Submission Guidelines
Tiny Seed is one of Starfish Bay Publishing’s two imprints, dedicated to publishing children’s picture books and board books.
Due to the impact of Covid-19 between 2020-2022, we introduced additional funding programmes for both of our imprints, Starfish Bay Children’s Books and Tiny Seed Publishing, alongside our traditional publishing model. We are pleased to announce that our Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint has fully recovered and resumed focus on our Traditional Publishing Programme in January 2025.
Our goal is to have Tiny Seed imprint fully recovered by the end of 2025, allowing it to return to our Traditional Publishing Programme from January 2026. At this stage, Tiny Seed operates as a traditional publisher that also adopts a sponsored publishing model while maintaining the high-quality standards and processes of traditional publishing.
All books published by Tiny Seed will be available to order and sell from both online and retail bookstores. We work with four sales agencies in the US, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, who manage the marketing and sales of our titles. For more details on our sales and distribution network, please visit:
https://tinyseedpublishing.com/submission-guidelines/
Once published, all Tiny Seed books will be exhibited at our stand at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair at no additional charge.
If you are interested in having your picture book published by Tiny Seed, please select one of the following publishing programmes and submit your work accordingly.
Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme ($6,000)
Originally launched under our Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint in July 2022, this programme is now managed by Tiny Seed. It requires authors to provide a temporary loan of $6000, which will be fully repaid within two and a half years of receiving payment without any conditions.
The only difference between this and our Traditional Publishing Programme is the initial loan required after signing a publishing agreement. This loan will allow us to continue publishing operations and ensures that authors receive the same professional service and support as our traditional model. All other costs related to publishing a book under this publishing programme are covered by Tiny Seed. When joining this programme, authors will receive 60 complimentary hardback copies of their book in recognition of their support.
Secondary Publishing Programme ($3,998)
Running since November 2021, this programme requires authors to purchase 200 hardback copies of their book at a 20% discount (based on a retail price of AUD $24.99 per book). The only difference between this and our Traditional Publishing Programme is the required book purchase. All costs involved with publishing a picture book under this programme are covered by Starfish Bay.
What We Are Looking For
Tiny Seed takes pride in publishing children’s picture books that feature unique ideas, strong storytelling, and lots of personality. We are looking for manuscripts that engage children through creativity, excitement, and originality.
As a traditional book publisher, we must guarantee strong sales potential for our books. Therefore, we maintain high standards when selecting picture book stories.
As a traditional children’s book publisher, we understand how important it is to select a suitable illustrator. Therefore, we do not recommend that authors contract their own illustrator before submission. If an author has already contracted an illustrator, they must indicate this when submitting their manuscript. In such cases, our publishing decision will be based on both the text and illustrations, which may make selection more difficult.
Submission Policy
Our reviewers are based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, so we only accept submissions via the following email address:
tinyseedsubmissions@outlook.com
- In your email subject or body, please indicate which publishing programme you are interested in.
- Email attachments should be under 15MB. For larger files, please send them via WeTransfer:
https://starfishbay.wetransfer.com.
If you do not hear from us within two months of sending your submission, we will be unable to proceed with your project. Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to confirm receipt of submissions or provide feedback on unsuccessful applications.
About Our Traditional Publishing Process
We understand thar traditional publishing can be a complex process, especially for new writers. Therefore, we would like to provide some general information about our traditional publishing process.
At Tiny Seed, we oversee a range of processes including editing, design, proofreading, printing, sales, marketing, and distribution to ensure our books are professionally produced and widely available. In general, it takes a traditional book publisher 24 months to complete the publishing process. Here is the schedule we work to when publishing a children’s picture book:
Step 1: Editing
After signing a publishing agreement with us, our editors will review the manuscript and provide feedback. In general, two editorial rounds will be required to ensure the book reaches its full potential. For each editorial round, our editorial team can deliver a line-edited manuscript including comments. The author can use this feedback for their revision. In general, this process should be completed within two months. Once a story is to a satisfactory standard and the editorial process is complete, no further changes can be made. Only errors related to grammar can be highlighted and corrected after this process. All editorial rounds are free of charge.
Step 2: Contracting an illustrator
Once the editorial process is complete, we will begin sourcing a suitable illustrator. We believe it is essential to select an illustrator whose style complements the story. Working with illustrators from around the world, we carefully match each manuscript with the most fitting artistic style. We do not want to rush this process, which can take up to five months to complete.
Step 3: Illustrations
Authors should be aware that a professional illustrator is a co-creator of the picture book and will interpret the text in their own way. Once an illustration agreement is signed, our Art Director and art team will work closely with the illustrator to ensure a smooth process. Authors are not required to contribute to the illustration process, and we are unable to provide specific updates during this stage.
Step 4: Design
After receiving the final illustrations, our designer will begin preparing the layout. A full PDF of the picture book will be created. This process takes roughly one month to complete.
Step 5: Proofreading
After the layout has been finalised, we will need to proofread the book. We will provide authors with a full PDF of their book. Authors are not asked to participate in the proofreading process as this is looked after by our editors. Please note that only grammar and spelling mistakes can be changed during this process and there will be no further changes to the illustrations.
Step 6: Teacher Notes
Teacher notes are a valuable resource for educators, helping to create discussion and deepen awareness of the themes and characters in our books. We welcome our authors to assist in creating these notes. Teacher notes typically include questions about the themes or situations, as well as simple activities inspired by the book – everything to encourage learning through fun.
Step 7: Submission of new title information to our sales agencies and distributors
Next, we will set a publication date and submit the new title information to our sales agencies and distributors. Each agency and distributor has its own submission policies for new titles.
Step 8: Printing and binding
We usually begin printing a picture book five months before its publication date. Printed copies of the book will then be shipped to our four distributor warehouses. These are located at the following destinations:
• 30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805, USA.
• 50 Freshwater Road, Chadwell Heath, London RM8 1RX, UK.
• 39 Woodside Avenue, Northcote, Auckland 0627, New Zealand.
• 9 Pioneer Ave, Tuggerah, NSW 2259, Australia.
Step 9: Book sales and marketing
There is no need for our authors to promote their books themselves. We have four sales agencies based in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Each has its own sales and marketing plans for our books. Our sales agents and distributors sell our books to bookshops (online and in-store), wholesalers, and library vendors. If you view the Sales and Distribution category on our website, you will gain more information on where our books will be sold.
Step 10: Selling subsidiary rights
In addition to selling and distributing books, we sell translation rights to publishers in non-English-speaking countries through foreign rights agents and international book fairs. As a result, we are able to maximise the potential audience of our titles.
Starfish Bay also regularly attend international book fairs, showcasing our titles to publishers from around the world. Translation rights are bought and sold at exhibitor stands, which will enable our stories to travel the world.
You can find us at Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2025 (March 31st – April 3rd, Stand A91 Hall 25). We also attended Frankfurt Book Fair in 2024 and are waiting for confirmation on our stand number for 2025.