Hen and Ink Scouting Agency, Translation services, Foreign Rights, Representing Authors & Illustrators, children's books and adult projects, Red Fox Literary (USA); henandinkblots, ebooks, ibooks, apps
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Submissions


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Submissions

CLOSED SUBMISSION POLICY


Due to the enormous number of submissions received, Hen&ink only accepts unsolicited submissions under these conditions:
•_Open Coop Day (when we throw open the doors of Hen&ink Literary Studio for a limited time and accept unsolicited projects)
•_On the recommendation of a Hen&ink client or other working partner
•_From Conference Attendees we've met at conferences where we were on faculty

Please like Hen & Ink Literary on Facebook, check this website, henandinkblots blog and Twitter regularly for OPEN COOP ANNOUNCEMENTS (generally once or twice a year).

SUBMISSION HOW-TO:
If you have been recommended by a client or other working partner, or met us at a conference, here's how to submit:
Please submit your materials within the body of your email (embedded)
to SUBMISSIONS [a t] henandink [d o t] com with the following information:
Recommendation/referee/your name and project title
Conference/secret phrase/your name and project title

Please embed your text and illustrations in the email. Illustrators are also invited to include links portfolios and/or projects.

WHAT WE ARE PECKING FOR (generally) … or what we want to see
• Smart and funny and moving fiction for all ages (youngest readers to New Adult readers)
• Character-driven picture book texts and projects
• Sparely-written picture book texts with a real story (beginning, middle & end)
• Picture books that children beg to be read again and again until the bindings fall apart
• Funny picture books that touch on universal child experiences (even if you are a badger)
• Fantastic Voice
• Characters that we care about
• Tons of atmosphere
• Pacey, action-packed plots with heart
• Rich writing
• Dialogue that sings
• Smart humor across all genres

DOUBLE YOLKS, aka BIG POSITIVES:
• A really funny, yet poignant, illustrated/graphic novel for girls
_ (but not a comic book)
• Voice Voice Voice
• Atmospheric writing
• Great sense of place/setting
• Characters that we care about
• Tons of atmosphere
• Pacey, action-packed plots with heart
• Dialogue that sings
• Writing that makes us laugh and cry (and sweat)
• Good spelling and grammar and paying attention to formatting

Oh, and humor.

ROTTEN EGGS, or what we DO NOT want to see:
• Didactic or knock-you-over-the-head issue books
• Poetry
• Rhyme
• Heavy subjects with no levity
• "Message-y" stories
• Issue-only stories
• Novels in verse
• Derivative work that makes us say, “Where did I read this before?”
• Stories without a beginning, middle, end
• Horror, gore or gratuitous violence
• Traditional fables, folklore or fairytales
• Academic writing and projects specifically for educational or institutional markets
• Stories that drift, “mood pieces”
• Self-indulgent narrative that waxes on and loses the reader



BOOKS THAT FEATHER OUR NEST…
or books we wished we’d represented but are thrilled exist
To help you get a feel for Hen&ink, in addition to our own books, a selection of old and new favorite titles (somewhat alphabetically)

Nearly everything by…

E.L. Konigsberg
Lloyd Alexander
Paul Zindel
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman


A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
A Girl Named Digit by Annabelle Monaghan
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain
Legend by Marie Lu
Lost It by Kristen Tracy
Mr. and Mrs. Bojo Jones by Ann Head
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
The Book of Blood & Shadow by Robin Wasserman
The Diviners by Libba Bray
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines
The Half-life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
The Undead by Kristy McKay
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
From the Mixed-up Files
of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
My Fair Godmother by Jannette Rallison
Six Days by Philip Webb
Smells Like Dog by Suzanne Selfors
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
The Books of Elsewhere series by Jacqueline West
The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt
Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Story of Ferdinand by Robert Lawson
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Penguin & Pinecone by Salina Yoon




Catch up on industry news and interviews: Erzsi Deàk

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© 2014 Erzsi Deàk/Hen&ink

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