How To Get A Children’s Book Published
Why Writing for Children is Not Easy
Author: Athlyn Green
Could you write for children?
It is possible to become a children’s book author but writing for children is not as easy as many believe.
At first blush, children’s stories seem simple enough and many writers create a story and send it out, hoping for publication.
In actuality, your story has to appeal to a triple audience:
- To the publisher who will evaluate it for critical and necessary elements.
- To children–is your main character someone children can relate to? (What child behaves all the time? What child doesn’t enjoy a good laugh? What child isn’t curious?)
- To parents–you likely remember the stories you had to read to your kids repeatedly. Some you enjoyed; others you did your best to avoid.
Why Writing For Children is Not Easy
Many factors contribute to a solid manuscript, such as creating an effective picture book title, writing a compelling opening, and planning your verses for page turns.
Many seasoned children’s book authors, in fact, create book dummies for each of their stories to help them to spot weaknesses and improve on them. Making a book dummy can help you to see how your verses should fall on the pages.
A good children’s story has to have a clear direction, action scenes, a memorable character and a story arc.
As can be seen, much has to be considered when writing stories for children.
Learning How to Write for Children
Prolific Australian author Robyn Opie relates that she wasted valuable time trying to get her kids’ books published. As she gained experience, she discovered that publishers want certain elements in children’s stories and she wrote her stories accordingly.
- Robyn has achieved incredible success using this knowledge and has carved a career writing for children.
- She has 76 published books under her belt and more in the works.
- Her site has won the designation of “101 Best Websites for Writers” from Writer’s Digest.
- Robyn is considered one of the best sources, for information about how to get a children’s book published.
Robyn offers free tips and insider knowledge to those who want to build a career writing for children.
Recap: writing for children and getting your stories published can prove difficult if you do not have a clear understanding of what makes a solid children’s story.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/why-writing-for-children-is-not-easy-2433991.html
About the Author
Learn more about Robyn Opie.
Athlyn Green is a freelance writer from B.C. currently living in a 100+ year old Victorian house in Nova Scotia. Athlyn offers tips and tricks about how to Write and Earn a Living
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I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but unfortunately the odds are heavily stacked against you. You have chosen the most difficult thing in the publishing business – getting a children’s book published. You are very wrong when you say you think ANYONE can do it. You are also wrong about the number of pages (36 or 48 is standard) and you do not rely on the pictures, the story is what sells the book. There are no pictures when the publisher buys the book. Not until he assigns an artist.
Let me describe for you the current nature of the children’s book market. I just finished ghostwriting five children’s books for a very major sports figure – already sold to a very major NY publisher. The first is due out in Spring. I am currently working on my 7th one for him with others to follow. This information was given to me by a Senior Editor at the publisher I write for (one of the top 2 publishers in the country) …
This is how the children’s market breaks down.
40% of children’s books published today are by celebs like Madonna, Jamie Lee Curtis etc. Celebs can get anything they want published. Their names sell.
40% are written by existing, established children’s authors like Eric Carle.
15-20% are reprints of children’s classics like Curious George.
That leaves at best 5% for new authors.
And that percentage is being cut into by adult authors like Carl Hiaasen and Mary Higgins Clark entering the childrens’ market recently.
To that, add the fact that most of the large publishing companies are backlogged with children’s books they have under contract but havent gotten out yet. It takes about a year for a children’s book to make it out. It usually takes an artist about a month a page to illustrate. So most publishers have their production schedules for children’s books filled out for the next few years.
As a result, most A list publishers aren’t even reading childrens’ books right now, which means agents arent either. Agents only read what they can sell.
There is very little room to break into the children’s market. Only books that are extremely exceptional and have huge appeal stand a chance. Forget any holiday related books – the selling season is too short to make money.
Take a walk through any major childrens’ book department and you will confirm what I am telling you. Getting a childrens’ book done is almost impossible – and getting an advance for it is virtually out of the question anymore. Unless you fall into one of those categories above. I am fortunate to have the backing of a very major sports star to get me in the door with kids books. I write adult novels, but believe me I have tried with kids books before and failed for exactly the reasons I list here.
Ghostwriting has gotten me in through the back door, and now I will be able to sell some of the children’s books that have my name on them. For now, someone else’s name is on the cover. Someone whose name sells books – big time. Don’t ask me how you can get a ghostwriting deal for a major sports star … I really backed into this. It was a gift from Heaven really and it is a blast working with this person too!!! My mantle is now covered with sports memorabilia worth a fortune!! I love presents. It has also led to 3 other ghostwriting jobs.
