Submission guidelines

Julia Hegetusch

Hi guys. I have a question about submitting a portfolio to publishers. Many publishing houses have submission guidelines for authors only. Often an email for authors or a submission site with a mask for authors.Do you then send your portfolio anyway? (because obviously they are working with illustrators as well) or try something else? Does anyone have experience with this? Thankyou!

Jeremy Ross

Hi @Julia-Hegetusch, you might have more success finding an illustration agent to help you find work.

Melissa_Bailey

Hi Julia. Are you a member of SCBWI? Their yearly book, The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children, has many great resources for illustrators, including an illustrators guide with tips on how to submit, an agents directory, and a market survey with a ton of publisher information. There, publishers usually include how they would like to get submissions from illustrators.

Have you tried sending out postcards to editors and/or art directors at publishing houses? It's more of a long game, but it's a way to get your name and art in front of the eyes of people who hire illustrators.

Many US publishers have information on their websites about how they handle submissions from illustrators, if they accept unsolicited submissions. The big 4 publishers like Penguin Random House and the Hachette Book Group often don't accept unsolicited submissions; you may want to consider getting an agent if your goal is to work with the major publishers.

You may want to consider approaching smaller publishers first. Here are a few who have clear submission guidelines for illustrators:

Hope this helps!

Julia Hegetusch

@Jeremy-Ross yeah I will definitely try finding an agent at some stage

Julia Hegetusch

@Melissa_Bailey I haven't joined scbwi jet. But I am planning on doing that. Thankyou so much for the list of publishers!

ksfabian

Maybe look up who the art directors are of each publishing house and send an email once every six weeks. ‍️

Julia Hegetusch

@ksfabian yeah, I guess there's no better way. Thanks

Melissa_Bailey

@Julia-Hegetusch you're so welcome!

kayleenartlover

@Julia-Hegetusch Find an email to ask them for the art director's email or whoever is in charge of seeing illustration portfolios so you can send them an email with a link to your website.

Julia Hegetusch

@kayleenartlover hi, yes I have been thinking of doing that but have been a bit reluctant. I actually did do 5hat once for aquila magazine and they send me an email Adresse that I could submit to. So, maybe I will do that more often . Thanks