Past Editions of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market
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I reviewed the annual editions of Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, also known as "CWIM," each year for almost twenty years years. Under new management, it is no longer being published annually. If you know CWIM, you'll know that the core of it, listings of publishers and agents, is regularly updated but changes only gradually. However, each year the feature articles change, something may be dropped, or a new wrinkle may get added to the market listings. This page summarizes what you can find in editions through 2019.

2019 Edition: This is the last edition I reviewed before PRH bought the publisher, Writer's Digest, though there was a 2020 edition. I'll just say it wasn't significantly different from previous years.

2017 Edition: This is the year that CWIM shifted focus towards writers of novels seeking agents. Interviews and articles are mostly relevant to novelists, both in craft and business. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2016 Edition: CWIM took a turn towards illustrators in this year's edition. There is a tips and advice piece for illustrators, built up from comments by a number of illustrators. There are interviews with illustrators among both the short debut pieces and the longer ones with established professionals, including Dan Santat. There were other new articles and updated listings, of course, but the illustrator focus is notable. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2015 Edition: This year, the Writing Calendar (which was basically filler) is gone, and the "First Books" features includes illustrators. New articles include "Writing about Sensitive Topics," by Kerrie Flanagan; "Writing for Boys (and Other "Reluctant Readers"), by Carmela A. Martino; "Talking Craft in Young Adult," by Ricki Schultz; "Your Web Presence," by Lee Wind; "Nothing but the Truth: Writing and Selling Nonfiction," by Suzanne Morgan Williams and Jenny MacKay; and "Make Them Care about Character," by Mary Kole. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2014 Edition: This year, the SCBWI feature (see below) is gone. New articles include "Voice in Fiction" by Diana Lopez, "Picture Book Structure and Plot" by Anne Whitford Paul (the author of Writing Picture Books), "Social Media Roundup" by Kristen Grace, "Writing Convincing Characters in Young Adult," by K.L. Going, "Create Your Writer Platform" by Chuck Sambuchino, "Writing Nonfiction" by Audrey Vernick, and "Self-Publishing Basics" by Darcy Pattison. Buy / more info. at Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK

2013 Edition: I don't see any big changes in the listings. The age-level and general indices have been restored. There is a lengthy new feature that introduces 30 SCBWI regional advisors and their regional conferences, both US and international; a 6-page "Glossary of Industry Terms"; a "New Agent Spotlight" feature that highlights new agents in the listings; and 16 pages of "Your Writing Calendar," displaying each month from August 2012 to December 2013 in calendar format, along with a tip and some blank lines. Six new articles include three on social media: "Social Media Roundup," "Why Illustrators Should Blog," and "Building Your Author Platform." Two relate to picture books: "Picture Book Pacing" and "Illustrators and Authors" (on their different roles in creating picture books). And one, "Writing Buddies," explains how to find and work with a writing buddy.

2012 Edition: This is the first year that CWIM was edited by Chuck Sambuchino. There are some changes. The market listings, the core of the book, have been set up in a two-column instead of a one-column format. More significantly, two resource sections, on print and online resources, are gone. And the age-level and general indices have been dropped. But there are three new resource articles, on writing query letters, on synopses, and on conferences. And there are, of course, the usual feature articles, including some interesting ones on voice in teen fiction, writing for magazines, and "A Look at the Future of Books" (ebooks and more).

2011 Edition: This was the last year that CWIM was edited by Alice Pope. As usual, the feature articles were new. In this edition, Holly Cupala wrote a moving piece on drawing on personal experience, and there were pieces on group blogs and group marketing/support by debut authors. This year's interviews with industry "insiders" included Prinz winner Libba Bray, multi-genre and multicultural author Jacqueline Woodson, art director Laurent Linn, and an interesting talk with a crusading YA librarian by Lee Wind; this section also had the latest version of an annual feature: stories on first novels and first picture books.

2010 Edition: New this year: "access to all Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market listings in a searchable online database." There is a code in the front of the book that gets you access to the children's section of the writersmarket.com web site, and to updates for the site as a whole; the list price of the book has been increased by $2--this feature alone seems to me to be worth the added cost. Among the original articles in the front of the book this year is one I wrote: The Acquisition Process, which I have made available here as an example of what you can find in CWIM. Other articles include ones on revision, naming characters, writing humor, writing GLBTQ books, and graphic novels. This year, several profiles of industry "insiders" appear in their own section for the first time (previously they had been scattered through the market listings), including editors and authors such as National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr; Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles); and Lisa Yee, Ellen Hopkins, and Mitali Perkins; this section also includes a few stories about "first books." Once again, the number of listings has been reduced, and is now down to 650.

2009 Edition: I don't see any significant changes from last year, though the cover claims "Over 700 listings for book publishers, magazines, agents, art reps, and more"--a reduction from last year's 750. As there was last year, there is a sizable section of original articles in addition to the market listings, which this year included an article on trends, covering what's hot and what's not; articles covering picture books, young chapter books, YA fiction, and graphic novels; pieces on agents and researching publishers in depth; and advice on school visits and web sites.

2008 Edition: This year, sections on greeting card, puzzle, and play publishers have been dropped. The first part of the book has more articles than usual. After a few with the same basic information come 18 all-new articles, up from last year's 12, and five "First Books" profiles. Among the articles, I noticed "A Guide to Writing Teen Chick Lit," "Getting Your Art Noticed" (for illustrators), and "Weird Nonfiction," to mention just a few. In this edition, I did a careful comparison of 20 entries with corresponding entries in the 2007 edition. Six were unchanged. One was deleted. One publisher was added. Half had new sample titles or award-winning books listed. Four noted personnel changes. There were no address changes. There were five with changes in other information. And one publisher that had been closed to unsolicited submissions is now listed as open. Does this sound like less than a complete update? Maybe, but it's important to note that all six of the publishers with no changes were small, while all of the larger publishers in the sample had updates and corrections.

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."

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.

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.

2004 Edition: New this year: A sub-section of Canadian and International book publishers has been added. To accommodate 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.

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