Writing Children's Books For Dummies

Lisa Rojany Buccieri, Peter Economy

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780764537288
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781118053218
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Everyone loves a children's book. And many dream about writing one. But is it actually possible for an unpublished writer—armed with a good story idea and a love of kids—to write, sell, publish, and promote a book? Yes, it is! Veteran children's book publishing executive and author Lisa Rojany Buccieri and author Peter Economy show you how, in their incredibly useful 2005 first edition of Writing Children's Books For Dummies®.

Buccieri and Economy begin by explaining the basics of the children's book business, from the nuts and bolts of the various formats and genres—with helpful illustrations to aid you—to the intricacies of the book publishing market, a list of recent award-winning books, and a first peek into the particular mind set that writing children's books requires. (Hint: Throw out the adult rules, and think like a kid!)

Then the authors dive into the actual writing process itself, with tips on setting up a workspace, brainstorming great book ideas, researching the subject you decide on, even speaking with the sorts of kids you hope will eventually read the book. They show you how to create compelling characters and develop them in the manuscript; how to outline and write a plot "arc" of conflict, change, and resolution; how to master the difficult art of writing dialogue; and how to use active (rather than passive) language to keep your story moving along and interesting to young minds.

Or, if you're planning to write a creative nonfiction children's book—on a topic such as science, nature, or a historical figure, for example—the authors include a chapter on this, too. Ready, set, go… it's time to sit down and write!

Once you've finished your book, however, the process has only begun. Now you will refine, submit, and hopefully sell your manuscript. Here again, the authors of Writing Children's Books For Dummies come through for you. They deliver solid advice on hiring an illustrator—or not; participating in workshops and conferences to learn the business and hone a story; finding an agent; and, finally, submitting the manuscript to publishers and—if you are successful—signing a contract.

Along the way, the authors also include tips on handling rejection; a quick primer on the various editors in publishing houses (and how they work to make your book its best); and making a plan to publicize the book, including hiring a publicist if necessary.

Like all For Dummies® books, Writing Children's Books For Dummies highlights "The Part of Tens," which includes the Ten Best Ways to Promote Your Story and More Than Ten Great Sources for Storylines. And the ever-helpful Cheat Sheet includes Tips for Editing your Children's Book Manuscript, Children's Book No-No's, Twelve Commandments for Writing Younger Children's Books, and Tips on Promotion.

From setting down that first word on paper to doing a successful publicity tour, Writing Children's Books For Dummies gives you the confidence and the insiders' know-how to write and sell the story you've always wanted to write.

Part I

The ABCs of Writing for Children

In this part . . .

The world of children’s books can be a bewildering and foreign place for the aspiring author. The diversity of this world’s products — and customers — is unequaled in any other corner of the publishing world. In this part, we provide you with a broad overview of the world of children’s books. After covering the basics, we take a very detailed look at all the different formats of children’s books — from board books to chapter books to young adult novels, and much more — and delve deeply into the children’s book market.

Chapter 1

The Basics of Writing Children’s Books

In This Chapter

Defining the children’s book world

Getting into the writing process

Creating a story that children clamor for

Polishing your book until it squeaks

Publishing and promoting your book

F or many, dreams of writing a children’s book remain just that — dreams — because they soon find out that writing a really good children’s book is hard. Not only that, but actually getting a children’s book published is even harder. If you don’t know the conventions and styles, if you don’t speak the lingo, if you don’t have someone to advocate for your work, or if you don’t come across professionally, you’ll be hard pressed to get your manuscript read and considered, much less published.

We wrote this book to help you as you go through the process of writing your children’s book and getting it published. In many of the chapters, we provide insightful, candid interviews with publishing pros who answer common questions with incredible candor and honesty and, often, a great sense of humor.

Every bestselling children’s book author started with a story idea — just like yours. Many of today’s most successful writers were rejected time after time, until they finally found someone who liked what they saw and decided to take a chance. Follow your dreams. Never give up. When your children’s book is published one day, we’ll be cheering for you.

