Submission Guidelines

Starfish Bay Publishing operates under two imprints: Starfish Bay Children’s Books and Tiny Seed Publishing. Our main focus is traditional publishing, and both imprints follow the traditional publishing model and processes. All books published by Starfish Bay Children’s Books and Tiny Seed Publishing before December 2023 were released under this model. Under this programme, Starfish Bay covers all publishing costs, including editing, illustration, design, printing, sales, marketing, and distribution. Authors also receive royalties generated from book sales.

Due to the severe impact Covid-19 had on our business between 2020-2022, we introduced two additional publishing programmes alongside our traditional publishing programme: the Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme and the Secondary Publishing Programme.

We are pleased to announce that our Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint has fully recovered. It resumed focus on our Traditional Publishing Programme in January 2025 and now operates just as it did before the pandemic. Our two additional publishing programmes will continue under our Tiny Seed imprint, which is managed by the same publishing team, following the same standards and processes as our Traditional Publishing Programme.

We strongly believe that there will be no need for further financial support after 1st January 2026, and we have been working very hard towards this goal. This will also mean that Tiny Seed will resume focus on our Traditional Publishing Programme and no longer accept unsolicited submissions from 1st January 2026.

If you are interested in publishing your picture book with Starfish Bay, please select a programme from the list below and submit your work following these guidelines.

Unsolicited Authors

Our Tiny Seed imprint is currently accepting unsolicited submissions for the following publishing programmes:

Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme
Secondary Publishing Programme

To support Tiny Seed’s ongoing operations, we require the following financial contribution from authors:

Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme – a refundable loan of $6,000
Secondary Publishing Programme – A non-refundable payment of $3,998.40 to cover the cost of purchasing 200 copies of your book.

We would like to confirm that this is the only financial support required from participating authors. There are no additional or hidden costs related to publishing a picture book with Starfish Bay.

Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme ($6000)

This publishing programme was originally launched under our Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint in July 2022 and continued until December 2024. It is now managed by Tiny Seed. The programme requires authors to provide a temporary loan of $6000, which will be fully repaid to within two and a half years of receiving the payment without any conditions. The termination date for this programme is 31st December 2025.

The only difference between this and our Traditional Publishing Programme is the initial loan required after signing a publishing agreement. When joining this programme, we will provide authors with 60 complimentary hardback copies of their book in recognition of their support.

Please note that we do not provide a guarantor for the temporary loan. Starfish Bay began operating as a traditional book publisher in 2014, and since then has published over 300 children’s picture books. We have a strong reputation for quality and our ability to deliver. Therefore, the reputation of the company is the best guarantee we can offer. Protecting our standing in the industry is our top priority, and it is very important for us to ensure that all payments are returned by the date set in the publishing agreement of any of our books.

Here is an overview detailing what an author will receive when their children’s picture book story is included on this programme:

Authors gain solicited status, and their next submission(s) will be eligible for our Traditional Publishing Programme.
Professional editing, illustrating, design, printing, and binding.
Publication under the Tiny Seed imprint.
Full repayment of the $6000 temporary loan within two and a half years.
60 complimentary hardback copies of their book after publication.
The book will be available to order and sell from online and retail bookstores.
Once published, the book will be exhibited at our stand at Bologna Children’s Book Fair at no additional charge.

Secondary Publishing Programme

Running since November 2021 under Tiny Seed, this programme requires authors to purchase 200 hardback copies of their picture book at a 20% discount (based on a retail price of AUD $24.99 per book). With this exception, this programme operates identically to our Traditional Publishing Programme, with all other costs covered by Starfish Bay. The termination date for this programme is 30th June 2025.

Authors can expect to receive the following when their children’s picture book story is included on this programme:

Authors gain solicited status, and their next submission(s) will be eligible for our Traditional Publishing Programme.
Professional editing, illustrating, design, printing, and binding.
Publication under the Tiny Seed imprint.
200 hardback copies of the book after publication.
The book will be available to order and sell from online and retail bookstores.
Once published, the book will be exhibited at our stand at Bologna Children’s Book Fair at no additional charge.

Solicited Authors

We deeply appreciate all authors who have participated in our Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme and Secondary Publishing Programme, as well as those whose work will be included in these programmes. To show our gratitude for their contributions, these authors will now be considered solicited authors.

Traditional Publishing Programme

Our ambition when establishing ourselves in 2014 was to publish and promote emerging talent. We have had the privilege of working with many exciting authors by receiving unsolicited submissions and are proud of the work they have produced. However, we regret to announce that we will no longer accept unsolicited submissions for our Traditional Publishing Programme. Since 1st January 2025, the Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint only accepts submissions from solicited authors for our Traditional Publishing Programme.

Here is what an author will receive when their children’s picture book story is to be included on this programme:

A Traditional Publishing contract.
Professional editing, illustrating, design, printing, and binding.
Publication under the Starfish Bay Children’s Books imprint.
The book will be available to order and sell from online and retail bookstores.
Once published, the book will be exhibited at our stand at Bologna Children’s Book Fair at no additional charge.

