2005 Children's Writers & Illustrator's Market (Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market) (Paperback)

~ Alice Pope (Editor), Rebecca Chrysler (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With hundreds of market listings and dozens of articles, 2005 Children's Writer's & Illustrators Market is still the #1 reference for children's writer's and illustrators. Packed with invaluable information and insider advice, this edition features:

*750 updated listings, with 125 markets new to this edition

*A spectrum of opportunities for writers and illustrators to sell their work, including book publishers and magazines, agents and art reps, greeting cards and play publishers

*Advice from some of the top names in the world of children's literature today, including author Jerry Spinelli and illustrator J. Otto Seibold

No other reference on the shelf today provides as many listings specifically for children's writers, illustrators, and their work.

About the Author

Alice Pope has been the editor of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market for more than a decade. She is a former Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), a frequent speaker at children's writing conferences and a collector of picture books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 442 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; Revised edition (September 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582972737
• ISBN-13: 978-1582972732
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #655,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential market guide for writers and illustrators, September 28, 2004

By	Harold Underdown "hdunderdown2" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is excerpted from a longer review on my web site, The Purple Crayon.

This is essentially an inexpensive annual "yellow pages" of children's publishing for authors and illustrators in the United States, an alternative to much more expensive and harder-to-use tomes such as Literary Market Place. This year's edition is, as usual, an extremely useful book for a children's book writer or illustrator.

Contents: Most of CWIM is taken up by the Markets section, which includes listings of publishers of books, magazines, greeting cards/puzzles/games, and plays, with a special sub-category for young writers and illustrators. The Book Publishers part is over 100 pages long, with about 200 entries, a little longer than last year. Listings as usual range from a few lines to a half page, and include such information as as the publisher's address, names and titles of editors and art directors, a brief description of their publishing program, sample titles, how to approach them, standard contract terms, and tips (direct quotes from the publisher's staff.) The Magazines part of this section is also pretty substantial, at about 40 pages long.

Before the Markets section come a variety of articles, of which the first four--"Just Starting?", "How to Use This Book," "Before Your First Sale," and "Running Your Business"-cover the same ground every year. Twelve additional articles are new to this edition. I particularly liked "Critique Group Disfunction and What to Do About It," and "The Pitch," which provides helpful guidance in crafting query letters and the like. But there are also articles for illustrators, and on marketing, and even on niche markets (the puzzle market and writing licensed product). Following these articles come lengthy interviews with Newbery winner Jerry Spinelli and the quirky illustrator J. otto Seibold, and a very interesting "First Books" feature, which focuses on first books published by independent publishers.

After the Markets section come a variety of materials in the Resources: listings of agents and art reps; 3 more "insider" pieces; organizations, conferences, and workshops; book, magazine, and web resources; a glossary; and a useful index to the publisher listings, which enables you to find publishers by age level or subject.

The length of the book is listed as being 442 pages, making it 10% longer than last year. The publishers claim over 700 updated listings, which by my reckoning means just about every listing has been updated, and over 100 new ones (the back cover states there are a total of 740 listings of book and magazine publishers, agents, and art reps).

Comments: CWIM continues to be the leading market guide for children's writers and illustrators with the 2005 edition. I like the feature articles, but the meat of CWIM comes in the listings, which get significantly updated every year. Yes, you could gather much of the information you'll find in it on your own, through diligent searches online, phone calls, and guideline and catalog requests to publishers. But the time spent doing that is time lost from your real work.

So how good is the Markets section? I've checked through the listings of book publishers, conferences, and agents, which are the areas I am best qualified to judge, and I found very little that did not seem to me to be both accurate and up-to-date. This year's edition, incidentally, came out in August, two months or more earlier than its usual release date in October or November. Listings are up-to-date, so far as I can tell, through April of 2004.

Children's book writers and illustrators need this, and should strongly consider buying a new edition every year--or at least when your scribbled-in updates are getting out of hand.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Place To Start, October 24, 2005

By	Stephen Haske (Savannah, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are a lot of turnovers in the publishing business and therefore it is unwise to trust this book to be completely accurate. It just takes too long for it to go from research to the book store shelf for all the entries to correct. However, it is still a great place to start your search for a publisher of your creative work. Another great place is the BOOK STORE. Find the books you like, flip them over, write down the publisher, and look them up online.

I am an illustrator and am disappointed with the focus on writing and creative writing ideas/outlets. This is a fact of life for me and other illustrators with books like this however. There are many more middle-aged Moms out there that want to publish there great new idea for a book than there are emerging illustrators. And there are way too many of all of us alltogether - the competition is tough. If you use this book, use it as initial research and then start your own database.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you need, September 30, 2005

By	Arlen Grossman (Monterey, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're writing or illustrating a children's book, this is your bible. It has everything you need to know to complete the process.
Helpful listings of markets and plenty of useful advice for beginning and established writers.