Submission Guidelines

Flamingo Rampant makes children's picture books that feature or center LGBT2Q kids and families. Please make sure your book idea has a clear LGBT2Q storyline before you send it in. We’re always interested in pitches, agented or unagented, that show happy, loved, powerful kids and families in a positive and celebratory light. Send your story or story idea using our contact form here on the website, and we’ll get back to you in 6-8 weeks with our thoughts.

In order to keep our mission clear and focused, we have some clear rules about what we do and don’t publish - which doesn’t mean these are the only worthwhile books on the world! It just means they’re what WE make at Flamingo Rampant. Please read carefully to see if you’re a good fit for us:

1. You DO NOT need to send illustrations with your book, in fact we generally prefer you don’t unless you hope to illustrate yourself. Even then, one or two sample pages are plenty.

2. We only publish books with human children/families as main characters. We love penguins, worms, dinosaurs, zebras and puppies a lot but we know there are so many kids who need to see themselves reflected directly in this space. Animal secondary characters are fine, of course, but if your book is about a sloth who falls in love with a lemur we don’t have a home for it here.

3. We don’t publish books that have primary narratives about bullying, ostracization, harassment or violence. If your book is about a kid who is made to feel like their identity or family is a problem, that’s not going to be a book that works for us.

4. We don’t publish “explainers.” Your ms must have a story with a beginning, middle, and end that can have an identity piece as part of it but it cannot be the entire narrative. If the kids in the story aren’t doing anything, this will not be the right story for Flamingo Rampant.

4. Flamingo Rampant loves books where kids are the primary problem-solvers, action-takers, adventurers and lead disruptors. We love it especially when girls and nonbinary characters show strong leadership.

5. We have a strong value around #ownvoices work - send us pitches about YOUR community, celebrations, culture, and experiences! While we always appreciate the work of allies, the number of books ABOUT LGBT2Q kids/families; Black, Indigenous, and kids/families of color and disabled kids has increased while the number of writers who live in those identities is still flatlined. So bring us your best #ownvoices work!

6. We’re always looking for illustrators, especially QTPOC illustrators. You don’t have to have a formal portfolio; we’ve gotten very good at assessing based on instagram art, school projects, Tumblr commissions and so forth. But send us links to your work and introduce yourself, even if you don’t have a project in mind yet! We’d love to meet you.