Common misconceptions about writing
for children and young adults (YAs):
• Writing for children is easier than writing for adults.
• It is easier to break into print if you write for
children than if you write for adults.
• Children’s books are supposed to be “lessons” for kids.
• Children’s books are about cute, safe subjects.
• You can make a lot of money writing children’s books.
• You don’t have to follow the same professional standards
as a children’s author as you do as an author for adult books.
Just as in writing for adults, in
order to find a publisher, you must:
• Have a working knowledge of the books being published.
• Write well! Your writing must appeal to adults as
well as children, or it will never get past the adult editors who
select it for publication, or the adults who purchase the books for
their children.
• Know the market.
• Know how to properly submit your manuscripts.
• Have an indestructible ego
Developing good writing:
• Characterization, plot, point-of-view, dialogue, and
vocabulary are all critical, but so is making your writing
developmentally appropriate for your chosen readers.
• Children are very “unforgiving.” An adult reader
might slog through twenty pages of slow prose to get into a book, or
plod through the bogged-down middle of a book. A child
won’t. You have to grab them on the first page and hold them
throughout.
• Read good children’s books written for the age you want
to write for to gain a feel for what today’s editors and readers
expect.
• Learn how to avoid trite plots that earn quick
rejections.
Classes can be helpful:
• Short classes or seminars given by children's
authors on writing
and publishing are often worthwhile. In my experience, it is
usually
not as helpful to go to those given for writers for adults.
Children's
publishing has its own peculiarities that writers for adults don't have
to deal with.
• The Institute of Children's Literature is a reputable
correspondence school that teaches writing and publishing for
children.
Address: Institute of Children’s Literature
93 Long Ridge Road
West Redding CT 06896-1124
Phone: (203) 792-8600 (800) 243-9645
Fax: (203) 792-8406
E-Mail: informationservices@institutechildrenslit.com http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/
Other things you should do are:
• Go to the library and bookstores to find the type
of books you would like to write and publish. Take notes on their
publishers. Analyze what appealed to them about the books.
• Learn how to write query letters, cover letters,
and synopses.
• Be sure that any manuscript you submit is perfect,
follows proper format, is submitted according to the publisher's
guidelines, and is professional in every way. If guidelines say
to query, do it.
• Be prepared for printed form rejections and don't
get discouraged. Unless you are extraordinarily lucky, you will
get many. Keep them, noted with the date of receipt and labelled
with what title was submitted. File them with your submission
records. This will help convince the IRS that you are a serious
writer trying to make money at it.
• Keep good expense records and submissions records
for taxes.
• Look at some of the magazines that review
children’s books. Some libraries circulate back issues of these
sources: Horn Book, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, School
Library Journal. You may also ask to see a copy of Publisher’s
Weekly. Lots of sources will tell you that you need to subscribe
to, or read, Publisher’s Weekly. Not true.
• Keep and develop your imagination!
• Remember what it was like to be a child. Many
children’s authors say they write “for the child within” themselves.
Know Your Publishers:
• Like adult publishers, publishers of children’s and YA
books
specialize. Don’t send a fiction manuscript to a publisher that
only
publishes nonfiction.
• Use the Children's
Writer's & Illustrator's Market, Writer’s Market, and
publishers’ websites to get more information on the publishers and
their submission requirements.
• Write to those publishers for their author guidelines and
get
copies of their catalogs (if you can’t find them on the
internet).
This will help you to know how best to submit and how to convince them
that your book fits into their publishing list.
• Editors move often. Check to be sure a specific
editor is still there before submitting.
Manuscripts - just like adult mss.
• Must be on clean, smooth, white paper.
(Don’t send smudged, torn or crumpled
work. You are trying to SELL this.)
• Must be doubled-spaced.
• Must have standard margins.
• Must be professional-looking: printed on a good printer
or typewriter.
(You can send a good photocopy.)
• Must contain no spelling or grammatical errors. If
you need a proofreader, get one.
