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Hello All,
I am new to She Writes, and I may be asking this question in the wrong place, so please feel free to redirect me if appropriate.
A colleague of mine has written a lovely story for his children about his mother's descent into Alzheimer's disease. He wrote the story to help his children better understand what was happening to Grandma, but I was so impressed when I read it that I started encouraging him to try to publish it as a children's book.
He has no idea where to start, in terms of finding an appropriate publisher for such a book or sending in his manuscript. For example, does it matter if he doesn't have illustrations done yet? Should he get that in place first or could he send in the manuscript and see if there is any interest first? What are the appropriate possible publishers for this kind of book? I told him I would try to find out some answers from knowledgeable folks on She Writes.
We live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, if that makes any difference.
Thank you,
Tamara Hunter
Hi, Tamara!
I don't have any experience with traditional publishers. I have only published as an indie author with a POD publisher. Perhaps your friend could search agents first, and attempt to go the traditional route. As far as I know, agents don't care for having pictures/illustrations in with the query letters, so he probably doesn't have to worry about that part until a while after he's secured an agent and a publisher.
Or, he could always choose to self-publish or indie-publish with a POD (print-on-demand) publishing service, such as CreateSpace. Also, tell him to consider raising funds for his own publishing. There's a really cool site called Kickstarter.com that helps people raise money for lots of different projects. He can share info about the book, the story behind it, and his plans (or hopes) for publishing it...all while raising funds to support it. I hope this is helpful.
I'm brand new to the publishing business, so I'm learning a lot of this as I go. Good luck to your friend, and welcome to She Writes. :)