Penguin Young Readers Group is open to children's books submissions

Note: Brian Henry regularly leads “Writing for Children & for Young Adults,” workshops with editors from children’s publishing houses, noted children’s authors and literary agents specializing in children’s books and YA novels as guest speakers. See details of upcoming Saturday workshops and weekly Kid Lit classes here (and scroll down). 

Update Aug 2016: This posting about Penguin Young Readers Group is out of date. Check out current submission information from Penguin's Dial Books imprint, which is still open to unagented authors, here.

And see listing for many, many more publishers of children's lit here (and scroll down). 

Penguin has nine imprints accepting submissions of children’s books: Dial Books for Young Readers, Dutton Children’s Books, Grosset & Dunlop, Price Stern Sloan, Philomel, Puffin, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Razorbill.

Bonnie Bader, Editor-In-Chief, of Grosset & Dunlap and of Price Stern Sloan! is particularly open to new authors.  Ms. Bader often prefers to work with unagented authors and reads everything that comes to her – agented or otherwise. She adds that she has found several writers from her “slush pile.”

Grosset & Dunlap (website here)
Price Stern Sloan! (PSS!) (website here)
• Publishes all book formats except for picture books
• Submit a summary and the first chapter or two for longer works
 
Dial Books for Young Readers & Dutton Children’s Books.  Publisher: Lauri Hornik

Dial: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/dial.html
• Submit entire picture book manuscripts
• A maximum of 10 pages for longer works (novels, easy-to-reads) from the opening chapter(s) of the manuscript
• Submission guidelines for Dial and Dutton here

Dutton Children’s Books: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/dutton.html
• Query letters only (must include SASE)
• A query letter should be typed and, ideally, fit on one page. Please include a brief synopsis of your manuscript and your publishing credits, if any.

Philomel http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/philomel.html
• Submit entire picture book manuscripts
• A maximum of 10 pages for longer works (novels, easy-to-reads) from the opening chapter(s) of the manuscript
• When submitting a portion of a longer work, please provide an accompanying cover letter that briefly describes your manuscript's plot, genre, the intended age group, and your publishing credits, if any.

Puffin http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/puffin.html
• A maximum of 30 pages for longer works (middle grade and YA manuscripts)
• All novel submissions must include an SASE. Picture books are not accepted.

G. P. Putnam's Sons http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/putnam.html
• Submit entire picture book manuscripts
• A maximum of 10 pages for longer works (novels, easy-to-reads) from the opening chapter(s) of the manuscript
• When submitting a portion of a longer work, please provide an accompanying cover letter that briefly describes your manuscript's plot, genre, the intended age group, and your publishing credits, if any.

Razorbill http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/razorbill.html
• Submit a maximum of 30 pages for longer works (middle grade and YA manuscripts)
• When submitting a portion of a longer work, please provide an accompanying cover letter that briefly describes your manuscript's plot, genre (middle grade or YA novel), the intended age group, and your publishing credits, if any.
• All novel submissions must include an SASE. Picture books are not accepted.

For all Penguin imprints:
Submit by mail. Never send submissions by e-mail or fax. Never send cassettes, CDs, marketing plans, or original artwork.

• Please refrain from calling, faxing, or e-mailing to inquire after the status of an unsolicited submission, as we will be unable to assist you. If you have not received a reply from us after four months, you can safely assume that we are not interested in publishing your work. You will not hear from us regarding the status of your submission unless we are interested in publishing it, in which case you can expect a reply from us within approximately four months. We regret that we cannot respond personally to each submission, but rest assured that we do make every effort to consider each and every one we receive.

Mail submissions for all Penguin imprints to
345 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014-3657

Penguin Young Readers Group submission guidelines here.

Update June 29, 2011: Nico Medina has joined the Grosset & Dunlap/PSS! team as senior managing editor. He returns to Penguin Children's after working at Egmont USA. Bonnie Bader has taken the role of editor-in-chief for Warne and Early Readers, and Gillian Levinson has been promoted to assistant editor at Razorbill.

