Where to Submit Picture Books

by mindyhardwick on October 10, 2011

On Saturday’s workshop, “Writing the Picture Book” at the University Branch Library in Seattle, we spent most of the time talking about the craft of writing.

However, some people may be in a place they are ready to submit their stories. The question is where to submit your picture book? Unfortunately, many of the larger publishing houses have closed their doors to unsolicited picture book manuscripts. Although, if you really have your heart set on a particular Publishing House, you might be able to catch an editor’s eye is by attending a Children’s Writer conference. A listing of Children’s Writers Conferences can be found in the 2012 Children’s Writer and Illustrator’s Guidebook. SCBWI Seattle holds an annual conference every spring as does SCBWI Oregon. At a conference, an editor may invite participants to submit, or offer manuscript critiques.

But, if you can’t attend a conference, there are publishing houses open to unsolicited manuscripts Before you submit to any publishing house, you want to make sure to study the guidelines on the website, and to read some of their titles–this will help determine if the story you wrote is a good fit. The following are some of the publishing houses open to unsolicited picture book manuscripts.