Here’s What They’re Saying
Straight From The Larrikin’s Mouth!
James Layton
Larrikin-in-Chief
James Layton has nearly 30 years experience as a children’s bookseller in the Australian education market. He’s also the Publisher at Larrikin House, so his perspective comes from a broad range of angles.
James has developed an assessment rubric based on five key criteria. Your manuscript will be assessed using his W.I.N.K.S rubric, which covers 15 individual elements.
The five key W.I.N.K.S criteria are:
WHO: How well you know your audience.
IMPACT: The visceral reaction for the reader.
NEW: Originality, innovation and cleverness.
*KRAFT (Craft): How well-crafted the story is.
SALES: ‘Why’ or ‘why not’ this book will sell.
The W.I.N.K.S rubric generates an overall score out of 100 and a W.I.N.K.S rating out of 5. (Think Chef’s Hats)
Like most publishers, we just don’t have the time or resources to send feedback on manuscripts. However, by going through the assessment process, you’ll be given very specific, comprehensive feedback on your story. You’ll also be given the rubric to help you with future story creation and subsequent submissions to publishers.
Rate 4.5 W.I.N.K.S or more (90+) and we’ll more than likely publish your story.
*A Larrikinism that allows rule breaking when it comes to changing the spelling of a word so it shoehorns into your acronym.