Children's Books

We're trying to take all your publishing questions, so send them along. Jan wrote to ask about children's books: "I read recently that an author doesn't necessarily need an agent if she is writing for children, and that it might be a better use of our time to submit directly to a publisher. Do you think that's true?"

Um... Okay, I'm not the children's book specialist. Just so we're clear, I rarely have represented children's books (a few times, like Rene Riva, I couldn't say no). So I'm not the expert. However, I've certainly been around children's books and children's book authors and editors. And in my experience, I would disagree with what you read. In my experience, most of the children's publishers want proposals to come through agents. (We can get into why that is, if you want -- a good agent knows what the publisher is looking for, helps the author make sure it's ready, know how to help prepare the proposal so it fits the publisher's format, understands the economics of children's publishing, etc.) So I'd tend to disagree with whoever wrote that article. 

This is a good place for me to point out that, over the years, I haven't exactly been the "agent evangelist." I made a good living as a writer without having an agent. (Truth? I kept talking to them, and I always seemed to know more about the industry than they did.) Is it possible to make it in this business without an agent? Sure it is. But it's getting harder. Most publishers simply won't accept un-agented proposals any more. They've done that as a means of trying to professionalize the relationship. They've also done it because the scads of young editorial assistants they used to have don't exist any more, so they don't have the personnel to wade through the unsolicited slushpile. It doesn't get talked about much, but the fact is publishers now rely on agents to be the first filter -- to go through the material and clear out the dross. They expect agents to help bring in publishable, salable manuscripts that fit the house and are well-written.

Now, having said that, the role of literary agents is definitely changing. Self-publishing is exploding, publishers are moving toward more e-books, and no one is quite sure what this business is going to look like in ten or twenty years. To which I say... "yeah? and this is new?" Hey, publishing is a dynamic industry. We've never really known what direction it was headed in. We all get surprised by mega-sellers that come out of nowhere and take us in new directions (Left Behind, Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, The Shack). So I expect the industry will be very different in a few years. 

That said, my guess is we'll still have publishers. People will still want information and entertainment. They may read it on a device, but somebody will still have to write it, and others will still edit and produce it. Authors will still need help with careers, and will still be looking for guidance on things like ideas and topics and writing. They will still need someone who understands contracts to handle the business side, and they'll still want someone else negotiating for them and singing their praises and protecting them. (As I've noted before, your publisher has a team of lawyers and accountants working for them. Who do you have as an author?) So I think those of us who are good at this job will continue to work and make a living. A longer answer than you might have anticipated, but those are my thoughts.

chip

Comments

[patriciazell]

Can I ever relate to the constant changing of the publishing business! Education is the same way--we no sooner start to lock into what has been mandated than either the federal or state government (or both) change the mandate. Oh well, that's life.

Both publishers and agents have to become more selective because with the explosion of writing conferences and courses and with the ease of all the technological advances, writers are coming out of the walls. In the real world, we all can't write bestsellers. I guess we need to quit worrying so much about publishing and just ask God for knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and open doors. He will use us where He needs us and He will make good out of all things.

[Pegg]

I'm curious if you think e-books will be as popular for children's books as it probably will for adult books. Somehow it's hard to envision Grandma on the couch, surrounded by her grandkids, holding an e-reader as opposed to an actual book.

[Jan Cline]

I love that comment about Grandma on the couch with an e-book! Yeah, this Grandma will never do that. And thank you Chip for your advise. I had a feeling it wasn't true, but Im still learning the industry. I have a friend who would like to break into writing for children and I didn't want to pass along misinformation. Blessings!
Jan

[Lauren Sylvan]

Well, Grandma may not be sitting on the couch reading an e-book, but school districts strapped for cash will soon turn to an e-reader device as the answer to the expensive edition-games of the textbook industry. Just think: instead of junior being loaded down by a spine-twisting aggregation of ponderous tomes in the bookbag, s/he could have a single e-ink tablet on which the entire K-12 curriculum is contained.

That's going to be happening all over the country in the next two to fifteen years. And the generation educated that way will be no more interested in going back to dead-tree books than we are in using reel-to-reel tape recorders. Though they may enjoy the ambiance of watching grandma show them how in her youth they read papyrus scrolls just so...

[Laurel]

Chip,
I like your new single question format. Longer answers let your experience shine through and help me to understand what's behind the short answers.
Thanks!

[Chip MacGregor]

No, I don't think Grandma will be on the couch, reading to her grand kids from an e-book, just like she's probably not listening to Sinatra on an iPod. BUT I think the kids will be reading their books from an e-reader. Technology is introduced and adopted by young people, who take it forward. That's a lesson of history.

[Pegg Thomas]

I think for textbooks, especially, the ebooks will be fabulous! As long as the technology doesn't crash mid-research paper... of course.

When I mentioned the kids books and Grandma, I'm thinking of books with wonderful artwork that also use different textures and shapes within the books, you know... the types Grandmas pick out, that kids touch and feel and explore in. I'm curious how that can be translated into an e-reader.

But I completely agree that once today's children are adults, everything will be different.

[MANDYTHEALPHA]

I am a new writer of children's book with one in print and several free reads of the e book form. I am also a grandmother and a realist. My grandchildren range from late teens to early childhood and all are more technically advanced than their parents and certainly their grandparents. The writing is on the wall or the e reader such as it is. There is room for all....Paula Shene, author of Mandy The Alpha Dog