That is the nature of the beast. You might get a copy of Writers Market and search for some small publishers who are reading childrens’ books, but searching through the agents section, you will see that almost NO agents are reading childrens’ books. Try for some small publishers that read without going through an agent. Expect a lot of rejection. Develop a really thick skin and learn to advocate for yourself.
There is one shot you have. As you are searching through that book department, look for something that isn’t there. Research. Some kind of a topic nobody has written about. It would be something that teaches a lesson to kids in a fictional way, but that hasn’t been done before. Believe me – there are topics. I found one recently. I did a teleconference with the publisher I work with and he was thrilled. He wants te book yesterday. No such book exists. If you can find a topic nobody has covered before and write an exceptional book. you have a shot. Jamie Lee Curtis has been very successful with that.
Always remember that before you send anything to anyone, check them out. Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write Water Cooler’s Bewares and Background Checks, Writers Weekly.com and Writers Wall are all great sources and totally free – although if they help you, it is nice to contribute a donation. Someone has to pay for running the sites. If you do not see information on the publisher or agent in question, write to Dave K at Preditors and Editors, Victoria Strauss or James Macdonald at Absolute Write or Angela Hoy at Writers Weekly. They are happy to pass along any info they have to help you.
As for self publishing it with someplace like Lulu – it will get you nowhere. Self published books dont make it to bookstores. It is a financial black hole to self publish. I recently read about a woman who refinanced her house and spent over 70 thousand dollars publishing and promoting her children’s book. She has recouped less than 10% of her money and is in danger of losing her home.
Childrens’ books are impulse buys. What is out on the tables for kids to see is what sells. Kids don’t shop at websites for things like books. They have to hold them in their hand and nag Mom to buy it. The only way to achieve that is through a good traditional publisher. Self publishing will do nothing for you but take money.
I have starred a lot of great Q and A regarding writing on my profile. You can access it and print out the pages. Start a notebook you can refer to. There s a lot of good information here and I add more as I see good ones. I am doing it to help others. Feel free to use it. Add me as a fan and get the regular updates. Keep writing. Remember you have to need to grow a hide as thick as a herd of elephants. There will be rejection letters. That is inevitable. But you are only 12. Gone With the Wind was rejected 50 times. Never forget that.
Just keep writing. Be exceptional!!
Good luck. Pax-C
This actually depends on your publishing needs. The cost of publishing vary depending on your requirements.
Get this FREE book publishing guide and a publishing consultant will make a FREE assessment of your publishing needs and give you an idea about how much you need to spend:
http://www.xlibris.com/requestkit/index.asp?src=aop&key=qac
Go to the public library. Look at Writer’s Market. Find out who is interested in buying from an unpublished author. Read the submission rules. Follow those rules perfectly! Otherwise the publisher will throw your work out.
If you are under 18, your parents will have to sign any contract the publisher may choose to send you.
that is a good question. i found a press in the Mother Jones magazine. i can’t remember it, but it’s expensive.
Get the Writer’s Market Guide for 2010 which has a listing of all publishers that do children’s books.
It’s a long shot
There’s also online publishing like Lulu.com.
How could i get a children’s book published?
I wrote, typed and illustrated a handmade children’s book for my boyfriend’s son and ended up making copies for my 5 year old cousin and other relatives and everyone tells me i need to get it published. Does anyone know how or where i could do that?
How would I get a children’s book published?
I have a couple ideas for children’s books, but I was wondering how I would go about getting them published – or selling the ideas. I would think ANYONE could write a children’s book – they are only about 20 pages long and they really rely on the pictures over the words. Since it doesnt take a rocket scientist to write a book that would keep kids entertained – does that make it more difficult to get ideas accepted? A point in the right direction would be fantastic 🙂
How do you go about getting a children’s book published?
My friend and I are writing a book and we think it’s good enough to publish. It’s kinda of like a Nancy Drew book except it’s better! It’s a children’s mystery-thriller. We would like to get it published by a good publisher. Thanks for any info!
Maddy
I’m 13 turning 14 in 7 days and she’s 12 turning 13 in a few months…
How much does it cost to get a children’s book published?
How much does it cost to get a children’s book published?
How do I get a children’s book published?
I have just graduated high school and I have written a short children’s book for a class I took. The class loved it and so do my neices and nephews. I would really like to know how I could get this book published and out to the public, but I don’t know how. Thanks!