Welcome my agent, Elizabeth Bennett, here to talk to us today about sub strategy! We’ll be in conversation together, so I’ll provide my point of view from the author/illustrator side and then ask Elizabeth to provide clarity from her side! Of course, this is specific to our relationship and experience, but you’ll get a glimpse at how often we go on sub, when we go wide vs exclusive, when we do multiple rounds or simultaneous submissions, etc. And let me just say, I learned a lot from this conversation myself!
First up, a look at my sub numbers. The “+” numbers are for additional books in a multi-book deal.
My Submission Numbers (2018-2023)
I use the term “sub” loosely, because some of these were exclusive submissions and some of them were wide submissions. Also, keep in mind that these are my personal numbers, which will be reflective of my style of writing, track record, etc.
You can see that I’ve subbed about twenty-one times (averaging ~five subs a year), resulting in ten books deals—for a total of twenty-one books. (Technically, there’s also a twenty-second book, but that’s a long story for another time.) That’s a lot of books—but also a lot of rejections! Rejections are a reality of a writing career, even once you’re agented/published.
Elizabeth: Jumping in a little early here to stress that what Vicky is sharing is unique to Vicky. I don’t want anyone to look at the above chart and decide that early readers or chapter books are easier to sell than picture books. Writing for young readers (as opposed to picture books which are written for adults to read to children) is a special skill that Vicky has mastered. They continue to be a difficult category to have success in… But we’ll get into details later…
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