One Canadian and ten UK publishers seeking kid lit – Picture Books to Young Adult – that don't require an agent, including at least one that wants narrative verse

Kids Can Press

25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5A 0B5

http://www.kidscanpress.com/

Kids Can Press seeks picture books and nonfiction manuscripts for children, as well as chapter books for ages 7–10. They do not accept young adult fiction or fantasy novels.

Yasemin Uçar is a Senior Editor at Kids Can Press. Yasemin has been a children’s book editor for close to twenty years. She worked at Scholastic Canada before moving to London, UK, in 2001, where she worked as a Senior Editor at Piccadilly Press. In 2006, she moved back to Toronto and worked as a freelance editor for a number of years before joining Kids Can Press in 2012.

Yasemin has worked with many popular and award-winning authors and illustrators, including internationally bestselling author Louise Rennison author of Angus Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging and other Georgia Nicolson books), Ashley Spires, Barbara Coloroso and Caroline Adderson.

Full submission guidelines here. Illustrator guidelines here.

Note: Yasemin Uçar  will be one of the guest speaker at the “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshop on Saturday, May 13, in Caledon (see here). “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshops are also offered Saturday, May 27, in St. Catharines, with Anne Shone, senior editor, Scholastic Books (see here) and Saturday, July 29, in Collingwood, with literary agent Monica Pacheco (see here).

Andersen Press is a specialist children's publisher. They publish picture books (500–1000 words), juvenile fiction (3,000–5,000 words), and older fiction up to 75,000 words. 
Submit a synopsis and the first three chapters by mail.

Full submission guidelines here.

Buster Books is the children’s imprint of independent publisher Michael O’Mara Books.

“Our list includes sumptuous colouring books – from the pocket-sized I Heart Colouring series, to The Book of Beasts, a stunning, fully-foiled hardback with information about mythical monsters as well as images to colour.

“We always seek to bring a new twist to established genres – check out The Colossal Creature Count, an epic creature-counting challenge, or Colourtronic, a colour-by-numbers activity book that produces unexpectedly striking results. There’s Dress Up Taylor Swift, which offers stylish stickers and Painty Prints which needs inky fingerprints to complete charming pictures. Kids are even encouraged to Destroy This Book in the Name of Science, a book full of fun, interactive science projects.”

~ Philippa Wingate, Publishing Director, Buster Books

Submissions of fiction and nonfiction ideas are welcome from authors, compilers and illustrators. No picture book or poetry submissions.

Submit a synopsis and sample text by email to: enquiries@mombooks.com

Full submission guidelines here.

David Fickling Books: For nearly twelve years DFB was run as an imprint – first as part of Scholastic, then of Random House. Now they are an independent business, DFB Storyhouse. They publish 12–20 titles a year. But while they are always open to submissions from agents, they are open to submissions directly from authors only occasionally.

Full submission guidelines here.

Floris Books is an independent publishing company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. They publish books in two main areas: nonfiction works for adults that draw on the work of Rudolf Steiner or that would be of interest to the Steiner-Waldorf community, and Scottish themed books for children ages 2–15, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade and young teens.

Full submission guidelines here.

Quatro Kids is part of Quartro Books, which publishes a wide assortment of nonfiction books. The Kids division publishes picture books, multicultural books, picture books and information books.
Full submission guidelines here.

Hogs Back Books is a small publishing house that publishes picture books for kids up to 10 years old, both fiction and nonfiction. Hogs Back welcomes texts directly from authors and from literary agents. They are also always on the lookout for illustrators who can produce original ideas and beautifully executed work to bring their stories to life.

Submit a complete manuscript by mail. Guidelines here.

Little Tiger Group is a small publisher that has has been publishing children’s books for over 25 years. At this time only its Stripes Publishing imprint is accepting unsolicited manuscripts. Stripes publishes fiction for children aged 6–12 years and for teenagers. 

Submit a covering letter, one page synopsis and 1,000-word extract to: editorial@stripespublishing.co.uk

Full submission guidelines here.

All three Little Tiger imprints (Little Tiger, Stripes, and Caterpillar) are looking for illustrators. Full guidelines here.

Mantra Lingua specializes in dual language resources for bilingual children and parents 
and for the multi-lingual classroom. They make books and other resources in 66 languages. They are always looking for translators, illustrators, writers and creators.

Full guidelines here.

Maverick Children’s Books is a new children’s book publisher, established in 2009, that’s growing rapidly, with 36 books scheduled to be published in 2017. It accepts unsolicited submissions.

Picture Books: maximum 650 words, stories in either rhyme or prose (but no poetry) and they prefer quirky. Full guidelines here.

Junior Books for ages 7 – 10 years, 6,000 – 18,000 words. Again, they are looking for something a little quirky (“Sweet stories about fluffy kittens and lost puppies are just not our thing – sorry”), and something with series potential is a bonus. Full guidelines here.

They are also looking for illustrators. Guidelines here.

Mogzilla is currently looking for  historical stories for readers aged 6–15.

Query Mogzilla at:  info@mogzilla.co.uk and provide details of your proposal 

Full submission guidelines here.

Brian Henry offers a full range of classes from beginner to advanced. Mostly, the spring session classes have already started, but there are still openings in one course:

Writing Personal Stories, Thursday afternoons, April 27 – June 15, Burlington Details here.

Details of all classes offered this spring here.

And don't miss the June in Algonquin Writing Retreat,  Friday, June 2 – Sunday, June 4 or Monday, June 5, at Arowhon Pines Resort. Details here.

Other upcoming workshops include: “You can write great dialogue,” Saturday, June 10 in Guelph, with author Hannah McKinnon, (see here) and Saturday, July 22, in London (see here) and “How to Write Great Characters,” Saturday, June 17 in Burlington (see here).

For more information or to reserve a spot in any Saturday workshop or weekly course, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

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, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.