Find your audience

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:

  • A brief summary of your book. Remember that this is a summary, not marketing material—please don’t leave us in suspense about how the story’s conflict is resolved.
  • An excerpt. The first three chapters of your middle grade manuscript.
  • Information about your writing background.

Other things to know:

  • It takes time for our small team to work through the large volume of submissions we receive, as a result, we are only able to respond to proposals that we determine are a good fit for our publishing program.
  • We aim to review submissions within four to six months. If you haven’t received a reply within six months, it is safe to assume that we are no longer considering your manuscript.

We can’t wait to read your stories!

What we are looking for

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.

Learn about Pajama Press

Submitting a manuscript

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.

Read the Submission FAQ before submitting
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