Top 9 childrens book editors last updated may 2020. Editing services for your book, manuscript or novel. As such, it is made up of individual sentences, double spaced. Marlo garner has been editing books and teaching writing since the late 1990s. A complete book editing service for wouldbe authors of children s picture books. Proofreading is not a structural edit and instead focuses on eliminating minor.
Ive been an editor since 2009, and children s books are one of my favorite books to work with. Consult a market guide to select a publishing house and an editor to receive the manuscript. Picture book format and how to format your manuscript. If you are submitting by snail mail your cover letter. This is an edit of your strongest picture book manuscript and will provide you with valuable feedback about your plot, characters, illustration potential, voice, and more. The picture book market is blazing hot, and a lot of writers are trying the fun and challenging craft of picture book writing. Editors see a gazillion manuscripts every day, and the sight of certain common errors makes them sigh with impatience. Contact me for personal, actionable advice on your project. A manuscript assessment for a children s book will usually take place during the first draft stage of your writing. To make it easy for authors, we have a variety of unique eyecatching, readytouse childrens book templates. I am a member of scbwi, the biggest society of children s book authors in the world, and ive also taught creative writing at 4 universities in. Other job duties include researching what topics are popular or in demand for children s books and editing the text, sometimes with the help of a professional editor.
Im an associate editor at random house children s books, where i acquire in all age categories. It can take multiple revisions to give your children s story the desired simplicity, insight, and brevity that makes a lasting and beloved work. Every year i help 80 120 authors to realize their dream of publishing a children s book. Now, in a traditional hard copy submission, you would place your cover letter on top of your children s book manuscript. Childrens book editing offers childrens book authors a comprehensive array of services to assist them in conceptualizing, writing, editing, and submitting their manuscripts. For detailed instructions on kindle kids book creator, see the user guide. To understand the typical 32page structure of a picture book, read basic book construction. Understanding how to find a children s book editor is a key step when producing a strong piece of children s literature in the hopes of publishing your book. After youve rewritten your childrens book manuscript and edited it, you may need a professional editor or editorial service to check overall large elements of your story or to address final smaller but no less important issues to ensure youre ready to submit your manuscript to an agent or publisher. Some offer firstpass or lastpass editing to clean up mistakes in spelling. Writing children s books is much like writing poetry. Turn off the function that takes an entire paragraph at the bottom of the page to. We provide you with an indepth report along with an accompanying manuscript annotated with points and examples from the report. Kindle kids book creator is a downloadable tool that helps you create illustrated children s books.
Youll learn about the market and gain tips to help you create books children will love to read. An experienced book editor specializing in editing picture books, middle grade, young adult novels, memoir, fantasy, and literary fiction. But the highest rates dont necessarily mean the best editor, and the lowest rates could be wasted money. Writers can choose to publish their children s books in many ways. Common options include seeking a contract with a traditional book publisher, making an electronic version to. Cover letters for electronic submissions to childrens. Servicescape children s book editors can help refine your manuscript so that it is ready for publishing. I am a member of scbwi, the biggest society of children s book authors in the world, and ive also taught creative writing at 4 universities in southern california. Our manuscript editing services range from proofreading to developmental editing. Our team is hugely experienced and have worked on thousands of picture books in their careers. Manuscript editing software programs do much more than the builtin spelling and grammar checkers in your word processor.
She also works in an editorial advisory capacity, and a copyeditor and illustrator for a number of independent or educational publishers. Light structural editing, a reorganization of the work for content and structure note. Childrens book editing service manuscript critique. Our childrens book editors will focus on every detail of your writing and will fix any factual errors, inconsistencies, or contradictions. Our children s editors will look at material in all age groups up to and including young adult. How to format your childrens book manuscript dummies. Our experienced children s editors will prepare an indepth editorial report on your manuscript providing you with actionable advice to improve your picture book. Follow children s book formatting conventions print your manuscript on 8. About me i am a children s book editor with 10 years experience acquiring, developing, editing, and writing kids books for major publishers including scholastic, penguin, chronicle books, and harpercollins. The way i envision it is that there would be a picture for each sentence. Book markets for young readers have very specific guidelines, often demanding more creativity and professionalism from authors even than the adult market does.
As more children s book editor and agents want files they can read onscreen either on readers at home or on computers at work, more and more authors will be emailing instead of mailing submissions. How to submit a childrens book to a publishing company. At the line edit stage, your manuscript s structure should be more or less finalized so any structural editing a. In this lesson, youll explore books for beginning readers and discover the resources available to writers. Picture book manuscripts and illustrations a childrens. Editing is a valuable investment in your book as a good editor can turn your story from meh to amazing. She teaches writing for children s books picture books, writing chapter books for children, and various other writing and revision workshops. Childrens book editing services emma walton hamilton. You may wish to join the society of children s book writers and illustrators, whose members have access to regularly updated industry information including a list of which titles have been published recently by houses, which will help you get an idea of what types of books they publish.
Just as important as a brilliant and wellwritten story is a professional. And, as both editorial director of the julie andrews collection publishing program and a private consulting editor, shes shepherded hundreds of books by other authors through the publication process. Rewriting, editing, and fixing a manuscript that has already been written. Book editing services book editor professional editing. If you dont make a good first impression, your childrens book manuscript will likely get sent right back to you accompanied by one of those dreaded rejection letters. The tool has features unique to kindle devices and apps like text popups for illustrated kid s books. How to hire an editor for your childrens book manuscript.
How to format a picture book manuscript for publishers. A cover letter is essentially a business letter introducing your story and yourself to the editor. Professional editing by elite authors takes your book from basic to bestseller. Book proofreading is the vital last step of the editing process. I have a picture book manuscript that would target children up to three years of age. Understanding how to find a childrens book editor is a key step when producing a strong piece of children s literature in the hopes of publishing your book. Servicescape childrens book editors can help refine your manuscript so that it is ready for publishing. Book editing services and developmental editing from manuscript editor and former literary agent mary kole. As a picture book editor, i work with writers on all aspects of the picture book craft, from creating a compelling children s book manuscript in proper picture book format, of course. Definitely take rates into consideration, but dont select an editor solely on price.
The captivating features and vibrant colors of a childrens book are what will attract a child to pick it up. While a good, professional human editor is invaluable to your book the purchase of manuscript editing software can be another prudent investment. Copy editing, to correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanics. Usually done on a hard copy of the manuscript or using a track changes tool for a.
There are tons upon tons of children s book editors available and the range of editorial services is wide and deep. List of the best book editors and how to select them. Children s books need to be engaging and pleasant to the eyes. Going through a manuscript from start to finish and editing every line for every issue from grammar, spelling, and style to drama, pacing, characterization, and anything in between. So you can buy one round of editing, or you can invest in your writing project with two or more roundsa process much like the one manuscripts go through at traditional publishing. An experienced editor can often take a look at an excerpt from a manuscript, get a feel for your experience level, and deduce the amount of time they need to edit the full manuscript. If you are submitting electronically, your email will be your cover letter. How to find a childrens book editor childrens book. Your manuscript should always be accompanied by a short cover letter. Any grammar, spelling, punctuation, or syntax errors will be found and corrected. Youll dive into emergent readers and first chapter books and examine the impact of harry potter on children s book writing as a whole. Board books, novelty books, picture books, chapter books, early and middle grade books, fiction and nonfiction. Our children s book editors will focus on every detail of your writing and will fix any factual errors, inconsistencies, or contradictions. Guidance on writing picture books can be found in margot finkes piece on picture book basics and in breaking the rules for picture book manuscripts, an entry in my blog.
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