Where do I start?

[kazzianne]

I came up with an idea for a childrens series of books ages ago,scribbled some basic notes,a few pictures and then just shoved it in the back of a drawer.Yesterday I found it again,and showed my boyfriend,who had never seen it.He thinks its a great idea and that I should try and go about developing and possibly getting it published.Where do I start??

[homeresque]

Get a literary agent interested and let them do the hard work for you!

One of the best sources of info is the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook.

Good luck!

[Quizmonkey]

Once in a blue moon, a new author will send an idea direct to a (children's) publisher - and they'll love it and run with it. If you want to try this route, select your publisher very carefully - don't 'shotgun' your work to every publisher you can find. Forget scribbled notes: your submission needs to be as final as possible, with an overall synopsis/presentation. And only send a sample of the actual work: the first few pages, say, plus a final illustration (assuming you're illustrating it yourself). Also ensure they carry your own personal copyright.

The more usual way of getting published is to get yourself a literary agent. You will need to convince them that your worth having on their books! Some payment will probably be involved.

'The Writers And Artsists Yearbook' is your obvious first port of call - available from bookshops and libraries.

[kazzianne]

So how do I copyright my idea so that nobody else can steal it?

[homeresque]

Quote from the UK Patent Office:

There is no official register for copyright. It is an unregistered right (unlike patents, registered designs or trade marks). So, there is no official action to take, (no application to make, forms to fill in or fees to pay).

Copyright comes into effect immediately, as soon as something that can be protected is created and "fixed" in some way, eg on paper, on film, via sound recording, as an electronic record on the internet, etc.

It is a good idea for you to mark your copyright work with the copyright symbol � followed by your name and the date, to warn others against copying it, but it is not legally necessary in the UK.

[dot.hawkes]

I was once advised that posting a copy to yourself and then keeping the envelope unopened dates an idea.

[kazzianne]

Dot - my boyfriend said exactly the same thing last night - post it to myself!

[SaxyJag]

Dot and Kazzianne are right - this is all you need to do. You don't have to register the copyright as it's already yours, although of course, it does help you to be able to prove the creation date.

Going to an agent in the first instance would be best. Some will accept unsolicited manuscripts or sample pages, others you will need to write an intial query letter explaining what you've got. The Writers & Artists Yearbook has a full list of agents and what sort of work/authors they represent.

There are guidelines on how to present manuscripts for submission, and they differ from agent to agent and from publisher to publisher. Again, W&AYB is a useful source of information on this, as well as individual publishers' websites.

[nickmo]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Arts-and-Literature/Question216288.html and http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Arts-and-Literature/Question214910.html were a couple of previous questions along the same lines which have a bit more info on them.

Good luck with the book!

[raysparx]

hi kazzi, good luck love,you can illustrate it yourself as well,go for it,you can do it, I know from your posts you have a lot up top,and for once i am not talking about your boobs!!!! Take care, Rayxx

[kazzianne]

Ray - very funny!! So you read the Peter/Jordan thread I guess!!