Doubling up

Whilst searching today for unsolicited manuscript opportunities for this year, I found a children’s picture book that has many similarities to mine!  [NB: the author sent examples of the similarities between the two books but because question-askers are anonymous here, I've removed them.]

I wrote and reviewed and rewrote and re-reviewed my book throughout 2012, and submitted it to a publisher January 2013 (not lucky, obviously – possibly due to that very same query letter that lacked finesse). Apparently the other author was working on this book for four years prior to her publication. 

My question is… is my book now dead on the vine – did I get pipped at the post?  The books are of course different, but outstandingly share those close similarities of wording and essence. Can I even submit my book to publishers now or could it become a copyright or plagiarism issue? I wrote my book independently for over a year before the other book was published (and the only way I could in any way really prove this - your blog with my query letter competition submission)  

I guess this would be a situation of ‘great minds thinking alike’ rather than thieving. Or, on the other hand, if I were to pursue the publishing of my book could I then use the other book as an example of similar books already published, since publishers seem to like a writer to mention these in their submission? Perhaps I just have to do a whole rewrite so we’re not using those same phrases – ouch!

I feel really devastated right now that I put so much work into my story, and my query letter, finally ready to make my second attempt at the publisher juggernaut and it might all be for naught. Do I still have a chance? And if I do have a chance how would I, or do I have to, explain this situation to potential publishers?  Where can I go from here?  In your own words “…you might find you are wasting your time if there is a similar book out there”.  Also, even by putting ‘Copyright (year date)’’ on work, how can a writer protect their unpublished writing ideas from others if we enter competitions and make submissions when we need people to read them? 

In the world of picture books for children, the similarities you mentioned between your manuscript and the published book are not unprecedented. I've seen many a picture book in my time and there are definitely themes that emerge, and limited ways to explore those themes. If you believe the popular maxim that there are 'only seven stories in fiction' and then apply it children's picture books, you start to see where the doubling up - or quadrupling etc - can happen. Especially when books involve counting, as yours does, there is a risk that someone else will get there first. 

If you submit your project now, you won't be considered a plagiarist, for the reason mentioned above, but it could be that picture book editors and publishers think that your project is too similar - at least, for now. Because in the nature of there being not a lot of originality in themes and subject matters, everything 'comes around' (or everything old is new again - you get the picture) and the time for your project may be in a year's time. 

You also shouldn't suspect any dodgy behaviour from the other writer, again for the reason mentioned in my first paragraph.You don't know at what point that book was contracted - the author said she was working on it for four years, and they could have been four contracted years, which means she had a publisher well before you sent out your submission.

So: dust yourself off, accept that these things happen (and they really do, with all sorts of books - sometimes books with the exact same title are published very close together, and it's a complete fluke) and make your own submission the very best it can be so that your project is irresistible. Once you send it out or submit it to competitions, copyright law is your only protection - but, honestly, instances of ideas and/or text being 'borrowed' are so rare. People in the publishing industry are generally very much in favour of copyright, and they're also in favour of keeping their reputations intact, so they're not likely to do anything that jeopardises that. There is always a risk, whenever you write anything and release it to anyone other than yourself - for example. how do I know the content of this blog isn't being replicated wholesale by someone else? You can choose whether or not to accept that risk, but in your case it sounds as though the other publication was a coincidence - and you should definitely try to submit again. Just leave it a little while. 

Submitting picture books

I have just finished a picture book aimed at 4 to 10 year olds and am now seeking publication.

I know you have said previously that it is incredibly difficult to find a publisher/ agent for a children's picture book but I wondered if you feel it's better to approach a publisher directly or go via an agent. If you believe the latter is better, could you please recommend some agents to approach? I have an illustrator attached to the project (albeit not a well-known one) so is it best to send the manuscript with or without the accompanying pictures? And finally what can I do to make the manuscript stand out from the rest of the slush pile?

I'm curious about your picture book for 4 to 10 year olds, as that's not an age range any publisher would recognise ... Picture books are typically for children aged one to about five or six. There is a huge difference between the stories a four-year-old likes and those that appeal to ten-year-olds, so I'm not sure how you will have bridged that gap in your own story.

As to the submission question: submit to anyone you can. If publishers are accepting submissions, go for it. If there are agents looking for picture books, submit to them too. Unfortunately I can't recommend any, as it says in my little 'About Me' thingy on the right-hand side.

Send the manuscript with a couple of illustrations but not the whole lot - mainly because it's expensive for you to keep reproducing colour illustrations. Also take care not to send in anything unless it's been requested - that's a waste of your time and money.

To make your manuscript stand out, you only have to do one thing: make sure it's excellent. There are no visual tricks that agents and publishers respond to. We work our way through the pile and what always stands out is talent. The other thing that always stands out is rudeness in a letter, so maybe avoid that ...

