How To Write A Manuscript For A Children’s Book
How To Make Money As A Children’s Author
By Ruth Barringham
If you want to make money writing for children, then becoming a children’s author is a great place to start.
Children’s books are quick to write and very easy to market. You can write a manuscript for a children’s book in as little as 2 weeks. And because the market for children’s books is so huge right now, it’s easy to get an agent or publisher interested in your book in less than a month.
Let me explain.
Unlike some adult books, children’s books aren’t huge tomes and are not full of long complicated words or difficult-to-follow plots.
This makes them easier, and therefore faster, to write.
If you sat down and wrote for only 2 hours a day, you could get your work to final manuscript in 2 weeks or less.
And working this quickly doesn’t mean that your book won’t be good. On the contrary; you’ll find it’s plenty of time to write a future best-seller.
And because the children’s book market is constantly growing, there are plenty of agents and publishers looking for the next Terry Pratchett, Dr Seuss or J K Rowling.
So once your manuscript is written you only need to write a great synopsis and query letter, and send it to every children’s literary agent and publisher to quickly get your work snapped up and under contract in a short time.
Or, because it’s so simple to market a children’s book, you might want to self publish the book yourself.
One of the easiest and most profitable places to market your children’s book is to the library supply companies.
Libraries stock thousands of children’s books and with so many libraries in the world, the supply companies have to buy in bulk to keep up with demand.
Children’s books are the most borrowed type of book from the public libraries. In Australia (where I live) in 2007, ninety seven of the top one hundred most-borrowed library books were all children’s books. So knowing just how popular they are, you can imagine the enormous number of children’s books that are sold to the libraries every year.
For instance; there are over 14,000 libraries in Australia, so if only half of them bought a copy of your book (and when it comes to children’s books they usually want to buy more than one copy each), you’d still sell over 7,000 books. And the USA has over 10-times the number of libraries that Australia has. So you can imagine how massive their library sales can be.
There are also hundreds of children’s book clubs and they buy in even bigger bulk than the library supply companies. Just one order from a book club could be a single sale of 20,000 copies of your book, or more.
And we haven’t even begun to look at the sales from book stores, online book stores, children’s stores, play groups and more.
Once you know the age group that your book is intended for, you’ll probably come up with dozens more targeted places to market your book such as children’s web sites and children’s magazines.
But there’s one thing for certain; children are reading more. Even parents of very young children are introducing them to books at a very young age.
And all this has created a significant rise in the demand for new children’s book.
So if you want to make money as a children’s author, there’s never been a better time to start.
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Okay, I’ll give this to you very simply … I take it that you have the ‘story’ already written or ‘in your head’ and you merely want to know how to put it into ‘manuscript submission’ form.
On your computer (or typewriter) at the top left, you want your ‘personal information’ … and that means that you put your ‘real name’ (the one they’ll make the checks out to), address, phone number, and COPYRIGHT (year only). You do NOT have to have a ‘submission copyright’ from the government, just the word ‘copyright’ and the year, because some publishers will want to know WHEN the story was ‘written’ and when it was ‘put up for publication.’ Some publishers (especially magazines) want to ‘buy’ the copyright, but if you don’t have a copyright on the submission, they’ll just put their own on and WILL NOT PAY YOU FOR THAT RIGHT.
If this is meant to be a ‘short story’ then you go down the page to the line 1/3 of the way from the ‘top edge’ of the paper and put the title … center it, and USE CAPITALS.
If it’s meant to be a ‘book’ then go down to 1/2 way, then ‘space up’ two lines and write the title there (also caps) … then go down TWO lines, write ‘by’ in the center, and go down two more lines, and write your name or pen name as you want to see it printed …
If this is a short story, you’ll want to ‘start the story’ 6 lines after the title. If it’s a book, you’ll use the ‘first page’ as your ‘title page’ and start the story itself 1/3 down on the ‘second page.
ALWAYS put ‘page numbers’ on EVERY PAGE, except the ‘title page’ of a book manuscript. Always write on ONE SIDE of each sheet of paper. Always use ‘black’ ink and Times New Roman or Courier in 12 font size, with ONE INCH margin on ALL SIDES of the paper, and DOUBLE SPACE the lines.
On the last page, when you are ‘done with the story’ you need to go down 4 lines and center the number ’30’ (with the single quotations, as I did here) … that means the ‘story is ended’ to anyone who knows publishing. BE SURE that the ’30’ is there AND the ‘page number.’
Now … BEFORE you print, you need to BE SURE that your NAME AND INFO is at the top left corner of EVERY PAGE, and that on the ‘first page’ or ‘title page’ in the top right corner you have the ‘word count/page count.’ PUT BOTH IN, because some publishers use one, some use both, but it varies.
When you are ‘mailing it’ in for submission, you’ll also need to ‘add’ some EXTREMELY IMPORTANT things … put in a ‘business sized’ (#10) STAMPED, self addressed envelope’, a ‘query letter’ addressed to a PARTICULAR editor or ‘department’, and an envelope that is also ‘stamped and self addressed’ that is LARGE ENOUGH for the ‘whole manuscript’ to be sent back to you.
