The Chudney Agency
72 North State Road | Suite 501
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
TEL/FAX (201) 758-8739
steven@thechudneyagency.com

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Submission Guidelines for
Children's and Teen Books


The Agency is closed for queries and submissions – except for those by professional referral. These can be by fellow agents, industry colleagues, and current Chudney clients. Thanks very much, The Chudney Agency

Thanks very much.
The Chudney Agency


For information about adult books,
go to the adult book submission page.

Please note that my editorial needs and desires change from time to time according to what my present client base is producing, editor/publisher feedback, and the general vagaries and trends of the industry—so please do visit my website for periodic updates.

PICTURE BOOKS AND YOUNG FORMATS: Picture Books: At this time, the agency is only looking for Author/Illustrators (one individual), who can both write and illustrate wonderful picture books. The author/illustrator must really know and understand the prime audience's needs and wants—the child reader! Storylines should be engaging, fun, with a hint of a life lesson—and cannot be longer than 700 words.


Material: please email a dummy pdf of your project that contains the text and some 4-color art.

I am not accepting submissions for the following:


• Picture book texts: Because the picture book market continues to be challenging, I am not currently reviewing any text only picture books at this time.
• Illustrations only: sorry, please do try to find an art rep

• Fables, folklore, or traditional fairytales

• Poetry, 'mood pieces,' or stories for 'all ages' (these ultimately are too adult oriented)

• Message-driven stories that are heavy-handed, didactic or pedantic



MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
Adult novels: for information, please see the Adult Books page

With chapter books, middle grade and teen novels, I’m primarily looking for quality, contemporary literary fiction and magical realism, some historical: novels that are well-written, with wonderful settings and developed, unforgettable characters.

I am completely open to all kinds of subjects, including LGBTQ (I’m gay and married) and BIPOC stories, rom-coms, coming of age, gender, faith and spirituality (but not religious) and humor, etc. I am also interested in books that cover cultural issues, both here and abroad—I grew up in Israel and so I love books about the Middle East. And I’m open to all other genres like mysteries and historical fiction (see below). Since opening the agency, I have always sought out novels covering diversity in characters and settings by own voices authors.

Some favorite authors of mine are Gary D. Schmidt, Jacqueline Woodson, Polly Horvath, Kate DiCamillo, John Green, Rainbow Rowell, Lisa Yee, Sarah Dessen, Mark Zusak, Adam Silvera, Judy Blundell, Jennifer Holms, E. Lockhart, Ruta Sepetys, Christopher Paul Curtis and many, many more.


I am not accepting the following:
• Fantasy or Science Fiction novels
• Leveled or Early Readers
• Plays, screenplays, film scripts

SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES

Please follow these instructions for novels only after you have been asked to send in material. In addition, please tell me the following:

• Indicate the age level and/or genre (i.e. middle grade vs. teen/YA novel), and the word count or page count
• Please very briefly describe the next novel you're working on, or thinking about
• Please also include the full prior submission history of the manuscripts to editors, (not to agents).
• Please note that we will not review any submissions that do not include all of the above information

Historical: I do love historical fiction. But note that these days, YA historical is very tough to place.

I'm looking for historical fiction that will excite me, young readers, editors, and reviewers, and will introduce us to unique characters in settings and situations, countries and eras we haven't encountered too often yet in middle grade and teen literature – or offer a unique perspective on the era covered.

Please note: editors are not generally interested in Civil or Revolutionary War era novels. Dust Bowl and Depression era novels are hit and miss. Due to our current state of cultural sensitivity, I prefer to see novels about slavery stories and the Civil Rights period mostly by #ownvoices authors.