How to submit

There’s probably never been as much interest in writing for young people as there is now, and only the exceptional will make it to publishing success.  The Greenhouse is therefore looking for outstanding voices – for writing that’s fresh, original and effective.

We specialize in children’s fiction – from high-concept/character-led series aimed at the 5+ age group through middle grade to young-adult/crossover novels. We are NOT looking for picturebook texts or illustrators, non-fiction, short stories, educational or religious/inspirational work, poetry, or writing aimed at adults.

If you think your work fulfils these criteria, please send a query email - with the first chapter or first five pages (whichever is shorter) of your story pasted into the body of the email - to .  Your query should be no more than the equivalent of one page in length and should include a short synopsis of your plot, a few lines about yourself and any writing ‘credentials’,

PLEASE NOTE:  If you live in the USA or Canada, your query should be addressed to Sarah Davies and marked for her attention in the subject line. If you live in the UK (including Ireland), Australia/New Zealand or Europe, your query should be addressed to Julia Churchill and similarly marked for her attention.

Sorry, but we no longer accept email attachments or snail-mail submissions (we try to be as paper free as possible). If you have met either Sarah or Julia at an event, please mention this.

If we are interested in your submission we will reply with directions on what material should be sent next, and in what format.

The Greenhouse loves to find new talent and debut authors, so all queries are read and carefully considered. We often can get back to you very quickly - within a few days to a couple of weeks. However, we receive a very high volume of submissions and at times other work/travel/conferences/author care/holidays etc etc get in the way of a very fast turnaround. Please therefore allow up to six weeks for us to respond. If we haven’t got back to you in that time, do email us on - it’s possible your message has got lost (cyberspace is never foolproof). You can also add a delivery receipt to your email to be sure it has arrived.

If we have asked to see your full manuscript, please allow 6-8 weeks response time. If your query was exclusively to Greenhouse we try to respect that by prioritizing it, so do let us know.  Sorry, but we can’t give editorial feedback or advice about other agents.

Thanks for thinking of Greenhouse for your work!