Fri) about what is going on in Wensleydale Vale. It’s a mini series and is in written and audio format.
I have written to 30 literary agents and publishers, am writing to 30 more and would really appreciate any ideas anyone may have for getting published.
Many thanks
I have just completed a manuscript for a Children’s story. I started on a query letter and completed its?
summary. Now, typically a Literary agent would like to hear what books I’ve had published and my experience. But quite frankly, I don’t have any. The best I have at the moment is a Sci Fi Novelette that’s almost finished. Should I just say I have no experience, or is their a better way of putting it?
If you have no prizes or paid publications, say nothing about your inexperience.
One warning, though: If you have just completed a manuscript, you are not yet ready to contact agents or publishers. Your first draft may be damned good, but I guarantee letting it “ripen” without looking at it for at least two months (during which time you can write yourself notes about it: things to check, to add, to delete, to think about–but no peeking at the manuscript itself!), your second draft will be better.
You contact agents when your revisions and rewrites no longer improve it in any way. Maybe that’s after the second draft, or the fifth, or the tenth. There’s never a good reason to send a query on work which still has any potential for improvement.
is this a joke? Cheese people? Mind you it sounds like the kind of stuff that really takes off and makes an author a millionaire over night.
Or it might not.
Pick a cheese that’s not a rip off of Wallace and Gromit, you could get into trouble for that. How about the Cheddar people? Cheddar is under-rated. the forgotten cheese…
Good luck anyway.
Reader’s aren’t buying short story collections, so publishers aren’t publishing them. The only time a publisher will publish short stories is if the author has previously been published or has an established fan base. If you’re not Nora Roberts or Stephen King then chances of a publisher buying your stories is zero. Literary agents usually want authors to stick with one genre and build up their fan base first, and then can dabble in another genre. Even Stephenie Meyer published four young adult books before writing her first adult novel, and it helps to build that fan base. So, it’s possible you’ll be advised by an agent, if your work is good enough to nab one, to stick with one genre for a few years/books and then try to branch out. Agents will only represent you on an exclusive basis, so you cannot have two agents at the same time. The agent you have will help you develop your career.
To break into the publishing you need to write a good book. I’ve heard from agents that publishers are buying few children’s picture books these days, though it depends on what you mean by “children’s.” If they are picture books then they are going to be a very hard sell because they are expensive to print and don’t sell well. There’s a difference between Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Children’s and some people inaccurately refer to YA as Children’s.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s very hard to get an agent or publisher. You don’t need the right connections, you need to write some damn good work. Most people get rejected because their work is sub-standard; their writing is bad, and their editing is horrible. Publisher’s don’t publish horribly written work that has mounds of grammatical and factual errors, and spelling mistakes. These mistakes do in most novels. I’ve heard from authors who have worked for publishers reading manuscripts and the number one complaint is that most people get rejected because they can’t write to save their lives (grammar being the number one problem). Also, poor writing skills in general, so it doesn’t have to be grammar, you need to know how to structure a good sentence. You have to know the elements that make a novel great, such as having some kind of conflict or tension within the first few pages. Not making amateur mistakes like starting with your character having breakfast or starting with a dream sequence; both rejections. An editor at Del Rey (publisher) blogged about the main reasons they rejected manuscripts in 2009. One of the things the editor said was that in order for them to buy a manuscript it has to be well written an 95% publishable. If the book needs a lot of revisions and editing then they’ll reject it. So, the standards are high, and most people’s work don’t meet those standards.
You can self-publish, but you’re not going to break into the literary field by self-publishing. Most people who self-publish their novels do so after being rejected by every publisher and agent known to man. If you get rejected by that many agencies then chances are your book is so bad that it’s not publishable, and self-publishing isn’t going to make it better; it’s a waste of money. Rejection out the wazoo is nature’s way of telling you to write a better story. 😉 The people who tell you that you need connections are probably those who don’t know they were turned down because their work was sub-standard – just guessing. Publishers don’t turn down well-written books that are marketable – they do want the money, and can pay big for it if the work is really good. Good luck.
Just so you know, Gianna works for a self-publishing company – the same one she’s pimping in her links, so that’s why she steers people toward self-publishing. I’ve talked to people who self-published their first books and they say it was the worst mistake they’ve made because it wasted a good book and money. No one read it. But, they were able to find an agent and a real publisher for their second book. If you can afford to have your self-published work professionally edited, marketed, hire a good freelance cover designer then you might have a chance of making it work, but it costs thousands of dollars, and I’ve talked to people who paid well over $12,000 self-publishing and it didn’t pan out.
One more thing, make sure you get feedback from other writers, and not just family and friends. Don’t depend on yourself to fully edit your novel because that’s not going to be enough, have someone give you suggestions, preferably another writer who understands what’s needed to write a good novel.
Kailynn just doesn’t know what she’s talking about. From how she’s written her post, I suspect she’s a teen; there are plenty of them on Y!A who will quickly give you misinformation, which is why you need to research this yourself, before you listen to some teen whose writing is so bad that they don’t stand a chance of getting published. I wrote a post about it and asked aspiring authors if they did their research, or if they’re prime meat for the scams out there. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvoOyjyiduqwuaYzxGNC7trsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100111083641AAlhCZn
@ Kaitlynn – keep researching, honey, because you still don’t know what you’re talking about. Books that are completed and in tangible form are automatically copyrighted, and you don’t even have to get it registered. It’s illegal for someone to take your work and put their name on it or use parts of it – that’s copyright violation and they will be sued. No publisher will bother taking worthless work – it’s not worth anything unless it’s published, and most people write crap that’s not worth stealing. Scammers aren’t interested in stealing your work – they’re only interested in taking your money and will lie to you about pitching it to publishers.
How would I go about getting published?
Is it beneficial to get a literary agent? How difficult is that for a new writer? Also is the best place to look for a lit agent in Writer’s Market? What if I publish several types of literature? Do I need a different agent for each work? I hear people saying that it’s all in who you know. I can’t believe that is the only way to get published. How do I break into the literary field to get my children’s books, adult fiction, and short stories published?
I happen to be a small town publisher, lets throw some ideas around, ya heard?
I am the next Doctor Seuss–How do I get published immediately?
I believe that I have a children’s book that could be as big as The Cat in the Hat. I need a good literary agent. I know that the most likely answer I’ll get to this post is that I should buy that giant encyclopedia of agents and leaf through it. But how will I know who the good agents are, and how can I make sure that I’m being represented by the “best?” And besides, won’t it take a long time? It seems that it’s better to have an “in” somewhere.
Even though I’m an unknown author, I guarentee that any children’s author or agent who will read the first chapter of the book will take me on–I am that confident in its quality. I’m afraid, though, that I don’t know how to get it the buzz and recognition it deserves.
Thank you for your help.
Alexander Snaggleroot was not a normal kid.
It didn’t matter what he said or matter what he did.
He wasn’t cute or clever and he wasn’t strong or tall,
His ears stuck out at angles and his nostrils were too small.
His voice was even sharper than the squealing of a pig,
His eyes were different colors and his teeth were brown and big.
His classmates thought it funny and their teasing wouldn’t end,
At recess he would play alone, without a single friend.
Every day the little boy endured another fight,
No wonder, then, he tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep at night.
“I wish I didn’t go to school,” he muttered once in bed,
And thought about his classmates one by one within his head.
“Murphy’s good at soccer, but his talent is a waste,
How dare he kick my shins and fill my running shoes with paste?
Johnny might be great at math and be the teacher’s pet,
But when I went to see the nurse, he said “you need a vet.”
Etc.