The Everything Guide to Writing Children's Books

by Lesley Bolton

1. History
- A Book for Boys and Girls; Country Rhymes for Children (1686), by John Bunyan
- A Little Pretty Pocket Book (1744), by John Newbery.
- The Newbery Medal was established in 1921 by ALA.
- Macmillan opened the first department solely for trade children's book in 1921.

2. Types of Children's Books
- Standard categories: fiction, nonfiction, faction.
- Picture books:
  • -- most structured: 24-32 pages, 200-1500 words.
  • -- every page (including 1st) should contain action (capture kid's interest, and leave for illustration)
  • -- cliffhangers to motivate kids to turn the page
  • -- types of picture books: board books, wordless books, novelty books (pop-ups, pull tabs, graduated page lengths, holes, accessories), concept books.
- Early readers
  • -- for children who are learn to read
  • -- 48-64 pages, word count up to 1500 words
  • -- some publishers have vocabulary lists
  • -- simple text with occasional big words, simple sentence structure, and simple plot
  • -- use actions, dialogues, and rich language to keep it moving
- Chapter books
  • -- 48-80 pages, word count between 1500 and 10000.
  • -- simple plot with focus on one specific concept or problem
  • -- familiar experience, recognizable setting, with a child as hero/heroine
  • -- full of action, humor, dialogues.
- Middle grade books
  • -- for independent reader, 80-192 pages, word count between 12000 and 30000.
  • -- most popular form: series
  • -- conflict driven plot, main character is someone a child can related to and the problem solver.
  • -- relay the story from only one child's perspective
- Young adult books

3. Education Resources
- Writer's groups (local)
- Courses (e.g. The Institute of Children's Literature)
- Organizations:
- Seminars and Workshops

4. Research the Market
- Types of Market
  • -- Trade market (bookstores; hardcover, high price, high quality)
  • -- Mass market (grocery, newsstand etc.; paperback, low price, low quality)
  • -- Institutional market (textbooks)
  • -- Electronic market
- Trade magazines
- Newsletters
- Writer's Magazines
- Children's magazines

5. Illustrations
- Do not submit writings with illustrations (by other artists), publishers will find illustrators.

6. Find a Publisher
- Traditional (The Children's Writer & Illustrator's Market; Literary Market Place; The Children's Book Council)
- Subsidy (not recommended)
- Self-publishing (The Self-Publishing Manual, by Dan Poynter)

7. Agents
- Association of Authors' Representatives
- Literary Market Place
- Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents
- Agent Research & Evaluation

8. Compensations
- Flat fee (work-for-hire, turn over all rights)
- Royalties
  • -- advance (earn back the advance before collecting royalties)
  • -- royalty (equally divided between author and illustrator; can be on list price or net price)

9. Grants and Awards
- writers' organizations
- Finding Funding: The Comprehensive Guide to Grant Writing by Daniel M. Barber
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