Submission Guidelines

Determining Whether Your Work Is a Fit 

If you are interested in being a Teacher Created Materials, Free Spirit, or Shell Education author, please familiarize yourself with our books at teachercreatedmaterials.com freespirit.com and teachercreatedmaterials.com/shell-education

We also recommend that you check out our books at your local library or bookstore to get a feel for our tone and style.

Commitment to Diversity 

We are committed to uplifting diverse voices with books that are relevant and inclusive for the youth we serve. We are especially seeking manuscripts from authors of diverse representation; including race, ethnicity, culture, religion, social class, LGBTQ identities, ability, and physical differences.

Note: Due to the large volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to respond to individual queries that are not accompanied by a complete proposal. 

Submitting a Proposal

Only proposals with the following elements will be considered for publication:

• A cover letter briefly outlining your project, the intended audience (including age ranges), and your relevant expertise
• A current résumé
• A market analysis with a comprehensive list of similar titles and a detailed explanation of how your project differs from available products
• A detailed chapter-by-chapter outline
• At least two sample chapters (if a full manuscript is available, you may send it)
  Note: For picture book submissions, the entire text is required for evaluation. Bracketed art suggestions are appreciated, though illustration samples should not be sent unless professionally competent.
• A description of your personal promotion plan for the proposed book (including both in-person and social media outreach)

As you prepare a proposal, it may help to keep a few of our main considerations in mind:

Need: Why is the book needed? How is it different from similar available titles?

Purpose: Who will use the book? How will they use it?

Quality: Is the project well written and researched? Is the style similar to that of our other award-winning, jargon-free, solution-focused titles?

Relevance: Is the subject matter appropriate for our list? Does it compete with or complement other available titles from Free Spirit?

While we do our best to offer timely feedback on your project, the high volume of proposals we receive dictates a reply time of up to 6 months.

Free Spirit Publishing and Shell Education are currently closed to unsolicited submissions.