• Must include your name, social security number, address,
phone number, and the number of words in the manuscript.
• Should have a good short cover letter on your letterhead.
• Must include a SASE if you want it returned. Tell
the editor you don’t want it back if you don’t.
Copyright, Rights and Contracts:
• Copyright exists from the moment of creation.
Your publisher will register your copyright
with the Library of Congress.
• The rights purchased will be specified in your
contract.
It is practically standard procedure for many
children's magazines to buy all rights.
• Magazines: May pay on acceptance or on publication.
• “Advances” and royalties on books - learn about these in
professional publication before signing a contract.
Agents:
• Agents try to sell your work to editors and help
negotiate
contracts. They are in business and do so for a percentage of the
price. Agents that represent authors for adults don’t know the
children’s book editors and publishers and probably will not do a good
job of marketing your work for children and YAs.
• Do you need one? Probably not. Most
children’s writers don’t have them.
• Can you get one? Probably not. Few agents
specialize in
children’s literature. Agents are interested in clients that will
make
them money. New, unpublished children’s writers are unlikely to
offer
enough financial incentive. If you are a published writer for
adults,
you may have a better chance of getting an agent. Writers who
have
agents like being able to turn over the marketing and contract
negotiation to someone else.
• SCBWI (see professional organizations) has a list of
reputable agents who represent children’s
writers, with information on how to contact them. The list is
free for
the cost of postage to SCBWI members. There are books on agents,
but
these usually list mostly agents who represent authors of writing for
adults.
• Not all writers who have had agents were happy with the
relationship. Some have fired their agents. There are also
people who
represent themselves as agents who may cheat you. A clue: they
charge
manuscript reading fees.
Writing and Taxes - Just like writing
for adults:
• You must pay taxes on your writing income. Use
Schedule C.
• You can only deduct your writing expenses if you are a
professional writer.
• Keep proper business books.
• You are in business, so you have to act like it.
Major Types of Writing for Children:
• Picture Books
(for all
ages): usually published as a 32 page book. This is a format, not
an
age group. There are picture books for children up through middle
school, thoough most are for children from two to eight. You
don’t
supply illustrations unless you are a trained artist who understands
the technical requirements of book illustration.
• Easy Readers
(for beginning readers, through second grade): usually published as a
48 page book
• Chapter Books
(transitional fiction for children just beyond easy readers): often
64-80 pages
• Juvenile fiction
(for those ready for longer works): usually 96 pages up to 300
pages. Generally aimed at a particular age group.
• Young Adult fiction:
"YA"
fiction aimed at readers age 12 and up, or high school age, depending
upon the publisher. Often deals with “coming of age” themes and
may be
very “gritty.”
• Nonfiction (for
all ages): any length from 32 pages up. You may need to supply
illustrations and permissions.
• Poetry (for all
ages): any length from picture book format on up.
• Magazine writing
(for all ages): includes fiction, nonfiction and poetry, as well as
some specialized genres like the rebus.
• Plays
• Educational markets
Magazine Markets for Children and YAs:
Many children’s authors were published first in magazines for children
and YAs. It is a competitive market, but one that allows you to
build
writing credits. Pay is generally per word and may be either upon
acceptance or upon publication, just as in adult magazine writing.
Some magazines prefer queries. Others will accept unsolicited
submissions of complete stories or articles.
If you are interested in submitting to a children’s magazine, be sure
to read several issues first.
Nonfiction is a good place to begin, if you can write nonfiction that
“sparkles.” They don't want anything that sounds dry or
encyclopedic.
If you submit nonfiction, send your list of sources (bibliography) with
the submission.
Some children’s magazines are open to freelance submissions, and some
are not. The pay varies greatly. Many magazines purchase
“all rights”
but often will allow you to get the rights back if you request them
after a specific period of time. Some will sell reprint rights to
other publishers. Depending upon your contract, you may or may
not be
paid anything from the resale.
