Albert Whitman and Company currently has an open submissions policy. We will read and review unagented manuscripts and proposals for picture books, middle-grade fiction, and young adult novels. Please read the following instructions carefully. We will not review any submissions that do not follow these guidelines.
Please note that our submission policy has changed as of January 1st 2014:
We are no longer accepting submissions sent by postal mail.
We are now receiving email submissions.
Due to the great number of submissions we receive, we cannot respond to individual submissions unless we have further interest. You may assume that after three months we are not interested in publishing your work
You may send your work to other publishers at the same time. We do not require exclusive submissions.
FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS
• Send to
[email protected]
• Include a cover letter in the body of your email. (Please see individual category guidelines for cover letter tips.)
• Include contact information with phone number
• Attach manuscripts as WORD documents (preferred) or PDFs. File sizes cannot be larger than 4MB.
• Subject line must be formatted according to individual category guidelines. Emails that do not use the subject line formatting may not be read.
PICTURE BOOKS
We are seeking: Fiction and nonfiction manuscripts for picture books for children ages 1 to 8.
Word count: Up to 1000 words.
Cover letter (in body of email) should include the following:
• Brief description of story
• Short bio mentioning previous publications or other background information relevant to your story
• Please provide titles for up to three comparative books published in the past five years. These should be books that have a similar audience to your book and that you feel will compare with your book in the marketplace. Explain how your manuscript is different from these books.
Important note regarding illustrations:
• It is NOT necessary to provide illustrations with the story text
• If the story is illustrated, we will review text and art separately (Note that we may be interested in the story but not the artwork, or vice versa)
• Send illustrated work in PDF or JPEG attachments. File size not to exceed 4MB.
EMAIL INSTRUCTIONS:
• Send email and attachments to
[email protected]
• Subject line should read: “PICTURE BOOK: (story title) by (author name).”
MIDDLE GRADE FICTION
We are seeking: Fiction queries and sample pages for middle-grade novels for children up to age 12.
Word count: Up to 35,000 words.
Query letter (in body of email) should include the following:
• Brief story pitch
• Short bio mentioning previous publications or other background information relevant to your story
• Please provide titles for up to three comparative books published in the past five years. These should be books that have a similar audience to your book and that you feel will compare with your book in the marketplace. Briefly explain how your manuscript is different from these books.
Please include the following sample materials:
• Story synopsis and/or chapter summary
• Story excerpt with first three chapters.
• Attach manuscripts as WORD documents (preferred) or PDFs
EMAIL INSTRUCTIONS:
• Send email and attachments to
[email protected]
• Subject line should read: “MIDDLE GRADE: (story title) by (author name).”
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
We are seeking: Fiction queries and sample pages for young adult novels for ages 12-18.
Word count: Up to 70,000 words.
Query letter (in body of email) should include the following:
• Brief story pitch
• Short bio mentioning previous publications or other background information relevant to your story
• Please provide titles for up to three comparative books published in the past five years. These should be books that have a similar audience to your book and that you feel will compare with your book in the marketplace. Briefly explain how your manuscript is different from these books.
Please include the following sample materials:
• Story synopsis and/or chapter summary
• Story excerpt with first three chapters.
• Attach manuscripts as WORD documents (preferred) or PDFs
EMAIL INSTRUCTIONS:
• Send email and attachments to
[email protected]
• Subject line should read: “YOUNG ADULT: (story title) by (author name).”
SPECIAL MATERIALS
Under certain circumstances we will review materials sent through the postal mail. These materials include self-published books and unusual formats that cannot be sent electronically.
• If you wish to send us materials through the mail, please write us at
[email protected].
Subject line should read “SPECIAL MATERIALS”
• In your email, please describe your project and what materials you wish to send us
• If your project is of interest, we will respond with further instructions within six weeks. We will not respond otherwise.
Note: Unrequested materials sent to us via postal mail will not be returned. We cannot be responsible for the loss or damage to submissions. Please do not send original/ irreplaceable materials or items of value.
