Find your audience
Pajama Press accepts unsolicited manuscript submissions when the form below is active. If it is currently inactive, please check in again at a later date. It takes time for our small team to work through the large volume of submissions.
Illustrators who wish to share a portfolio with our Art Director may send links or attachments via email to [email protected] at any time. Please note that manuscripts sent to this address will not be considered unless otherwise stated below.
Pajama Press is now accepting middle grade manuscript submissions (24,000-40,000 words). Please email your manuscript to [email protected] with the subject MG-Submission.
Please write us an email that gives the following information:
Pajama Press is a small literary press with high editorial and production standards. We endeavour to publish titles of exceptional quality that will receive wide critical acclaim and awards; our books are designed to successfully appeal to children, young adults, librarians, teachers, and parents.
We produce many formats popular in children’s publishing across a fairly broad range of genres: picture books, our new sturdy books for the very young, early chapter books for new readers, middle grade novels, young adult novels for pre-high school audiences and literary non-fiction.
Picture books:
700 words or less. Character-driven stories. Or stories that emphasize word play, vocabulary building, and rhythm.
Primary stories:
150 words or less. High concept, simple ideas, word play. Suitable for ages 1–3 or 2–5.
Early chapter books:
7,000-14,000 words. Stories divided into approximately 10 chapters. School-aged protagonists, single point of view. Vocabulary building, lots of dialogue. Stories about character development, overcoming challenges.
Middle-grade novels:
24,000-40,000 words. More complex, character-driven stories that feature a single or dual point of view. Realistic contemporary stories, low fantasy (reality-based fantasy rather than high fantasy), historical stories that appeal to a universal audience.
We publish picture books both for the very young and for school-aged readers, as well as early chapter books, and novels for middle-grade readers.
We invite stories from authors of diverse backgrounds who authentically tell their own stories.