Step 2 of 2 · Submission guidelines
Submitting to EK Books
EK Books is a global publisher of award-winning children’s books. Our motto is “books with heart on issues that matter,” and our books are aimed primarily at children aged 4 to 8.
We reopen on 1 October 2026
The limited submission window is essential for allowing our team to manage the increasingly high volume of submissions and give due consideration to all eligible manuscripts. There will be future opportunities.
Use the time. Read the guidance below, make sure your book is a good fit, and have it ready on day one.
Add the date to your calendarBefore you begin
We welcome submissions from literary agents, as well as new and established authors. Before submitting, please look through our published titles to get a feel for our current list, and take advantage of the resources we make available through the Children’s Publishing Academy.
We expect to receive professional-quality submissions, and strongly recommend new authors begin with the training programs we offer through the Children’s Publishing Academy before sending in their work.
What we publish
We are particularly interested in titles that tackle themes of neurodiversity, belonging, and being yourself in fun, creative and empowering ways.
We publish globally and vigorously sell translation rights for our books worldwide, so books with a strong local association are often not appropriate for us. For the same reason, we generally prefer books in prose, not rhyme.
At present we are accepting children’s picture books and illustrator portfolios only. We expect to open to middle-grade and YA submissions in the near future.
Manuscript submissions
- Subject line, in this format: Picture Book Manuscript: Title
-
A brief two-paragraph introduction
- Outline your book, and call out the themes and topics it addresses.
- Introduce yourself, with links to your author website and social media. We expect authors to have a strong platform in place to promote their work.
- Your manuscript attached as a Word document, meeting the criteria above.
A note on AI-written pitches
We understand the temptation to use a tool like ChatGPT or Claude to tighten your pitch. But reading hundreds of pitches a month that all share the same structure and vocabulary is not what our editors love.
Treat the pitch email as your chance to show off your own written voice. Be yourself — personal and authentic beats polished and generic, every time.
Illustrator portfolios
Send to the same address, when the window opens.
- Subject line: Illustrator portfolio: [Your name]
- A two-paragraph introduction to yourself, including links to your previously published works and your website or social platforms.
- Samples attached as one consolidated PDF, or linked on your platform.
The submissions address will be published here when the window opens on 1 October 2026.
Please don’t send work before then — submissions received outside the window can’t be considered.
Not sure if your book is ready?
Take the free quiz and find out where it stands before the window opens.
Take the free quiz