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A Peek Inside Children's Publishing

© Sue Reichard

Your book idea is down on paper and you have decided to begin the search for a publisher to send your query or manuscript to. But, which publisher? There are so many...where does a writer even begin to start? Judging from the thickness of the "Writer's Market" resource book, finding a publisher can be a daunting task. There are hundreds of companies, companies within companies, some of which only produce textbooks. There are others who do not have a children's division, some publish only very specialized works and some only publish for young adults. Your ready to write that manuscript and you need to send for guidelines, so get ready for an education.

The publishing industry is never static, it is in a constant state of flux and constantly evolving. Turnover is high and whomever worked at Simon and Schuster last week, may this week be working for Scholastic.

Publishing houses also include many smaller subdivisions. These small units also have their own separate identity apart from the larger house. They are called imprints. Some examples of imprints are, Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton-Mifflin Company, Viking Books is an imprint of Penguin Putnam. It is a must to know if you want to send your manuscript or query to an imprint because most of the time you must send it to the imprint itself. Also, some imprints only publish fiction, some only nonfiction, etc. It is always a good idea to request a copy of the particular publishers catalog. The catalog will list the different imprints found within the house and give you an idea of the type of books they publish and what their specialties might be. It is crucial to your career to correctly target your manuscript or query and be sure to follow the publisher's guidelines to the letter.

Another factor to consider are what type of books the publisher has recently published. If your manuscript or idea is about growing up in the wild west and the publishing house you are considering has recently published this same type of book, it is unlikely they will consider another in the near future. Checking the backlist in the catalog will give you an idea of what has been published earlier by any publisher.

A few publishing terms you should know are:

Acquistions editor: This is the peson who will "acquire" your manuscript and make an offer for publication.

Publicist: The person who will plan your book promotion.

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