There is a story of picture book writer and illustrator, Kevin Henkes, going to the Children’s Cooperative Book Center (CCBC) in Madison Wisconsin and asking to see all the picture books published that year. Reportedly, he sorted them by publisher and ranked the top ten publishing houses where he felt his books would fit. He made appointments with people in the houses at the top of his list and went to New York. Then he met with the first person on his list. In the course of their discussion, he was asked why he chose that publishing house and he told his CCBC research story. The editor asked who the second name on his list was. When he told her, she said, “well you’re not going over there.” (This is a rough version of the story and I am sorry if I have messed it up in anyway) But the point is that Henkes did the research and knew where his books would fit.
Recently, a friend of mine had an editor who was considering her manuscript ask her to do a literature review. The questions she was asked were very similar to the questions that many distributors ask publishing houses for sales purposes. They ask for a synopsis of the book and short summaries of each chapter. Then they ask for a list of other published books that are comparable in subject and style and how the new book is different. They also ask for possible markets. The publisher ultimately declined my friend’s manuscript, but my friend said she had gained a lot through doing the literature review including getting the names of other publishing houses where her book might find a home.
Most publishers have submission guidelines that will tell you what kind of books the publishing house publishes and how they want to have manuscripts submitted. Here is a link to Milkweed Editions’ Submission guidelines.
Do you research you publishing house before you send? How do you research them? For published writers, how did you find the editor that loved your manuscript?
All Best,
Mara Miller
I’ve heard the same Kevin Henkes story, but with a twist: He just walked in the door at Greenwillow, sans appointment. Nice. I’ve had one book published, and that happened by meeting my eventual editor in the hallway at a fiction conference we both attended. She didn’t think much of the concept (I’m a very poor pitcher), but said she’d read it. She bought it within 2 months. That was a while ago, and I have to say, it’s not any easier getting #2 into print.
Comment by greenlinnet — July 22, 2008 @ 3:20 am |