The market

The market for picture books is - like everything in the publishing world - a very tough one. Publishers receive thousands of manuscripts, and will only accept a small handful.

Although picture books may seem easy to write, they must:

• appeal to the values of contemporary parents
• engage young children
• bear frequent repetition
• sound good when read out loud
• be suitable for illustration
• contain engaging, memorable characters

If you think that sounds easy, then we promise you it isn't.

What can we offer?

We offer a complete editorial service for writers of picture books and other books aimed at younger readers. We will:

• Give you an honest assessment of whether your work is strong enough for publication
• Identify any problems with your manuscript & offer detailed advice on how to fix them.
• Assist with marketing (if appropriate)
• Discuss all these things with you by phone.

Our aim, as with all clients, is to do what we can to help you get published.

Victoria Lee

Victoria has had a long career in children's publishing. At Reed Children's Books, she was Publishing Manager for Picture Books & Fiction, then Picture Books Editor. She has herself written a fair few picture books for titles conceived and produced in-house - so she knows the challenge involved in writing such things.

Victoria lives in a tiny sixteenth century terraced house in Warwickshire and, in her spare time, enjoys tending her cottage garden.

Pippa Goodhart

Pippa worked in the book world, selling, working as a publisher’s reader, and teaching young children before beginning to write books herself. Shortlisted for the Kathleen Fidler, Smarties, Young Telegraph Book of the Year, Blue Peter Book of the Year and Stockton Children’s Book of the Year, she has had more than fifty books published, ranging from picture books to early readers to novels. Picture books include ‘You Choose’, illustrated by Nick Sharratt and selected by Bookstart.

Pippa teaches writing for children at Leicester and De Montfort Universities, and also does lots of school visits to work with children.

Fees & submissions info

We would be delighted to work with you. The fees for our service are:

In return for this payment, we will:

• Tell you if your work is strong enough to be marketed
• If it is, we'll help you market it
• If it isn't, we'll tell you what's wrong and how to fix it
• Talk things over on the phone, and answer all your questions about your book, the market, and any other worries or concerns you may have.

Our aim, as always, is to get you published.

If you would like to go ahead, then please email your work to us at: info@writersworkshop.co.uk

Or mail it to us at:

The Writers' Workshop

Pritchards Cottage

Steeple Barton

Oxon OX25 4QP

We can take payment by cheque (payable to the Writers' Workshop) or by mastercard / visa - please just call us on 01869 347040 to make payment this way.

Please also note ...

We receive many general queries about the picture books market. Most of these are addressed on our Frequently Asked Questions page. Do check it out for lots of valuable free info.