We are also very pleased to announce the authors who have successfully joined our Traditional Publishing Programme since 1st January 2025:

Tata’s Shoes, by Ester Reato
Silver’s Pirate, by Katie Aaron
Where Have These Jeans Been?, by Adele Hunter
Too Loud Cicada, by Audrey Crowfoot
Learning to Fly, by Andrew Dittmer
Finding Kharm after the Storm, by Kelly-Anne Norman
Emus Don’t Fly, by Sue Bormann
There’s room for just one in my tree…and that’s me!, by Kylie Tull
If I Were A… by Lorna Stallman
Please, Not the Alphabet Book! by Anna Brotherson

What We Are Looking For

Starfish Bay is proud of our children’s picture books, which feature unique, original ideas and lots of personality. We are looking for picture books that will appeal to children through creativity, excitement, and strong storytelling. As an Australian publisher, we are particularly interested in promoting and supporting homegrown talent from Australia and New Zealand; however, we also welcome submissions from authors around the world. As a traditional book publisher, we need to guarantee sales of our books under our programmes. Therefore, we have rather 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 for each picture book. Therefore, we would not encourage authors to contract an illustrator when submitting their manuscripts to us. However, if an author has already contracted an illustrator, please indicate this when submitting your manuscript(s) to us. In such cases, we will need to make a publishing decision based on both the story and the illustrations. Please be aware that this may make it more difficult to be selected for one of our publishing programmes.

Submission Policy

We currently accept submissions by email only. We will not accept any hard copies of submissions and will not accept any responsibility for the loss or damage of your work. Starfish Bay accepts submissions to the following email address:
starfishbaypublishing@outlook.com

Please use one of the following email subject suggestions depending on your choice of model when submitting your work:

If you would like to have your submission(s) reviewed under our Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme, please use the following email subject:
“Author Supported Traditional Publishing Programme: [Manuscript Title]”

If you would like to submit under our Secondary Publishing Programme, please use the following email subject:
“Secondary Publishing: [Manuscript Title]”

Please ensure that any emailed submissions are less than 15MB. If any files you wish to send are larger than this, please send them via WeTransfer. Here is the link to our WeTransfer account:
https://starfishbay.wetransfer.com.

Please note that if you have not heard from us after two months of sending your submission, we will be unable to proceed with your project. Due to the high volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to always track the receipt of submissions and, therefore, will be unable to provide feedback on unsuccessful submissions.

About Our Traditional Publishing Process

We understand that the traditional book publishing process can be rather complex – particularly for new writers who have not experienced being published by a traditional publisher. Therefore, we would like to provide some general information about our traditional publishing process.

At Starfish Bay, we oversee a range of processes such as editing and design, proofreading, printing, sales, marketing, and distribution (ensuring that our books are available at bookshops, libraries, etc.). We always use the same publishing processes for picture books published under our publishing programmes. In general, it will take 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 Starfish Bay, our editors will start to review the picture book story and provide authors with feedback on ways to make further improvements. It is usual to have two editorial rounds for each picture book story as this ensures that the books we publish reach their full potential. For each editorial round, our editorial team can deliver a line-edited manuscript by marking up the manuscript and including notes and comments on ways to tighten or improve the flow of text and correct any mistakes. The author can then work on the story based on these comments and supply us with a revision. All editorial rounds are free of charge. 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.

Step 2: Contracting an illustrator

Once the editorial process is complete, we will start to source a suitable illustrator. We choose illustrators for our books from all over the world and believe that one of the most important aspects of publishing a children’s picture book is finding an illustrator whose style complements the content of the story. We carefully match illustration styles from different illustrators to each picture book we release. We do not want to rush this process, which may take up to five months to complete.

Step 3: Illustrations

We wish for authors to be aware that a professional illustrator will be the co-creator of the picture book and should be allowed to interpret the text themselves. After an illustration agreement has been signed, our Art Director and our art team will work closely with the illustrator to ensure this entire process runs smoothly. Authors are not required to contribute to the illustration process. We will be unable to provide authors with specific updates regarding the illustration process.

Step 4: Design

After we receive the final illustrations, our designer will begin to prepare the layout and create a full PDF of the picture book. It takes roughly one month to complete this process.

Step 5: Proofread

After the layout for a picture book has been finalised, we will need to proofread the book. We will provide our authors with a full PDF of the cover and interior spreads of their book. Authors are not asked to participate in the proofreading process as this is undertaken by our editors. Please note that only grammar and spelling errors 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. They can be used in school and kindergarten settings to create discussion and awareness of the themes and characters found in our books. We welcome our authors to assist us in creating this resource. Information that can be found in teacher notes includes the reason for creating the book, questions that can be asked about the themes or situations within the story, and simple activities based on the book that children can take part in – everything that will encourage young readers to learn while having fun.

Step 7: Submission of new title information to our sales agencies and distributors

Next, we will set a publication date and submit new title information to our sales agencies and distributors. Each agency and distributor have its own new title submission policies.

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, which 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

We would like to mention that there will be no need for our authors to promote their books themselves. We have four sales agencies that are based in the US, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Each has its own sales and marketing plans for our books. Our sales agents and distributors will sell our books to bookshops (online or 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, Starfish Bay sells 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.

We also regularly attend international book fairs, showcasing our titles to publishers from around the world. You can find us at Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2025 (March 31st – April 3rd, Stand A91 Hall 25). We attended Frankfurt Book Fair in 2024 and are awaiting confirmation on our stand number for the 2025 event.

Translation rights are bought and sold at exhibitor stands, which will enable our stories to travel the world.

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