Barking up the wrong tree?

My goal is to write children's books. Picture books. The kind that kids and parents love to share over and over. So, I've been sending my manuscripts to children's book publishers. The big ones. The ones that publish the beautifully illustrated library bound books that I envision for my stories. Seems like a reasonable approach. Right?

Perhaps not. Apparently, the picture book market is very slow right now. (Unless, of course, you are a celebrity. But that's a post for another day...) And, from what I'm hearing, I have at least two strikes against me:

Strike # 1 - No Agent. If you follow the Writer's Market listings, you'll notice more and more children's publishers closing their doors to unsolicited/unagented material. It simply doesn't make sense for them to invest time reading through the slush pile when they can receive pre-screened submissions through agents. (For more background on this, see Candy Gourlay's, "Notes from the Slush Pile, " 05/02/05)

Does this mean I'm going to run right out and find an agent? I'm not sure. I spoke with many aspiring children's writers at the SCBWI Winter Conference last month. More than a few of them had signed on with agents... and never heard from them again. In his breakout session, even Marc Brown cautioned against jumping into a contract with an agent who will then earn a percentage of your sales for the life of the book. (Now, I don't imagine that I'll have the success that Marc Brown enjoys, but that may be even more reason to keep as much of my earnings as possible!)

Strike #2 - No Experience. Okay, that's not entirely true. How about, "No experience publishing work for children?" It seems my 11 years of experience writing for adults - including one published book and numerous work-for-hire documents and newsletters - counts for little or nothing in the world of children's publishing. While my resume speaks to my ability to meet deadlines and complete projects from concept through publication, it says nothing about my ability to write for children or, perhaps more important these days, to market and publicize my work. (Or maybe that's strike #3 - no platform?)

So, what to do? Step back. Reevaluate. Maybe I have been barking up the wrong tree. Maybe, as I approach 40 and switch genres, I need to think about working my way up again. From the bottom. (ugh!) You see, I wouldn't necessarily expect a children's author to be able to step into my shoes and write for adults, would I? For crying out loud, what does someone who writes for little kids know about communicating technical information to grown-ups?! Right? (wink, wink) So, why should I assume that I immediately be accepted as a children's writer?

Okay! On to "Plan B" - researching children's magazine markets, reworking some of my manuscripts to fit their format/style/needs, and looking at my idea file - some story ideas that didn't seem right for a picture book may be just the thing for a magazine.

Keep an eye on that success tracker in my side bar. I'll be adding new markets and, hopefully, some new numbers soon!