Sub Ops Ten

Ten Things About Submission Opportunities (Kids & YA Special Edition)

Annick Press publishes Canadian authors of teen and middle grade children's fiction and nonfiction; does not accept manuscripts from outside Canada. Regarding teen fiction: "Annick Press invites writers to submit proposals for teen novels which possess a high degree of originality and capture strong and distinctive contemporary voices. There should be creativity in the use of language—language that is lively, dramatic and vivid. The story must involve and stimulate the reader. It is essential that it have authentic dialogue and richly visualized settings. The reader must see the real teen experience reflected through the story line. We encourage the use of appropriate and well-timed humor. Please send a synopsis, together with a sample chapter." No electronic or FAX submissions; see guidelines page for more details.

Anvil Press is looking for progressive, contemporary literature by Canadian authors; no formulaic genre novels. From their web site: "Anvil Press is a literary publisher interested in contemporary, progressive literature in all genres. We must stress that we are a small publisher, publishing 8 to 10 titles per year. In general, we are planning at least 12 months in advance and, at present, are only considering work by Canadian authors. We are not interested in seeing formulaic genre novels: Sci-Fi, Horror, Romance etc." No electronic submissions; see guidelines page for more details.

Boyds Mills Press publishes children's books (picture books to novels) of literary merit; welcomes submissions from unpublished writers. From their web site: "At Boyds Mills Press, we welcome unsolicited submissions from published and unpublished writers and artists. The review procedure is time consuming. In order to review fairly the large number of submissions that we receive, we are unable to acknowledge their receipt. To the same end, should we decide that a manuscript is not for us, we will respond to the sender with a form letter. We review each submission in the order that it was received and try to respond within three months." No electronic submissions; see guidelines page for more details.

Captsone Press publishes fiction and nonfiction books for libraries and classroom use for pre-K through high school. Also interested in reviewing artists' portfolios for freelance illustration work. From their web site: "Capstone is keenly interested in meeting authors and illustrators. In fact, they play an integral role, connecting with our young readers and often deepening the reading experience by interacting with them online. Most of our titles are conceptually developed in-house and written and illustrated by freelance writers and artists. However, we are interested in receiving writers’ manuscripts and reviewing artists’ portfolios." E-mail submissions only; see guidelines page for more details.

Clarion Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, publishes picture, chapter and some nonfiction books for kids from ages 7 -12. No electronic submissions; responds only if interested, see submission guidelines for more details.

Curtis Brown Ltd., whose agents include Nathan Bransford, represents among their many clients children's authors and illustrators in all genres. "If you would like to submit a manuscript or proposal, please send us a query letter, a synopsis of the work, a sample chapter and a brief resume. Illustrators should send 1-2 samples of published work, along with 6-8 color copies (no original art)." Tip: Check the links on the agents page; some of the agents like Nathan do accept brief e-mail queries.

David Fickling Books publishes picture book and fiction for kids age 5-8, 9-12, teens and YA. Submissions outside the UK should be sent by e-mail. From their web site: "David Fickling Books is a small story house based in Oxford. Three of us editors work here, David, Bella and Hannah. We choose the very best stories or narratives we can find for people to read. It’s a great job. We don’t choose very many, sometimes as few as just one book a month, sometimes a novel, sometimes a picture book, sometimes poetry. We are not so much interested in how many pages a book has, as to how much space the storyteller needs to tell the story properly. And we choose our storytellers and writers very carefully indeed. We don’t think we do a whole lot, but making that choice is the most important thing we do. Our proudest boast has always been that our books ‘work’. That doesn’t sound like a big claim, I suppose, but it is. By ‘work’ I mean that we reckon that if you pick up and read a DFB book or if you give it to a child then the chances are that you or they or both are going to be taken by it in some way, taken to tears or to laughter or to a world that you won’t want to leave. A DFB book will move you." [I think that's the best mission statement by a publisher I've read in years.] Submissions outside the UK should be sent by e-mail, see their submission guidelines for more details.

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers publishes picture books, middle reader and young adult fiction and nonfiction. From their web site: "We seek manuscripts that that are honest, wise, and hopeful; but we also publish stories that simply delight us with their storyline, characters, or good humor. Stories that celebrate diversity, stories of historical significance, and stories that relate to current issues are of special interest to us at this time. We currently publish 12 to 18 books a year." No electronic submissions; see guidelines page for more details.

Holiday House Inc. publishes children's hardcover book ranging from picture books to YA. From their web site: "Holiday House is an independent publisher of children's books only. We specialize in quality hardcovers, from picture books to young adult, both fiction and nonfiction. We publish children's books for ages four and up. We do not publish mass-market books, including, but not limited to, pop-ups, activity books, sticker books, coloring books, or licensed books. Due to the volume of manuscripts we are receiving, Holiday House will no longer be able to respond to or return materials that we are not interested in publishing. We do, however, make every effort to carefully consider each submission we receive. If we are interested in your manuscript, we will respond within four months of receiving it." No electronic submissions; see submission guidelines for more details.

Walker & Company publishes young reader books ranging from picture books to YA novels. From their web site: "Established in 1961, we publish a small and select list of children's books, and we take great pride in our continued commitment to finding and fostering new voices in children's literature. Currently, we publish three lists per year, each consisting of approximately ten picture books and four to five middle-grade and/or YA works, for a total of forty to forty-five titles annually. Due to the limited number of titles we publish, we must be extremely particular about the projects we take on. Often our decision is based on a number of factors apart from a submission's literary merit. For example, due to our philosophy of publishing authors, not books, we rarely accept non-fiction that focuses on nature or wildlife, as we have established strong relationships with many authors specializing in this field. At the moment, our strongest needs are for middle-grade and YA novels and for well-paced picture book manuscripts for both the pre-school and early elementary age levels. We do not publish folk tales, fairy tales, textbooks, myths, legends, books in series format, novelties, science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Submissions that fall within these categories will be returned unread. We do not accept submissions of material written by children." No electronic submissions; see submission guidelines page for more details.

Most of the above sub ops were found in the market listings of the June 2010 issue of The Writer.