Selling a childrens book

JaneNS

A while ago I came up with idea and wrote a poem which I thought would make a good book for teaching very young children basic maths. It's a simple thing but I have an idea for 3 further books which I reckon I could write and illustrate. There's some scope for more after that and toys/merchandise based on the poem.

So my question is how would I go about trying to sell this to a publisher? I know nothing about how to go about this or how to protect my work in the process. I'm aware this is meant to be a tough market but the poem is written so it would be nice to try and sell it.

betterlife

i have looked into this myself before, alot of publishers dont like poems/rhyming storys as they dont translate well, saying that many have succeeded so i would recommend finding a publisher! do a search by typing in uk childrens book publishers, there is a society (cant remember what its called) but there is a list of uk publisher who accept submissions, i also went to the childrens library with pen and paper and wrote a list of publishers from there, then find them on the net, most of there websites have a bit telling you if they accept unsolicited submissions or not, if you use a repitable publisher you should have no worries with them stealing your work as such, but a good idea would be to print off copies of your stories, sign, date (maybe proof of date) and post them to yourself (or if you have a solicitor, them) but when recieved do not open!! just keep it safe somewhere, your envelope will have a dated post mark on and if in the event someone tries to steal your work, you have some proof. hope this helps x

betterlife

forgot to say, from research it seems its harder to get published if you submit both story and artwork, as if they dont like the artwork they may just dismiss the story or vise versa, they also like to mix a new author with an established artist , or new artist with a published author at first as its less risk to them, read there submission guidelines as this will really help, i always like the look of anderson press, good luck x

lincroft1710

Writers and Artists Yearbook lists all publishers and whether or not they accept unsolicited submissions. Also gives advice and tips to would-be authors

betterlife

Thats the one i was thinking of ! you cant become a member until you get offered a contract with a publisher, but there is loads of really useful info and advice on the site