We think our customers make great authors, and we'd love to help you out with the publishing process! That's why we're fortunate to have the help of the fantastic Anna Olswanger, a literary agent at Liza Dawson Associates where she specializes in illustrated work, both fiction and nonfiction, for young readers and adults. She has sold to Balzer & Bray, Bloomsbury, Bodys Mills Press, Dutton, Sleeping Bear Press, and Random House Children's Books, among other publishers. She also is an author herself: of the children's picture book Shlemiel Crooks, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and a PJ Library Book.

So if you're interested in writing or illustrating a book, send an email here with any questions--anything from submission procedures to grammar. We'll email you Anna's professional response and also post it on this website--so check back for answers to yours and others' FAQs!

See some of Anna's answers to these questions:

What is the timeline for publishing a book?

If I author a children's book, do I have to provide illustrations?

One publisher's website recommends having an agent represent me. How do I go about finding an agent?

What compensation do literary agents get?

What are the benefits of having an agent?

What if I can't get an agent interested in my work?

If I have a partial draft/outline/idea, can I submit it to a publisher to see if it has the potential to be published?

Also, look below to check out Anna's book!

Shlemiel Crooks (Paperback)

By Anna Olswanger, Paula Goodman Koz (Illustrator)

$11.95

ISBN-13: 9781588382368
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: JuneBug Books, 07/01/2009

Anna's book! "In the middle of the night on a Thursday, two crooks--onions should grow in their navels--drove their horse and wagon to the saloon of Reb Elias Olschwanger, at the corner of 14th and Carr streets in St. Louis. This didn't happen yesterday. It was 1919." So begins Anna Olswanger's imaginative and charming folktale based on the Yiddish community of her grandparents in the early 20th century. In original and engaging storytelling, Shlemiel Crooks brings to life the theft (and recovery) of the community's passover wine, and gives readers of all ages and of whatever religious persuasion a close look at the customs and speech patterns of a significant immigrant group.

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Shlemiel Crooks (Hardcover)

By Anna Olswanger, Paula Goodman Koz (Illustrator)

$15.95

ISBN-13: 9781588381651
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: JuneBug Books, 05/01/2005

Anna's book! "In the middle of the night on a Thursday, two
crooks--onions should grow in their navels--drove their horse and wagon to the
saloon of Reb Elias Olschwanger, at the corner of 14th and Carr streets in St.
Louis. This didn't happen yesterday. It was 1919." So begins Anna Olswanger's
imaginative and charming folktale based on the Yiddish community of her
grandparents in the early 20th century. In original and engaging storytelling,
Shlemiel Crooks brings to life the theft (and recovery) of the community's
passover wine, and gives readers of all ages and of whatever religious
persuasion a close look at the customs and speech patterns of a significant
immigrant group.

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