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox.  ~ Brian

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Brianne Mulligan joins Movable Type Literary, seeks youth and adult fiction

Former Razorbill associate editor Brianne Mulligan has joined Movable Type Literary Group as an associate agent. At the agency, she will focus on “high concept young adult and middle grade fiction” along with a few commercial fiction and nonfiction projects for adult readers.

At Razorbill (Penguin's YA imprint), Mulligan acquired Will Hill‘s upcoming Department 19 and David Iserson‘s Firecracker. She has also worked at Random House’s Doubleday Broadway and Penguin’s Gotham Books.

Mulligan had this statement: “I’ve worked inside corporate publishing for my entire career, and I’m very excited to use my knowledge to help authors find success … Movable Type is on everybody’s short list of agencies doing things right, and I’m looking forward to helping them move into juvenile fiction.”

Rachel Vogel also recently joined Movable Type, where she specializes in upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction.

Submissions: General submissions may be sent via e-mail to submissions@movabletypenyc.com  

For non-fiction proposals, Movable Type requests a variation of the traditional query letter, a less formal, more efficient document: one page with three paragraphs. First, personal history and platform, including previous publications, media appearances, training, etc. Second, a concise description of the book concept, including unique selling points. Third, a preview of the promotional plan, including endorsements, media contacts, and brand development.

For fiction: Having found that that query letters do a fine job of showcasing one's talent in writing jacket copy or promotional material but rarely offer agents a useful preview of a writer's prosecraft, in lieu of query letters, MTLG asks that authors send the first ten pages of their manuscript, followed by a one page synopsis of the balance of the work, and a word count.

More about Movable Type Literary Group here.

Note: Brian Henry has a couple "How to Get Published" workshops coming up: in Mississauga on December 4 with literary agent Martha Magor Webb  (see here) and in Burlington on February 19 with agent Alisha Sevigny of the Rights Factory  (details to come. - more about Alisha and The Rights Factory here and here.).

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

New agent looking for Young Adult and Middle-Grade books

D4EO Literary Agency
7 Indian Valley Road
Weston, CT 06883

Mandy Hubbard has joined D4EO Literary Agency, where she is now building her list, focusing on Young Adult and Middle-Grade fiction. Mandy is interested in a broad range of YA/MG, whether they be contemporary or historical, fantasy/paranormal or realistic. She loves books with a heavy focus on romance, as well as “issue books” with a strong voice. If your book has a high concept or a big hook, she wants to see it.

If your story includes portals to fantasy worlds, wizards or dragons, it’s probably not for her. Please, no chapter books, pictures books, poetry, non-fiction, or books for the adult market.

Before joining D4EO, Mandy interned at The Bent Agency, but she began her career in publishing on the other side of the desk: as an author. Her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice (Razorbill/Penguin) is a teen novel. Released in June of 2009 it’s now in its fifth printing. She has four other books under contract, divided among Harlequin, Llewellyn Flux, and Razorbill/Penguin.
Check out Mandy's Blog here: http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/  

Submissions: Send your query letter, along with the first five pages of your manuscript (both pasted into the body of an e-mail) to mandy@d4eo.com

D4eo Literary was founded by Robert (Bob) Diforio in 1989. Diforio has been in the publishing industry for 40 years, including 17 years at New American Library Dutton\Penguin USA from VP Sales to President and Publisher, Chairman and CEO. D4EO doesn’t have a website.

Note: In the spring, Brian Henry will be leading a number of "How to Get Published" workshops: in Gravenhurst on April 17, Moncton, NB, on April 23, Peterborough on April 24, Kingston on April 25, in Uxbridge on May 8, and Hamilton on May 15. Email for details: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

For information about all of Brian's upcoming writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

New agent at D4EO wants romance, other commercial fiction & non-fiction

D4EO Literary Agency

Principal agent: Robert (Bob) Deforio

7 Indian Valley Road, Weston, CT 06883

Joyce Holland (sorry, can't find a photo) recently became an associate agent with D4EO Literary Agency. Her interests include romance, science fiction, mystery, horror, YA, and nonfiction of all kinds.

