Publishing Industry Changes

I am sorry to report that as of January 1, the children’s companies that are part of the Macmillan Kids’ group are no longer accepting unsolicited submissions. Materials will not be read or returned. 

The companies that will no longer be accepting unsolicited submissions
are:

Henry Holt and Company Books for Young Readers

Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

Roaring Brook Press

First Second

Feiwel and Friends

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Simon & Schuster’s Pulse imprint, Annette Pollert was promoted to
Associate Editor from Assistant Editor.
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Former publisher of Harcourt Children’s Lori Benton has joined educational children’s publisher Capstone as general manager/publisher of their fiction imprints, which include Stone Arch Books and Picture Window Books.
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Longtime Farrar, Straus Children’s editorial director Margaret Ferguson will launch a Margaret Ferguson Books imprint at the company in 2011, PW reports, aiming to publishing about 15 titles a year.
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Former publishing executive Rubin Pfeffer, who was most recently senior v-p and publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, has gone to the agenting side and is opening an East Coast office for the Los Angeles outfit, East/West Literary. Pfeffer has been brought on as an agent and partner, and will be based in Boston, handling digital initiatives, among other things, for the agency, which specializes in representing children’s authors and illustrators. 

Pfeffer says, “The value that I hope to offer East/West and the clients that I represent is being nimble and opportunistic about how their intellectual property can be leveraged effectively in this dawn of electronic publishing. There are many more options for writers and illustrators, many more ways to be published. The book is not necessarily the goal; reaching readers is the goal.”  …  “developing and creating content for the 21st-century incarnations of publishing, both electronic and traditional print.”

He will continue to maintain his affiliation with kidthing.com and serve as a business development consultant for FableVision.

So todays news is a mixed bag.  We’re happy about the promotions, but it is never easy to hear about publishers closing their doors to unsolicited manuscripts.  But take heart fellow writers, they will still consider submissions if you meet an editor at a conference or a workshop.  Hint:  Last years New Jersey SCBWI Conference had 25 editors and agents – a large amount from closed houses.  I’m not ready to announce who is attending this year, but I expect it to wow everyone again.

Keep tuned,

Kathy