How do I publish a children's book?

Answer 1

If you want to just publish it yourself, sites like http://www.lulu.com/ are pretty easy to use and offer a wide range of choices. If you mean how do you get a children's book accepted by a publishing house, then that's a different story.

If it's a non-picture book, you need write a synopsis and send it with an example piece - maybe 1000 words if it's a short book or the first two or three chapters if it's a novel.

If it's a picture book you need to put a dummy version of the finished book together and send it to an agent with a couple of finished illustrations.

You can get addresses and details of prospective publishing agents from somewhere like 'The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook'.

And good luck!

Answer 2

I would suggest NOT self-publishing the book. There is little or no money in it. And doing that buys you no credit with literary agents or publishers in the future (they don't consider that experience).

Look around online for a literary agent, find one that is accepting manuscripts for children's fiction, then send them a query. This should include a letter summarizing your project, how you consider it different from other children's books, any credentials you have as an author, and the first chapter or so of your work.

Here's an example site: http://www.writers.net/agents.html

Answer 3

There's an Artist Market 2008 book out as well as a Childrens Artist Market book, which would have a lot of the information you need on publishers, work submissions, length, illustrations, payment, size, etc.

Any large book store should have this, and you might even find an older copy (they come out every year) in the referrence section of your local library.

Answer 4

You start by querying literary agents. This is done with a one page letter describing yourself and your book. Sometimes the agent will request you include the first few pages or chapters, but that is an individual preference. He is a short article about how to write a query letter http://querytracker.net/howto.php

There are several websites out there that will help you find an agent, my favorite is QueryTracker.net at http://www.querytracker.net/ . It is free and has a list of literary agents and also tools to help you keep track of who you already queried and who you haven't, plus more.

They do a good job of keeping the crooks off their lists, but it is still a good idea to double check at http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html.

There are a lot of crooks out there. Never pay anyone to read or publish your book. A real agent will never ask for money except as a percentage of your royalties.

Keep in mind that finding an agent and getting published is not an easy process. Some people have to query hundreds of agents before they find one who will accept them (sadly, some never get accepted), but be persistent and keep trying.

You should also visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums one of the largest forums for writers. They can be very helpful.

Good luck.