Professional
Organization: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Children’s writing has it’s own professional organization: the
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, usually known as SCBWI. It has a bimonthly
newsletter, a national conference in Los Angeles every year, regional
conferences yearly or biannually, and often has smaller groups which
meet locally throughout the year. Dues are $60 a year. If
you have not yet published anything for children, you can join as an
associate member. If you have published, you can join as a full
member. The society offers many helpful market lists and
instruction sheets which members can get for only the price of
postage. The organization may be contacted at:
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
Tel: (323) 782-1010
8271 Beverly Boulevard
FAX: (323) 782-1892
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Web: http://www.scbwi.org
Useful
Books: Children's Writer's &
Illustrator's Market, Writer's Digest Books. This annual
book is invaluable and will teach you about markets, submissions,
etc. It comes out each year in the late fall, with the following
year’s date on it. (CWIM)
The Children's Picture Book :
How to Write It, How to Sell It, by Ellen M. Roberts, Writer's
Digest Books, c1981. This book is essential if you want to write
picture books, which have specialized requirements. It may be out
of print.
Nonfiction for Children : How
to Write It, How to Sell It, by Ellen E.M. Roberts, Writer's
Digest Books, c1986. If you are interested in writing nonfiction
for children, this is helpful.
Writing for Children and
Teenagers, by Lee Wyndham, revised by Arnold Madison. This book
is excellent, but if you are only interested in preschool picture
books, you probably don't need it.
How to Write a Children's
Book and Get It Published, by Barbara Seuling.
There are many more useful books. Check your library, especially
for out-of-print titles. For those in print, local bookstores
will gladly order them if they are not in stock, or you can order from amazon.com or Barnes and Noble (bn.com).
Amazon is willing to search for out of print books, but you can also
look for them online at Bibliofind through Amazon: http://www.bibliofind.com
An economical way to get many of these books is Writer’s Digest Book Club.
It has a monthly newsletter offering how-two books on writing.
When you join you can get a good deal on three or four books. For
each 4 books you purchase, you can choose a book free. All books
are discounted. It offers several books specifically for children's
writers.
WDBC sends their newsletter with a reply card. They will send the
"main selection" automatically unless you return the card within 10
days to refuse it. If you forget and don't want the book, you can
send it back for a refund. You can also do this if you order a
book and don't like it. It is possible to get them to put you on
an arrangement whereby they will send you the newsletter and an order
card but you don't have to send in the card UNLESS you want to order
something.
Writer's Digest Book Club Web: http://writersdigest.com
P.O. Box 12948
Cincinnati, Ohio 45212-0948
Newsletters
for Children’s Writers: (all listed in CWIM)
• SCBWI Bulletin.
Bimonthly (see Professional Organizations). Available only to
members.
Subscription price included in
membership.
• Once Upon a Time.
Quarterly. See CWIM or website at: http://www.onceuponatimemag.com/
• Children’s Book Insider.
Monthly. See CWIM or website at: http://www.write4kids.com/aboutcbi.html
• Children’s Writer.
Monthly.
Published by: Institute of
Children’s Literature
93
Long Ridge Road
West Redding CT 06896-1124 - or- call 1-800-443-6078
Website: http://www.childrenswriter.com/
Websites: These
other websites are worth your time. You might also find it useful
to look at some writer's websites. You'll find links to some of
them at: rhplinks.htm
Children’s Writer’s Events:
Note - non-members may attend SCBWI events, but they usually pay a
higher price than members. See events on the SCBWI website.
There are many conferences and events listed on the SCBWI website and
on:
Shaw Guides at URL http://www.shawguides.com/writing
Most of these are not specifically for children’s writers.
A Note on Selfpublishing for the
Children's Writer
There are valid reasons to self-publish, but this is a very difficult
market for a children's author. Before you invest in it, do your
homework and be prepared. Have reasonable goals. A good
article on this is by Morris Rosenthal of Foner Books: Self-Publishing:
Children's Books and Writing for Print on Demand
Ravenstone Press 