Picture book presentation

I'm a writer/illustrator working on a picture book. I paint digitally and it would be much easier for me to present the book digitally, say on DVD. Is that an acceptable format?

Yes, but you should also submit high-res printouts of the manuscript - most publishing companies or agents will not want to print out colour copies of your digital files ... If in doubt, check the relevant submission guidelines or call/email to find out if you can submit that way.

Submitting picture books

I 'm a bit confused. I read on the CBCA website that children's books should not be submitted with pictures, however then I read that illustrators are very busy and difficult to book. Is it better to submit a children's book with or with out illustrations?

If you're an author/illustrator, submit text and pictures. If you're a writer only, submit the text only. It's useful if you know an illustrator who might be appropriate, but quite often publishers have illustrators they use. Just bear in mind that picture books are probably the hardest type of book to get published - many, many people are writing them; very, very few picture books are published each year. Your text would need to be perfect - yes, perfect - to get noticed. So polish, polish, polish until you just can't polish no more.

Author in a hurry - part deux

This author has also written with more information - and it turns out her two different publishers are quite specialised. So I've somewhat wrongly accused her of being in a hurry - although I don't know her personally, so I really can't say for sure. She has also written that she 'certainly didn’t mean to sound like I was whinging about not being able to enter competitions! The "big break" is definitely being published, but for me it’s also about being able to establish a career of sorts ... It’s not about being published by as many publishers as possible or being in a ridiculous hurry, but about being proactive and knowing the limitations of my current relationships with publishers.'

Given what she's told me about her existing publishers - both with no presence 'in the trade', as we like to say - she is right to send submissions to other (trade) publishers. But here's my big warning: now is a really bad time to be submitting children's picture books. Or illustrated books for adults. Those books are expensive to produce, both in terms of paper and production, and the amount of time involved, so they're not the sorts of books publishers are rushing to take on in 'uncertain' times. Australian publishing is doing okay at the moment, but our northern hemisphere colleagues are cutting people and projects all over the place. Some of those colleagues work in the head offices of large multinational publishers who may soon turn their gaze south. And as the illustrated books usually come from the larger houses - as they have the bigger budgets - now is really not a good time. So if this author wants to make relationships with other publishers, she should ideally do it with non-fiction that doesn't need thick paper ...

Author in a hurry

I started taking my writing seriously in April ’08 after years of ‘dabbling’. To my utter joy and disbelief, the first manuscript I sent off was accepted. I am primarily a children’s author with a passion for picture books and have just signed two contracts with an overseas publisher. I am also awaiting a contract from a niche market Australian publisher which should arrive any day soon. I am actively submitting picture book manuscripts high and low and make sure I include my successes in my cover letter. I also include names of some of the magazines I’ve been published in recently.

My question is, how much does that count when a publisher receives my latest manuscript? I understand that a good manuscript will sell itself – and I’m only as good as my current submission – but do they look more closely because I’m beginning to establish myself in the market? Or am I just another ‘wanna-be’ in the slush pile?

Also, I have discovered one nasty little down side to my publishing success: I am no longer eligible to enter many of the competitions around the place. So now I feel like I’m in limbo. I’m not published enough to avoid going through the unsolicited submissions pile, but I’m too published to enter competitions where I could get my ‘big break’. I haven’t ‘made it’ by any stretch of the imagination. Any suggestions on where to from here? Just keep doing what I’m doing and do it well?? Try and build my freelance profile? Try and nab one of those will-o-wisps a.k.a. literary agents??

A handful of things about your email trouble me.

First, you have signed two contracts with overseas publishers and about to sign one with a small Australian publisher, yet you also say you haven't had your 'big break'. Um ... is getting published not the big break?

Second, you obviously have one (or two) overseas publishers and one Australian publisher and you're sending off what sounds like a lot of submissions to other publishers. Why? Why aren't you trying to consolidate your relationships with your existing publishers?

Third: you have three publishing contracts and yet you're bemoaning the fact you can't enter competitions any more. Well, uh, yeah ... they're usually for unpublished authors.

So I think there's information I'm missing here, and I have a suspicion that what you're not saying is that the 'overseas publishers' are some kind of co-publisher, which means you're putting up some of the money; or, if not that, then they're no-advance publishers, of the sort who usually have a not-so-hot contract. (If you'd like to email me again and give me some more information about your publishers, I'll try to answer this question more comprehensively.)

If this isn't the case, then you're just really, really in a hurry to get published by as many publishers possible, in as short a time as possible, and I have to tell ya, honey: that's a bad career strategy.

The publisher doesn't like my illustrations!

