Flash Light Press

This marvelous publisher focuses on family / social situation picture books. They are one of my "holy grail" publishers - check out their books, read their author and editor interviews online, they are amazing!

According to their submissions guidelines: "Stories should have universal themes and deal with family or social situations. They should appeal to 4-8 year olds and have approximately 1,000 words. Most of all, they should feel like they'd fit our line. Please spend some time looking through our website and reading about our books to determine whether your story might be a fit. Remember, we only publish picture books."

http://www.flashlightpress.com/submissionguidelines.html

PB Agents

They do exist. And the proof is here:

http://katieclarkbooks.webs.com/picturebookagents.htm

Check out this link and other useful resources on the blog of fellow blue-boarder Katie Clark.

Shen's Books

Shen's Books is dedicated to producing children's literature that emphasizes cultural diversity and tolerance, with a focus on introducing children to the cultures of Asia. We are currently only considering picture book manuscripts of fewer than 2500 words. Stories must reflect the culture of an Asian country or that of Asian-Americans. Stories involving multiple ethnicities and tolerance will be considered as long as at least one culture depicted is Asian.

http://www.shens.com/submissions

Second Story Press

Thank you for your interest in Second Story Press. We are currently accepting samples of unsolicited manuscripts. We are a Canadian feminist press publishing books of special interest to women. Our list is a mix of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. We look for manuscripts dealing with the many diverse and varied aspects of the lives of girls and women. If you feel that your manuscript fits with our list, please send it according to the instructions below. If you are a US author, you may want to consider sending your manuscript to one of the many US publishing houses; we try to focus on Canadian authors. Note we do not publish poetry, rhyming picture books, or books with anthropomorphized animals.

http://secondstorypress.ca/submissions

Knowonder *UPDATE*

I just received an email update about Knowonder's submissions policy: 

"We wanted to give you an update today because we have suspended accepting new story applications for the time being. The reason is simply because we have received so many great subscriptions that we need a bit more time to get through them all. We have received a few emails recently inquiring as to the status of a story, so please know that we are still working on reading them all and you should hear back from us in the next 30 to 60 days! We anticipate beginning to accept submissions again somewhere toward the end of the year. Jan 1st, 2013 is our deadline we've given ourselves."

This really is a great website so don't forget to check back with them in January. My short story, Library Lesson, won their Reader's Choice award - a wonderful experience. 

It's Coming... PiBoIdMo!!

Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) is a November writing challenge specifically for picture book writers. Unlike the NaNoWriMo challenge for novelists, PiBoIdMo participants don’t have to write a manuscript (but you can if the mood strikes!). The challenge is to create 30 new picture book story ideas in 30 days. Those who do are eligible for prizes at the end of the month, like a consultation with a literary agent, signed original art, autographed picture books, and story critiques. And everyone wins this prize: a fat file of ideas to help inspire your stories throughout the year. For details, visit:

http://taralazar.com/piboidmo2010

Amen!

It's been a good week - My Light magazine just sent me an acceptance letter for my poem, Where Prayer Ends. The work will appear in the November issue. My Light is an online catholic magazine for children. Learn more here:

http://mylightmagazine.com