| Submission Guidelines FOR WRITERS If your manuscript meets the criteria below, send an email query describing your story (plot, word count, target audience, what makes this story unique) to: Shari Dash Greenspan at submissions@FlashlightPress.com. Do NOT attach the query letter to an email - type it into the email. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should a manuscript be sent (neither attached nor pasted into the email) until it is requested by the editor. Do not send any queries or manuscripts by snail mail. CRITERIA: Stories should have universal themes and deal with family or social situations. They should appeal to 4-8 year olds and have approximately 1,000 words. Most of all, they should feel like they'd fit our line. Please spend some time looking through our website and reading about our books to determine whether your story might be a fit. Remember - we only publish picture books. At this time, we are NOT interested in concept books, non-fiction, early readers, chapter books, or YA novels. And no holiday books either, thanks. Important tip: unless you are also an artist, do NOT include illustrations with a requested manuscript. NEW POLICY Due to the large number of queries we receive, we are no longer able to send individual replies for queries we do not wish to pursue. We will send an automated reply that we received your query, but if you do not hear from us again within a month or so, please realize that your story was not considered a fit for our line. We only publish several books per year, so we need to be extremely selective. Manuscripts, when requested, will be evaluated within three to four months. FOR ILLUSTRATORS Please send an email including links to online portfolios and/or lo res digital images. Send email to: Shari Dash Greenspan at Editor@FlashlightPress.com Emails will usually be acknowledged within three weeks. OTHER HELPFUL INFO Here's a great article called The Mindset of the Successful Author by Laura Backes of Children's Book Insider An interesting article, "Writing the Dirty Cowboy," by Amy Timberlake, published on The Purple Crayon A blog that's not to be missed: Editorial Anonymous What sells in children's picture books? |
| picture books that explore and illuminate |