TRANSCRIPT

Imagine you’ve written the greatest picture book manuscript since Green Eggs and Ham, but then you query agents who represent romance novels or non-fiction or thrillers. Guess what? You will receive nothing but rejections.

Part of what makes the agent-querying process so tedious is first finding agents who represent picture book writers. In my book, The Unstoppable Picture Book Author which is available on my website, I’ve included a list of agents representing picture book authors. You can also find plenty of articles online with names of agents. In addition, you can buy a resource, like the Guide to Literary Agents. Personally, I was always hesitant to buy a printed guide because guidelines change so often and agents who are open for submission one week may be closed the next. Still, a guide like this can give you a strong starting point.

You can also reverse-engineer the process. QueryTracker has a list of authors and the agents who represent them. So for example, if you think your story has similarities to a Mo Willems book, you can look up Mo’s name on this list and see that he’s repped by Marcia Wernick of Wernick & Pratt Agency.

Manuscript Wish List is another resource to access. This site curates tweets from agents and editors about specific types of stories they’re seeking. It can feel a bit like looking for a needle in the haystack, but you may just find the right match.

Finally, I recommend following agents on X who rep picture book authors. They’ll often post when they’ll be open for submissions.

By doing all of this research, you’ll develop your own strong list of agents who could be the right match for you.

Oh, and just one more thing… agents that accept “children’s” manuscripts may not accept picture book manuscripts. Early on in my submission days, I thought that children’s and picture books were one and the same. They’re definitely not. So you’re wasting your time and the agent’s time if they don’t specifically rep picture book writers.

Thank you so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, please like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.