Knowing Your Format and Audience

Before you do anything else, figure out what kind of children’s book you’re writing (or want to write). Manuscripts are published in several tried-and-true formats, with new ones being developed every year. Formats involve the physical characteristics of a book: page count, trim size (width and height), whether it’s color or black and white, has lots of pictures or lots of words, or is hardcover or softcover. There are also lots of genres your book may (or may not) fall into. So, figuring out your format and genre will help you determine exactly how to write your book — see Chapter 2 for more.

You also need to ask yourself: Who is my audience? Believe it or not, children isn’t the correct answer. Children of a particular age bracket, say newborn to age 2, or ages 3 to 8 may come closer to defining the target age you’re trying to reach, but are they really the ones who buy your book? Because books are ushered through the process by grown-ups — edited by editors, categorized by publishers, pushed by sales reps, shelved and sold by booksellers, and most often purchased by parents and other adults — your audience is more complicated than you may think. In Chapter 3, we tell you all about the different people you need to impress before you get your book in the hands of children.

Getting to a Good Writing Zone

If you thought you could just grab a pen and paper and jump right in to writing, you’re right! But you also may want to consider what will happen when your life starts to intrude on your writing time. How do you work around the children needing to be fed and your desk being buried under mounds of bills and old homework? How do you figure out when it’s best to write? In Chapter 4, we talk about finding a space of your own for writing and making that space conducive to productivity and creativity. We also emphasize the importance of making a writing schedule and sticking to it.

After you figure out how to get to work, you have to decide what you’re going to write about. Coming up with an interesting idea for a story isn’t necessarily as easy as you may think. In Chapter 5, we provide lots of ways to boot up your idea factory and get you started. If you get stuck, we also have ways to get you unstuck.

As soon as you’ve got your good idea, you’ll want to get out for a little bit and research. Every good book is built on a good idea and good research to make sure the idea fits with the audience. We cover the hows and whys of researching your audience, of figuring out what children like and what is important in the lives, and then researching the topic itself in Chapter 6.

Transforming Yourself into a Storyteller

Children’s books are all about great, memorable characters. Whether it’s a child who can fly, a big, bad wolf, a boy and a slave floating down the Mississippi River, or a smelly green ogre, characters are the heart and soul of children’s books. So how can you create characters who jump off the page and into your readers’ hearts? And how do you make sure they have a supporting cast that does what they are supposed to do? In Chapter 7 we delve into how to build and flesh out great characters and how to avoid stereotyping and other typical pitfalls. We even add some exercises that help you practice your character-building skills.

What exactly is a plot, and how does one figure out what constitutes a beginning, a middle, and an end? And what the heck is a step sheet and will it help you structure your story? That’s the territory of Chapter 8, where we talk about conflict, climax, and resolution and how to get started on that all-important first draft.

We then provide some tips and step-by-step advice for writing good dialogue for your characters to make sure that they sound as realistic (and as age appropriate) as you intended them to be. We also look at ways to keep them sounding different from one another. All that can be found in Chapter 9.

One way to engage young readers is to write about people they can relate to and set your story in places that intrigue them. We give you some pointers on how to really create interesting settings that ground your story in a particular context and draw in your reader in Chapter 10.

Many writers find joy in using words as their own little playthings (we know we do). Word play, rhyming, rhythm — the music inherent in words well matched — is indeed exciting to read and even more fun to write. Children delight in poetry and music. If you’ve forgotten just what makes a youngster giggle out of control, we use Chapter 11 to remind you what children of different ages find hilarious. We also discuss how to choose and stick to a consistent point of view while creating a tone that works for you.

We wrap up this section with an in-depth look at writing creative nonfiction (true) stories or a how-to book. Chapter 12 is chock-full of good advice on jump-starting that nonfiction project by choosing a kid-friendly topic, organizing your ideas into a comprehensive outline or plan, and fleshing out your ideas with all the right research.

