These five children’s book publishers are all excellent. None of them require agents. Nor do they require illustrations. All they require are well written books aimed at children.
Each of the publishers focus on different age groups, and some are looking for educational work, others are open to anything.
Below we have written a brief review of every publisher, focusing on the essentials. However if you click on the heading with their name you will be able to read the full review of the company. The publishers are listed in no particular order.
Flashlight is an award winning publisher of illustrated Children Books. They publish books aimed at 4-8 year-olds. They only publish 2-4 books every year, so they are very selective. The books they publish are beautifully illustrated. They also have good distribution internationally and nationally. The theme of the book must be universal, and the book should focus on family and/or social situations.
To submit to them, you must first email the editor a query letter. They try to respond to all queries within the month. If they are interested in seeing more, they will tell you at that point. To learn more visit their website here: http://www.flashlightpress.com/index.html
2. Hotkey Books
Hotkey is a UK based publisher of books for children ages 8-18. They are interested in publishing a wide variety of books that cover a number of genres and age groups. They do not focus on publishing books that are particularly educational. They have published some very famous authors including Garth Nix. The director of the company is very experienced. They are a newer press, but they have good distribution, are part of a much larger company, and have already published a number of successful books.
Submitting to them is very easy, and can be done electronically. They try to reply to most submissions within 6 months. To learn more or to submit, visit their website here: https://www.hotkeybooks.com/about
Tilbury House publishes adult books too (only non-fiction), but they mainly focus on publishing children’s books with a social message. Most focus on the environment, cultural diversity,nature, and social justice. They have published a number of award winning books that are greatly respected. They focus on getting these books into schools. The books they publish are for children between the ages of 7-12.
Submitting to them is easy and can be done electronically or through the mail. However if you initially submit to them via email make sure all the content is within the email itself and not attached. They do not open attachments, except if they request to see a complete manuscript. Initially they only want to see a query letter, an outline, and an excerpt of the manuscript. To learn more, or to submit, visit their website here: http://www.tilburyhouse.com/authors/submissions/
Chronicle Books is a reputable publishing house that publishes a lot of wonderful books, however for the sake of this list, I am just focusing on their children’s line. They have published a number of books that have been nominated for the Caldecott, the most prestigious Children’s book award. They publish a number of children’s books every year and have excellent distributors.
If you are considering submitting to them, please read their submission guidelines in order to learn more: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/our-company/submissions/childrens
ABDO Books is a publisher that focuses exclusively on educational books for children between the ages of 4-12. They sell a lot of books to schools and appear to be rather good at niche marketing. They are currently open to submissions for their non-fiction and fiction children’s book lines. They are also open to submissions of artwork. All submissions can be made electronically.
It is helpful to review their online catalog in the genre you write in, before submitting, because they clearly have some specific ideas about what they are looking for when it comes to books. To learn more visit their website here: http://abdopublishing.com/. To submit visit this page: http://abdopublishing.com/connect/submissions-and-employment
