Commissioner Insights : How to Pitch Your Illustrated Picture Book – Part 2 Members  

Part 2 in our Commissioner Insights series on How to Pitch your Illustrated Picture Book follows on from our AOI Discusses event, where we invited a discussion between Maria Tunney, Picture Book Editorial Director at Walker Books, and Author-Illustrator Jane Porter.

If you were unable to get a ticket to the event or attend live, do remember that AOI Members have access to recordings of all past AOI Discusses events. Head to Events Recordings.

To hold a cutting edge in this cultural wasteland of products, a children?s story must have great integrity and staying power. The hand of the artist ? a little stained with paint around the fingernails - must be seen. The voice of the writer - passionate and idiosyncratic ? must be heard. And whether it is through adventure or humour or pathos, the story and pictures must always touch the heart. 

Author-Illustrator Rosemary Wells, quote shared by Maria Tunney

Do you accept pitches directly from Author-Illustrators?

Maria Tunney: We accept picture book proposals mostly just through agents. The reason being is simply because of volume ? there is no way that we would be able to sift through the amount of unsolicited manuscripts that may come through to us, especially when it is already a struggle in itself to manage the submissions that come from agents. We just don?t have