Polishing Your Gem and Getting It Ready to Send

After you’ve written your first (or tenth) draft, you may be ready for the rewriting or editing process. Rewriting and editing aren’t just exercises to go through step-by-step; they are processes in which the writer gets to know his story inside and out. Characters are fleshed out, the story is honed and sharpened, the pacing is fine-tuned, and the writing is buffed and polished. In Chapter 13, we guide you through the steps of rewriting and editing, addressing in detail how to fix everything from dialogue issues to awkward writing, advising when to adhere to the rules of grammar (and when it’s okay not to), and giving you a few simple questions to ask yourself that will make the process much smoother and less complicated. The chapter also gives you editing tips from the pros and tells you how they work with their writers to help them make their books the best they can be.

Perhaps you’ve been through the writing and rewriting and editing processes and are ready to push your duckling story out into the pond and see if she’ll swim. Your work is about to encounter a lot of professional publishing folks, and first impressions carry a lot of weight. In Chapter 13, we also talk about how to format your work before you send it out, taking care to make it look as professional and enticing as possible.

And what about illustrations? Should you illustrate your book yourself or should you partner with or hire an illustrator to create the pictures you envision to complement and enhance your manuscript? The answers may surprise you. In Chapter 14, we address illustrations and illustrators, how to find them, and how to work with them.

Often in the process of rewriting and editing their work, writers find that they need another set of eyes to confirm (or reject) their thoughts about their manuscript. You may have general questions such as, “Is this really final or does it need work?” You may have specific questions about your characters or your storyline. To help you feel less alone, we include a chapter on joining the children’s book writing community, whether you join (or start) a local writers’ group, go to book writer’s conferences, or go back to school. Chapter 15 gives you the scoop on feedback of all types. We want you to be aware of what these specific events, venues, and services can and should offer you before you take the plunge and pull out your checkbook (or your typed and double-spaced manuscript).

Submitting, Selling, and Promoting Your Book

All dressed up and lots of places to go! What a marvelous place to be: You have a well-written, carefully edited, perfectly formatted manuscript that you are ready to launch on its first (or seventeenth) journey out into the big, bad world of agents and publishers. But what in the heck are you supposed to do next?

In Chapter 16, we talk about where you start looking for someone who will best represent your interests and do all the photocopying, cover-letter writing, submitting, tracking, and negotiating on your behalf. An agent can be a necessary and welcome addition to your family of writing supporters, and the good ones are well worth the 15 ...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : The ABCs of Writing for Children
• Chapter 1: The Basics of Writing Children’s Books
• Chapter 2: Children’s Book Formats and Genres
• Chapter 3: Understanding the Children’s Book Market
• Part II : Immersing Yourself in the Writing Process
• Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Workspace
• Chapter 5: Starting with a Great Idea
• Chapter 6: Researching Your Audience and Subject
• Part III : Creating a Spellbinding Story
• Chapter 7: Creating Compelling Characters
• Chapter 8: The Plot Thickens: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution
• Chapter 9: Can We Talk? Writing Dialogue
• Chapter 10: Setting the Scene
• Chapter 11: Finding Your Voice: Point of View and Tone
• Chapter 12: Writing Creative Nonfiction and How-To Books
• Part IV : Making Your Story Shine
• Chapter 13: Editing and Formatting Your Way to a Happy Ending
• Chapter 14: To Illustrate or Not to Illustrate
• Chapter 15: Finding Feedback and Encouragement
• Part V : Getting Published and Promoting Your Book
• Chapter 16: Getting an Agent to Represent You
• Chapter 17: Finding the Perfect Publisher and Signing a Contract
• Chapter 18: Following the Publishing Process
• Chapter 19: Donning Your Publicity Cap
• Part VI : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 20: More than Ten Great Sources for Storylines
• Chapter 21: Ten Best Ways to Promote Your Story