Traditional Publishing

There’s no doubt about it. Traditional publishing is the easiest way to go. Once you have an agent and a contract with a publishing house, it’s pretty smooth sailing. They manage the production details, the sales, the distribution, and even some marketing. You get an advance and then make royalties. It’s a pretty sweet deal. However, the hurdles to get to the point can be large for someone who is just starting out. The book market, and especially the children’s book market is overflowing with options. Publishers often try to hedge their bets (they need to make back their investment after all!) by signing with folks who already have an audience / email list / some level of name recognition from which to catapult sales. If you don’t have that, you’ll need a book idea so unique and interesting that they think it’s worth the time and money investment to get it in front of people.

Can I submit my work straight to a publishing house?

Sometimes. It depends on the publishing house. You’ll have to check the various publisher websites to determine if they accept proposals directly from authors or not. Many publishing house will not accept cold submissions, so finding an agent certainly increases your chances of getting a book deal.

How do I get an agent?

This is actually not something I can’t particularly advise on as I acquired my agent quite by accident. However, you can google literary agencies (or start here!) and submit your work to them. This can be a time consuming process, but having an agent in your corner is a boon. They know their way around the business, have connections to big publishing houses, and can review and negotiate your contract. They usually charge a 15% fee (this would come from a book advance and also 15% of any royalties for the lifetime of book sales). If you’re committed to traditional publishing, spending your time trying to get an agent is probably the best up-front investment.

What’s an Advance? How do Royalties work?

The Advance is the money the publishing house gives you up front for your work. Advance is short for “Advance Against Royalties.” Usually the sum of the advance is equal to what the publishing house anticipates you’d make in the first year of sales for your book. The amount of the advance varies wildly depending on the book. AFTER you make back the advance in book sales, you start earning royalties. Your royalties are a percentage of your book sales (usually 10-13% for children’s books, though this gets split between author and illustrator - and agent, if you have one - so an author may only make 3.5-6% on each book sold).

Do I need to find my own illustrator?

No. If you’re not an author / illustrator combo yourself, you don’t need to find your own illustrator. If a publishing house signs you, they’ll help you with that.