ALWAYS keep at least ONE GOOD COPY of your ‘story’ printed out, as well as ‘in the computer file’ … and you’ll need to ‘separate those’ from the area around the computer (a safety deposit box in a bank is ‘best’ but you may ‘entrust’ it to a relative who lives in ANOTHER neighborhood, in case of ‘natural disaster’).
If you are ‘good’ at this story writing, you’ll have ‘tons’ of ‘manuscripts’ in ‘storage’ and you should be able to ‘grab a ‘script and mail it out in a hurry once you get ‘used to’ this ‘format.’ Although most editors and publishers have computers, all of the ‘good’ publishers REQUIRE a ‘hard copy’ for reading, and you can’t just ‘send them a link’ or a ‘disk’ with the story on it, because there are FAR TOO MANY different types of ‘software’ to read them with, and the publishers don’t want to ‘spend the money’ to buy all of those, and they may ‘farm the ‘script out’ to a ‘reader’ in another place to see if it will ‘fit’ what they are publishing.
I suggest you get the LATEST copy of ‘Writer’s Yearbook, which has both ‘hints’ and the ‘most current’ lists of publishers, what they print, and any ‘submission standards’ they require.
GOOD LUCK! If you can’t sell the first story, don’t feel too badly, because most writers accrue a ‘large file’ of ‘rejection slips’ before they get the letter that says ‘we want to buy what YOU wrote.’ So … keep writing, keep submitting, and just stuff those rejections into a file (or use them to wallpaper a room), because if you do that, you WILL get ‘published’ someday.
How do you write a manuscript for a children’s book?
I am an author of many children’s stories. I have finally mustered up the courage to get one published, but need help getting started. Can anyone offer some detailed advice?
Children’s book manuscript to publisher: Add picture?
I’ve written a manuscript for a children’s book, I know publishers have their own ideas on how to market a book & often are not interested in pictures/illustrations unless you yourself are an illustrator.
Although I’m not bad artisically, I thought of adding a pic of my kids (with the “cartoon” effect applied from my software) b/c the story is about them. I would like it if their likenesses were captured……………or do I wait until I actually get some call backs & interest?
Send only what they ask for now. Quite honestly, you are up against a hard enough time without complicating it.
The children’s book market is the hardest of all book markets to crack. Over 40% of the market is books published by celebs like Madonna and Jamie Lee Curtis. Another 40% is established reputable children’s authors with proven track records like Eric Carle. Another 15 – 20% is reprints of children’s classics like Curious George. That leaves about 5% tops for new authors. Add to that, many adult authors like Carl Hiaasen and Mary Higgins Clark are now writing childrens books and cutting into that 5%. Also, the major companies have huge backlogs of childrens books they have purchased that are waiting to be produced. Many if not all major publishers are not reading children’s books at present – which means agents arent reading them if they have no way of selling them. It is very tough. Your book must be extremely exceptional to get through. And if it involves holidays of any kind, they just arent interested because the time frame for sales is too short..
Therefore, if you find an agent or a publisher who is accepting children’s books, make sure you follow their submission guidelines to the letter. Otherwise you are just asking to be rejected. Also, publishers dont like to be told what to do so dont push your ideas on them until the ink is dry on your contract. Then they will hire an illustrator, and if you are lucky, they will ask for your input.
Publishing is a business – publishers do what they have to do in order to make money. Pax- C
My father-in-law has published several books through iuniverse.com. He does not have an agent. You might check out that website. Hope this helps. Good luck!!!
Can anyone tell me how to find a publisher who will accept an unsolicited manuscript for a children’s book?
I wrote two children’s picture books that the many children I read it to were delighted. I sent it to 7 publishers with no luck. Only one of the rejection letters gave me some feedback. My problem is many publishers don’t want to hear from you without an agent. Many agents will not take on a client if they have not been published. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I wish to thank anyone ahead of time for any help.
Proper Manuscript Format for a Children’s Picture Book?
Hello to all children’s book writers and writers in general,
I’m a newbie who has a question about the proper manuscript format for a children’s picture book. The format seems a lot different from one for a novel. I know that the name and address goes on top left side of page, approximately word count on right, and the whole thing is double-spaced.
However, since a children’s book is a lot shorter, and it’s illustrated, would I, on the actual manuscript, write page 1, page 2, page 3, etc. and separate it out or should the whole manuscript just essentially be one big, double-spaced paragraph?
1.) How do I format my manuscript so as to make it clear that, for example, sentences A and B would be on the first page in an actual children’s book, sentences C and D would be on the second page, etc.
2.) Or should I just not do that?
3.) Should I indent and start a new, double-spaced paragraph for my manuscript
Answers are greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!
I have a complete manuscript for a children’s picture book plus picture outlines. How do I find a good agent?
I’m already preparing to send my work to different publishers that don’t require an agent, but I would feel much better if I had some guidance. I’m only eighteen and have been writing since I was in elementary school. I think I’m ready to step out now. This is my first attempt at getting something published.
I cannot help with this question, but you can visit many web sites about writing children’s books. Purple Crayon web site, for example, has suggested books on the subject in its online bookstore.
QueryTracker.com
AgentQuery.Com.
And check out the forums at AbsoluteWrite.com, they have excellent advice for beginning writers, as well as a thread to check out agents and do background checks.