Morning all writers and artists,
I am new to this website and world of writing - professionally. I have written a children's rhyming story and am at the stage where I need to find a publisher. All I want is for said publisher to say 'yay or nay' with regards to the quality and potential for publishing.
I have read it to many poeple such as friends, family, work colleagues, a class of primary school children and many more, without blowing my own trumpet, it has received rave reviews. This has urged me to pursue this avenue further and hopefully have it published.
The fact that it rhymes - and I like to think rhymes very well - may be the ace up the sleeve when it comes to getting publishers interested. I feel it is as interesting and fascinating to the imagination of a child as well as being educational and understandable. There is plenty of alliteration and repetition and would be very beneficial for any individual facing difficulties with speech and writing.
Being self employed in all other aspects of my life I thought 'self-publishing' would be the ideal way to go forward. However, after reading various articles I feel a literary agent is the best way to go forward, as I'm a 'virgin' to the industry. I have purchased the writers and artists yearbook for children's books and will browse through the list of literary agents when it arrives.
I just wanted to ask of any help/guidance from more experienced writers and even publishers in this community.
Mainly, how would I go about copyrighting and protecting my story? Is this left to the literary agent to deal with or publisher?
What I would need to offer to an agent other than the manuscript?
Are there many legalities surrounding ownership and partnership when it comes to finding a literary agent?
Do agents and publishers have the deciding decision on how the script reads? I appreciate any constructive criticism and am happy to change the script - knowing full well it will no doubt be stripped apart - but how much input would I have If I feel losing certain parts result in losing plot details and interesting points?
There are numerous other questions I have, but just wanted to get some advice on the above.
I'm sure if there is a literary agent out there who is interested in my work, that is a giant leap forward for my story. I guess it;s just finding the right one?!
Thanks all.
Jim
A good starting point is to get your story looked at by an editor or proofreader (ask family and friends too) before approaching a publisher. They will give you the necessary advice in order to make your work the best it can be before submitting it to agents/publishers.
It's entirely up to you but that would be my advice. If you are interested in asking an editor or proof reader to look at you work the website below (Society for Editors and Proofreaders) is the best place to start looking.
http://www.sfep.org.uk/
Goodluck!
I should have added that unfortunately it's not as polite as a 'yay' or 'nay' - some ask you to simply accept that if you haven't heard from them after 6 months they're not interested. It can all be very lengthy & dispiriting so be prepared!
Hi Jim
The answer to part of your question, i.e. how to find an agent/publisher, is that you need to trawl through a publication such as Writers and Artists, or various on-line sites, to find those that accept work for children. You then need to see exactly what they accept, find those that fit your own work and then submit to their individual guidelines. You will usually need a brief introductory letter, a short synopsis and whatever portion of your work they require for consideration (often first 3 chapters). Incidentally, many specifically do not accept rhyming works.
Good luck