Past Editions of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market
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I have reviewed the new annual editions of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, also known as "CWIM," each year for several years now. If you know CWIM, you'll know that the core of it, listings of publishers and agents, is annually updated but changes only gradually. However, each year has different feature articles, and a new feature may get added to the market listings as well. This page summarizes such changes in recent editions.

2007 Edition: This year, the cover claims 750 individual listings in all, down from last year's 800: I regard this as a plus, as it means the editors are actively pruning out places it would be a waste of time to submit to. New this year is a "Names Index," which lists editors--handy if you know an editor's name but don't know where they work. This year, articles that interested me included "Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal," "The Newest Children's Book Imprints," "Mainstreaming the Graphic Novel," and "Blogging for Authors and Illustrators." Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2006 Edition: There were no new features this year, but I did a count in the book publishers section: It has about 200 entries. I counted 22 marked as "new," including new companies and new imprints at established companies. (A few are companies that have been around a while but haven't been in CWIM before.) As for the articles, here is a complete Table of Contents. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2005 Edition: Twelve articles are new to this edition. I particularly liked "Critique Group Dysfunction and What to Do About It," and "The Pitch," which provides helpful guidance in crafting query letters and the like. But there are also articles for illustrators, and on marketing, and even on niche markets (the puzzle market and writing licensed product). Since everyone has different interests, here is a complete list of these articles. Following these articles come lengthy interviews with Newbery winner Jerry Spinelli and the quirky illustrator J. otto Seibold, and a very interesting "First Books" feature, which focuses on first books published by independent publishers. Five first-time authors and illustrators are interviewed about books published by four different publishers. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2004 Edition: New this year: A sub-section of Canadian and International book publishers has been added. To accomodate this extra material, they've reduced the type size (it's still readable), so that there are several more lines per page. And so you'll find about 200 publishers in the main part of the Book Publishers section, and 42 in the Canadian/International area, of which 23 are Canadian, 15 are in the U.K., and 4 are Australian. Among the feature articles, there were two I particularly enjoyed--though everyone will have their own favorites: "Writing Through Rejections: Advice from Jane Yolen & Vivian Van Velde," and "When Size Matters: The Synopsis...." There are also lengthy interviews with Lois Lowry and Tomie dePaola, and a piece on four illustrators whose first books were just published. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

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