Joyce was a newspaper columnist for several years and is a published author of three books and over two dozen short stories, so she knows what it feels like to be on the other side of the pitching table.

Because she is new to the agenting world, she’s open to just about anything. Joyce was a reader for Futures Magazine for two years, so it doesn’t take her long to recognize talent when she sees it. Of the hundreds of manuscripts she has read since joining D4EO she has found only one that took her breath away. She’s hungry for that jewel in the slush pile.

Joyce is past president and current conference coordinator for Emerald Coast Writers in Florida. She and her husband, Tony, live on a small barrier island, but spend much of their time traveling the rivers of America on their trawler, Code One.

“Romance and thrillers are always popular,” says Joyce. “People are escapists in the best of times, but when things are tough in the world, as they are right now, they make an incredible leap and choose material as far removed from reality as they can get. Witness the popularity of books on vampires, werewolves, and such, not to mention movies like Avatar. But even in Twilight and Avatar, the love theme prevailed. Romance in any setting, sells.

“Romantic thrillers with a twist are my favorite and I love mild sci-fi and paranormals. Give me a mad scientist with an experiment gone wrong or an extraordinary child with powers of good or evil. Throw in a romantic element and you have my attention. I’m up to my eyebrows in vampires, witches and werewolves and don’t want to see another one right now.

“I enjoy non-fiction, and I’m particularly fascinated by books on the subject of death and the afterlife, if they’re not preachy. I read romance, true crime, horror and mystery, you name it, all genre fiction. I’m the wrong agent for high literary, young adult or memoirs.”

To submit: “Please send me a one or two sentence ‘pitch’ that will excite me. Put it at the top of the query letter. Open your manuscript with the inciting incident. Make something dramatic happen, or make me absolutely love your protagonist. Don’t tell me you’re building up to it with background material. Your premise doesn’t have to be high concept, but it does have to demonstrate passion. Other than that, send a one to three page synopsis and the whole manuscript. Email or snail-mail. Believe it or not, I’m dying to find the jewel in the slush pile. I dream about it. So, you brilliant, talented author, send it to me.”

Email: joyce@d4eo.com

Mandy Hubbard also recently joined D4EO, where she is now building her list, focusing on Young Adult and Middle-Grade fiction. Mandy is interested in a broad range of YA/MG, whether they be contemporary or historical, fantasy/paranormal or realistic. She loves books with a heavy focus on romance, as well as “issue books” with a strong voice. If your book has a high concept or a big hook, she wants to see it.

If your story includes portals to fantasy worlds, wizards or dragons, it’s probably not for her. Please, no chapter books, pictures books, poetry, non-fiction, or books for the adult market.

Before joining D4EO, Mandy interned at The Bent Agency, but she began her career in publishing on the other side of the desk: as an author. Her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice (Razorbill/Penguin) is a teen novel. Released in June of 2009 it’s now in its fifth printing. She has four other books under contract, divided among Harlequin, Llewellyn Flux, and Razorbill/Penguin.

Check out Mandy's Blog here: http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/

To submit: Send your query letter, along with the first five pages of your manuscript (both pasted into the body of an e-mail) to mandy@d4eo.com

Note: Brian Henry has a few"How to Get Published" workshops coming up soon: in Hamilton on May 15, in Windsor on June 6 and in Waterloo on July 24.

