Thanks for taking the time to write your blog. I’m just getting my feet wet in the publishing world, and you have given me a place to start. I have written a children’s picture book. I’ve been rejected by three publishers so far, and searched dozens of other LDS publishers who are not accepting submissions in this genre. Would you please direct me? I don’t know what to do next.
The difficulty with picture books is they cost more to produce and yet the expected sales are lower than books for adults.
Extra costs for a picture book include the cost of illustrations, which can run in the thousands of dollars if they hire a really good illustrator, plus the cost of full color printing, which can be double or more than a book with no color on the pages.
In order for a publisher to justify the risk, you’re going to have to have a pretty awesome story line or be an established author with a large following to guarantee sales.
What you need to look for is a publisher who specializes in picture books. I don’t know if your content is specifically LDS, but if it isn’t, or if it can be changed to reflect general Christian ideas, you might want to try a Christian publisher. (Google “Christian Picture Book Publisher).
I’m not sure what to advise your for specific LDS content… Readers? Ideas?
Yup, it’s a tough market. I tried submitting a written-and-illustrated by book once, and had no luck either. I even got a sympathetic letter back saying “we like it- but” and they cited similar reasons to this post. Where to go next is a good question. I did a run at self publishing, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic.