Yesterday, I spent seven hours going through manuscripts while training a new manuscript reader. Normally, BTP sends me novels to read, but this time we had mostly picture books.
I discovered that the general quality of unsolicited picture books is much lower than that of novels. I believe this is because everybody thinks they can write a children's story, but the majority of them don't know what a children's story is.
I know this writing biz gets discouraging, but if you are perfecting your craft, networking, learning, and reading, you are ahead of at least 75% of submissions.
I've listed some tips that will get you out of the groan...ACK!....quick glance....insta-rejection pile.
1. Avoid adult subjects including politics, drunkeness, and hades. Rhyming does not soften these tough subjects
2. Format properly and include a professional cover letter
3. Learn about meter and rhyme scheme
4. Don't include your own illustrations unless you are a professionally skilled artist.
5. Don't include illustrations by anybody else.
6. Don't tell the editor what the illustrations should look like and where they go. Brief illustration notes necessary to help the text make sense are okay. These should be rare.
7. If you've never written for children before, visit websites or read books specifically about this genre, regardless of how much writing experience you have in other areas. It's a different kingdom. There are different rules.
8. Avoid overtly moralistic stories unless writing for a market which specifically asks for that.
Oh, I do want to add that yes, I recognize blue boarders in the stack. And their manuscripts tend to rise above the pack.
Most of the manuscripts that fall in the above category obviously come from people who pluck our name out of the CWIM or begin submitting without learning the ropes and doing their homework.