Submissions

The Lindsay Literary Agency is open for submissions and is on the look out for exciting children’s scripts from both debut authors and published writers. We are particularly keen to see scripts from authors with a diverse background, but we will always welcome a good story no matter how it arrives at our door.

We tend to dive straight into the writing before looking at an author’s covering letter and so it is the story that captures us first. Having said that, an author’s biography is important too. It’s not qualifications we’re looking for, so in your covering letter tell us about your life experience or interests or anything that might be relevant to your story. 

There are occasions when we make detailed editorial suggestions and comments but we only do so when we see real promise in the work. We do not charge a reading fee.

We will do our best to turn around scripts as quickly as possible however we received an unprecedented number of submissions during the last six months and so we are still working through those submissions. We do reply to all submissions, but as we are a small agency we don’t commit to a timeframe, so please be patient while we work through our list. If you are submitting to other agents at the same time please do make this clear in your submission letter.

If you have any questions please do get in touch via our Contact Page or via our Twitter handle @LindsayLit

How To Submit

By email: info@lindsayliteraryagency.co.uk


Please send the first three chapters of your story together with a single page synopsis (both double-spaced). Unlike the pitch the synopsis is slightly longer (up to half a page) and can give away spoilers – tell us where your story is headed. Please attach these to your email in two separate Word documents.

We would also like to see a covering letter in the body of your email that should say a little about yourself and include a brief pitch (2-3 sentences) on your story. A pitch might mention the main characters, the setting and the key ingredient that drives your narrative forward. It might include an X meets Y comparison using well-known books or films. The biography part should include anything in your career or life experience that might be relevant, but again this only needs to be a paragraph or a couple of sentences.

If you are sending a picture book submission, please send the complete story saved in a Word document. If you are an illustrator please send pdf examples in as small a file as possible together with a link to any work you have online. If you have illustrations to go with your writing, but are not the illustrator yourself please just send a single pdf example (we will always ask for more if we’re keen). As a rough guide we would expect a picture book text to be between 300-750 words and you may attach up to three texts in separate documents.

By post: We are no longer accepting postal submissions – please contact us via email if you have a question.

Rejection

by us is not a mark of whether we think a script is good or not it simply means that we don’t think we are the right agency for your work so please try other agents and publishers.

If you are struggling to find representation it’s important to keep in mind that this is normal for most people. There are many large agencies and small independent agents in the UK alone, try all of them keeping a record of who you’ve sent out to and when, ticking them off when you hear back. At the same time, start your next writing project, try a different genre or a different voice. Join a writing group or society – SCBWI is very active and supportive for children’s writers both published and unpublished. Don’t be put off by other writers’ early success, every writer’s journey to publication is unique. Good Luck!