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Translation - art & business » Getting established »
Any advice on breaking into children\'s literature?
Thread poster: Jon Zuber (X)
Jon Zuber (X)
Jon Zuber (X)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jan 14, 2002

I\'ve been translating professionally for seven years and have recently begun to consider branching into children\'s literature. I\'d be grateful for any advice on how to get started.
 
Roomy Naqvy
Roomy Naqvy  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 23:01
English to Hindi
+ ...
Children's Literature Jan 15, 2002

Actually, a very interesting field. Probably, one idea is to find organizations concerning Children in your country. Similarly, find out publications which would like to publish such stuff.



Then branch out. But there will be people only that stuff for a long time.. but one can break in.



Roomy Naqvy
[addsig]
 
Laura Gentili
Laura Gentili  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 19:31
Member (2003)
English to Italian
+ ...
Good luck! Jan 15, 2002

It\'s not clear if you want to write or to translate children literature. If you want to write it, you should contact some literary agents specialized in the field. If you want to translate it, then you should try to find out which American/British publishing houses publish children\'s literature originally written in Spanish, then try to contact them. You can find lots of info in specialized bookfair catalogues. In Italy, for example, there is a very important specialized bookfair held in Bolog... See more
It\'s not clear if you want to write or to translate children literature. If you want to write it, you should contact some literary agents specialized in the field. If you want to translate it, then you should try to find out which American/British publishing houses publish children\'s literature originally written in Spanish, then try to contact them. You can find lots of info in specialized bookfair catalogues. In Italy, for example, there is a very important specialized bookfair held in Bologna each year, I guess there are similar ones in Spain and or English speaking countries.

Another possibility is to identify an interesting Spanish text you would like to translate, try to find out if the rights have already been sold. If not, you can translate a chapter and propose the project to a publishing house which might be interested in acquiring the rights and publish the text. ▲ Collapse
 
athena22
athena22  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:31
Member
English
+ ...
Children's Literature in the US Jan 17, 2002

Hi Jon!

As Laura said, it\'s not clear whether you want to write or translate kid lit.

Assuming that want to write children\'s literature, here\'s some advice.



In the US, you don\'t need a literary agent to get published in the field of children\'s literature. An agent may help you get your foot in the door, but you may actually have more trouble getting an agent than getting a publishing house to read your unsolicited ms.



Here are... See more
Hi Jon!

As Laura said, it\'s not clear whether you want to write or translate kid lit.

Assuming that want to write children\'s literature, here\'s some advice.



In the US, you don\'t need a literary agent to get published in the field of children\'s literature. An agent may help you get your foot in the door, but you may actually have more trouble getting an agent than getting a publishing house to read your unsolicited ms.



Here are two things that will help you:

1) Join SCBWI (Society of Children\'s Book Writers and Illustrators). Their website is http://www.scbwi.org. They have all sorts of links, local chapters, guidelines for how a children\'s ms. should be submitted, etc. They are a wonderful, international organization, based in LA, I believe.



2) Get yourself a copy of the 2002 edition of

Children\'s Writer\'s & Illustrator\'s Guide. It is an annual and lists all the major publishing houses\' guidelines: whether they require that you send a query or whether you should just send in an unsolicited manuscript, and so forth. Be aware that because of Sept. 11, the guidelines are changing very quickly; I hear through the grapevine that the trend is starting to move towards email correspondence, after editors had seemed to be resisting email (at the first, general public, level anyway) for years.



If you want more ideas or suggestions, you\'re welcome to contact me directly via email.



If you\'re wanting to translate children\'s literature, I imagine that the process may be similar and have been thinking of trying to get into that myself. But I haven\'t yet looked into it; so I don\'t really know.



Good luck!

HTH

athena22 ▲ Collapse
 
athena22
athena22  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:31
Member
English
+ ...
... Jan 17, 2002

Sorry! Email snafu caused a double post.

[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-01-17 22:20 ]
 


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Any advice on breaking into children\'s literature?


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