For information about all of Brian's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Mandy Hubbard starts new agency: Emerald City Literary; seeks Middle Grade and YA fiction and romance

Emerald City Literary Agency

2522 North Proctor Street

Suite 359

Tacoma, WA 98406

http://emeraldcityliterary.com/

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

Emerald City is a brand new literary agency representing represents middle grade, young adult, and romance only. It’s located just outside of Seattle, Washington – otherwise known as the Emerald City, hence the agency’s name.

“But our location isn’t the only reason we chose this moniker,” says Mandy Hubbard. “In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her new friends are in search of their greatest desires and they head to The Emerald City to find them.

“The desire to be published might just be the biggest dream you can imagine. And if you found this website, then you must have something in common with Dorothy and her trio of new friends – you’re on a journey to find someone who can grant your greatest wish. We want the chance to partner with you–to help you down the yellow brick road to the place of your dreams.”

Mandy Hubbard, the founder of Emerald City, began her publishing career on the other side of the desk as an author. Her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice, was published by Penguin’s Razorbill books imprint in 2009. She has since written 10 other novels, published by Harlequin, Flux, and Bloomsbury. Her work has been translated into a half dozen languages and optioned for film.

Mandy joined D4EO Literary Agency in February of 2010 (noted in Quick Brown Fox here), where she began building her list.  By the end of 2015 she’d sold nearly 70 novels to major publishers, and was ready to launch Emerald City Literary Agency. Mandy still juggles writing with agenting, and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Mandy represents middle grade, young adult, and romance only. She welcomes submissions with LGBTQ themes and diverse characters. 

Her Middle Grade wish list:

• humor
• adventure
• magical realism
• tween stories for girls (middle school settings, light romance, etc)

YA wish list:

• survival stories (NOT Dystopian/Post Apocalyptic)
• romance, romance, romance–especially with darker themes!
• anything with royalty
• sci-fi/space operas
• epic fantasy with badass girl protagonists
• contemporary with big commercial hooks (heists, mysteries, retellings, etc)
• contemporary novels which face dark issues/themes head-on. Suicidal teens, bullying, eating disorders, abuse, rape, poverty– issues that exist in real life, brought to life on the page!

Romance Wish list:

• contemporary, the sexier the better (not drawn to ‘sweet’/clean romance)
• historicals, particularly Victorian or Regency
• will consider new adult only in third POV so that it could potentially be positioned to cross over as contemporary adult
• NOT currently considering any paranormal romance

Olga Filina

Query Mandy at: QueryMandy@EmeraldCityLiterary.com

Paste the first five  pages of your manuscript into your email. Full submissions guidelines here.

Brian Henry will lead How to Get Published workshops on Saturday, Feb 20, in Kitchener, with literary agent Olga Filina of The Rights Factory (see here) and on Saturday, Feb 27, in Brampton with Martha Webb of the McDermid Agency (see here).

Also, Brian will lead Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshops on Saturday, March 5, in Burlington, with Monica Pacheco, literary agent with The McDermid Agency (see here), and on Saturday, April 30, in Guelph (see here).

Other upcoming workshops include  You can write great dialogue, Saturday, Nov 21, in Ingersoll (see here), How to Build Your Story, Sunday, Nov 22, in Windsor (see here), How to Make Yourself Write Saturday, Nov 28, in Mississauga (see here), and Writing Your Life, Saturday, Dec 5, in Burlington (see  here).   

For more information or to register, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But the best way to grow as a writer or to get your manuscript ready for publication may be with a weekly class. Starting in the new year, Brian will be offering a full range of courses for both beginning to experienced writers (details of all five classes here) ...

Martha Webb

Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons, Jan 28 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Burlington. (See details of this class here.)

Writing Personal Stories, Tuesday afternoons, Feb 2 – March 29, (no class March 15) in Burlington (see here.)

The Next Step in Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, Jan 20 – March 30 (no class March 16), in Burlington (see here)

Intermediate Creative Writing, Thurs evenings, Jan 21 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Georgetown (see here)

Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, Jan 20 – March 9, in Burlington

See details of all five classes here.

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

To register or for more information, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.