I have a musuem-quality picture book published in Russian and English and available only in Russia. Am looking to sell the rights to US, UK, AU, etc. The problem is that everyone says it's gorgeous, well written, but publishers don't want a package...they want their own illustrator. This seems strange, since I own the artwork, etc. and it will take far less to simply reprint and sell than to do it from scratch. What's your advice?

These publishers don't want to use your artwork, either because they don't like it or they don't think it suits their market (and styles of picture book illustration do differ from one country to the next). And that's the bottom line: these publishers don't want to use your artwork. There's no getting around that. So if you want to get the book published, it seems as though you'll have to agree to let them find their own illustrator. If you really, truly want to keep the package as it is, though, you should keep sending out submissions until you find a publisher who does want it just the way you intended.

Getting published

I have written a children’s book. I don’t quite know how to go about getting it published ... I can’t seem to find the finances to even get it illustrated ... could you perhaps offer me some advice?

Yes: call the Australian Society of Authors or join the writers centre in your state; send submissions to agents; check the websites of publishers who publish picture books and see if they're taking submissions. And before all of that, make sure that your manuscript is as good as it can be - children's picture books are pretty much the hardest type of book to get published for a new writer (for the reasons giving here).

The reality of picture books

I have created a children's picture book with watercolour paintings, colour pencil sketches, digital media and hand-stitching. The language is intentionally simple and direct, so as to be read by children. However there is great symbolism behind the story, as I desired the book to educate both adults and children, like how Saint Exupéry's acclaimed children's book The Little Prince, could educate adults about life and human nature.

I followed the links to Australian literary agents on your site. However after reading through the conditions provided by individual agents, it appears that there is very little interest in children's books. I honestly believe my story holds potential due to my detailed illustrations and subtle, but powerful messages to adults.

Do you believe I have a good chance of getting published? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you could recommend certain steps I should take, so as to interest agents and publishers.

There are two parts to this question and, thus, its answer.

Part one: the agent thing
It's not true that there's no interest in children's books amongst agents. We love children's books, but it's hard to sustain a business doing too many of them - particularly picture books (see part two for more information). I'm one of those agents who adores children's books but it's unlikely I'll ever look at picture book submissions again, unless they come through a recommendation. It's not all gloom though: a lot of publishers will take submissions directly from the public so you don't necessarily need an agent for children's books, not the way you do for adults' books.

Part two: the picture book thing
Picture books for children are arguably the most competitive category of publishing at the moment. Every second writer I hear from is doing a picture book. But hardly any picture books are published in this country (relatively speaking) so there are a lot of disappointed people out there. Even major publishing companies won't put out more than six picture books a year, and for some it's more like two. And, even then, it's safe to say that a lot of those books are by previously published authors. So the chances of becoming a debut picture book author/illustrator are very slim. You need to have an exceptional book.

Now, not having seen your book, I can't say if it's exceptional or not. But I will say that it sounds hard to produce - 'hand-stitching' and 'digital media' are the red flags. Picture book production is labour intensive compared to that for other books - the illustrations have to be scanned on appropriate machines, the pages have to be colour matched and proofed, the books need expensive paper and they have to be printed offshore. They also can't be given to any old editor to look after - because they're so different to other books, they need a specialist, if possible. In other words: a picture book is a not inconsiderable undertaking for a publisher. So they're very judicious about what they take on and if you give them any reason to think twice - hand-stitching would be one reason - then they will. They'll expect that you want your final book to be hand-stitched too, and have digital media included, and that will just sound like a nightmare in the making. Their default answer is 'no'. You need to give them a reason to say 'yes'. And the overwhelming reason is if you have a fantastic story and beautiful illustrations. Again, not having seen your book, I don't know if it has either of those things so I can't comment on your chances of publication. Your next best step would be to research your market - go to a library and look at all the picture books; find out who publishes what. Then approach the publishers you think may be a good match. You could also get involved in programs like CYA (Brisbane) which give you direct access to publishers. Your local writers' centre would be the best place to find out what's available.

Submitting illustrations with text

My husband and I have written a short children's book which my husband would also like to complete the illustrations for. How do you suggest we submit the book? Should we have the manuscript and illustrations separate from each other, or put the relevant text under each picture? Also, what percentage do publishers take?

What you should submit depends on what the agent or publisher asks for. If they say 'no illustrations', then don't include them. But if you're submitting the whole thing as a picture book, the best thing you can do - to show you're professional - is lay out the text with the pictures as if it were a book. This will require a bit of thought, to see how the text will fit on the page with the illustrations, and you may find it helps you rework the text if needed. Laying out the text with illustrations makes it easier for the publisher to envisage the final book. As for how much they take - that depends on the contract. A standard book royalty is 10% to the author, although with children's books it's often less.