Opportunity: Clavis Publishing

In 1978, Philippe Werck opened a children’s bookstore in his hometown of Hasselt, Belgium. Shortly thereafter, he decided to publish the books he wanted to place on his shelves. This is how Clavis Publishing originated. Now, thirty years later, with over two hundred titles published annually, Clavis, meaning ‘key’ in Latin, has unlocked the doors to their divisions in Amsterdam (2001) and New York(2008)  as well.

Submit your work!

Clavis Publishing is always looking for new talent! Your manuscripts or illustrations are always welcome.

Do you think your story or art is right for Clavis’ list of books for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers? We want to hear about it! Submit your manuscript or artwork and we will gladly take a look.

You can send your work via e-mail to submissions@clavisbooks.com

If you want to send in multiple pieces of work, we recommend that you first make a selection yourself and only send us your best work. If we are interested, we will ask you for your other work anyway.

Make sure to add the following info to your submission:
– Specific target audience (age indication)
– Main theme and synopsis
– Strengths of your story

It’s best to send the attachments via pdf, pcloud or dropbox as they can be opened quickly. Onedrive or protected files should be avoided. WeTransfer is possible, but the link does expire after a while: keep in mind that we might not open it in time and we will have to request it again.

We prefer to receive complete manuscripts, this allows us to better assess the work. Based on a few chapters, it’s more difficult for us to form a well-founded opinion. As a picture book illustrator, it’s not necessary to send a fully detailed picture book. We recommend that you submit a storyboard, a separate text and 2 to 3 detailed illustrations, so that we can get a good idea of your picture book concept.

Our publishers will review your work with care. However, since we do receive a lot of manuscripts and illustrations and review these on top of the daily work load, this may take some time. Keep in mind that it can take a while before you hear from us. Our aim is to handle manuscripts within 3 months. In any case, everyone will receive an answer, whether the work is selected or not.

Questions or remarks? Send an e-mail to eva@clavisbooks.com

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy