Authors & Artists
Barefoot Books is proud to work with some of the most talented authors and artists in the world to create our award-winning picture books. Want to learn more about our amazing authors, illustrators and other contributors? Look for the About the Contributors section on any product page.
Submissions
Barefoot Books is an independent children’s book publisher focusing on diverse, inclusive, beautifully illustrated board books and picture books for ages 0–12. To learn more about the kinds of books we publish, please explore our website and online .
As a small team, we are not able to respond individually to every submission we receive or handle queries about submission status. We will get in touch with you if we are interested in pursuing your submission. We are always actively looking for diverse writers and artists.
Please read our submissions guidelines carefully before sending us your work:
Manuscripts
As a small team with a large backlog of manuscripts to review, we are currently closed to unsolicited submissions.
We accept agented manuscripts, and we also read submissions through #DVpit, a biannual Twitter-based pitch event exclusively for authors and artists from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds. For more information on this event and how to participate, visit the DVpit website and follow @dvpit on Twitter.
Artwork Samples & Portfolios
We look for distinctive, unique artwork with a strong palette, rich detail and texture, and the ability to capture character and emotion. We prefer to see smaller but well-curated portfolios tailored to our aesthetic, rather than a range of many different art styles.
Please send your picture book artwork samples to submission@barefootbooks.com as portfolio or website links. We cannot accept unsolicited portfolios or samples sent as email attachments. Emails with attachments will be deleted.
Thank you for considering sharing your work with us at Barefoot Books!