How To Write Books for Children

All stories start with an idea. Let's assume you have a great idea for a children's picture book and you want to get it down on paper. Before you write, do some research. Visit Amazon.com or other bookstore sites and see if your idea has been written about before. If so--who published the book? Can you make your book idea different enough from the competition but similar enough to entice an editor? Is there a glut of similar ideas out there? If so, your great idea might be a difficult sell to a publisher. The more you know about the markets, the easier it will be to write your story AND to sell it.

Formatting 101. The more you know about submitting a manuscript to a book editor, the better. Formatting your manuscript is vital to at least getting the editor to read your story. If you are a writer but not an illustrator, this is okay. You may submit just the text of a story to a publisher. In fact, if you dabble in illustration, it's probably best not to send any illustrations with your story. Editors are turned off by writers who have minimal experience in illustration. They work with illustrators they know and have past experience with. Illustrators almost always need to be professionals who have illustrated children's stories and books before and have been paid for it. So, I'll assume you are a writer only:

• Make sure your manuscript is double-spaced.
• Start the first page of your manuscript halfway down the page. Every other page, text should start at the top.
• Don't use fancy font or colored paper--12 pt. font, Times New Roman or Courier are the accepted choices.
• Don't lay out the text the way you think it should be laid out in a 32-page picture book. The editor doesn't want to receive 32 pages of minimal text and white space. Cover pages are not necessary for picture book manuscripts--novels, yes.
• Make sure your name, address, word count, target age and date are at the top of your first page.
• Make sure you number your pages and your name is in the header.

Know your reader. You have a good idea about the markets. You see that there is a need for a story like yours and are excited about it. Have you thought about your reader? Who is the reader? What is the target age? Picture books generally are for children ages 4-8, but story picture books can be for children a bit older, 6-10 years old.

Picture books for the very young let the illustrations tell most of the story. Text is generally kept to a minimum. Story picture books tend to have more text, while the illustrations complement the text. My story picture book, The Falling Flowers, is a good example of a story picture book. At 800 words, the text tells the story while the beautiful illustrations, done by Dick Cole, complement the words. The main character in my book is about 6 years old, and a young girl, and the target age and reader is 6-10 year old girls. Do a word count on your text only. If you have more than 1500 words, it may be very difficult to sell your manuscript to a picture book editor. Do you know the target age of your story? Who will your readers be?

Edit your story! Editing is crucial to writing a solid and salable story. Many people think that because a story is so short, it doesn't need editing. Wrong! I edited my picture book, The Falling Flowers, for nearly seven years before it was sold. I did submit it during that time and got a lot of good feedback from editors and fellow writers. Each time it came back, I was able to make changes until I found an editor who loved it and published it. Verla Kay, a well-known children's author, also edited her manuscript over the course of several years before selling her first picture book, Gold Fever. Her total text was under 100 words.

When editing, read your story out loud. Do sections sound or feel choppy? Do you stumble over certain areas? Remember that most picture books will be read to a young child and it's important to find and clean up rough areas. Look for wordy words (like, just, really, to, and, began to, was/were) and delete them. There is a much longer list of these words, too!

Can you "see" the pictures? You can make a "dummy" of your book! Some writers do this by laying out their words in a picture book format. Never submit your work this way to an editor, but it is to give you an idea if your story will truly work as a picture book, or say, a magazine story. Another way to tell is to count each scene or place you can "see" an illustration. In a 32-page book, all the pages will have illustrations. Some will have one big illustration on the two-page spread. You need to be able to "see" the illustrations--at least 16 of them. Go through your manuscript and number each place you "see" an illustration. If you come out with fewer than 16, your story might work better for a magazine. Remember, too, that as an author, you really shouldn't make suggestions in your manuscript about what you envision for illustrations. It's annoying to most editors, who may love your story and picture very different illustrations than what you see. This is a risk you take in writing and submitting a picture book. Once your book is accepted and you get to know the editor better, you can discuss your ideas, but don't initially!

Know your markets. Above in step 1, I suggested that you know your markets well. I usually do a lot of market research before I even write a story, but sometimes the story seems so good, it's important to get it down on paper before you forget! However, solid market research is vital to being published. The more you know about the markets, the easier it is to write for them. Start by investing in a book market guide. Writer's Digest puts them out each year. This is the "bible" to children's writing and publishing. It's called the Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market Guide and has all the up-to-date listings of publishers, their terms, guidelines, and so on. But also important is to read books published by these publishers. Visit their websites. Look at their catalogs and get a good feel of what they publish, their style, tone, formats and so on. Also do some research on current school curriculums, and the reading needs at schools and libraries. Don't be afraid to talk to the librarian in the children's section and ask questions relating to children's publishing.

The importance of a cover letter. You've edited your story for the umpteenth time and you feel confident that it's where it needs to be. You've done the market research and have made a list of publishers to submit your story to. Your story is formatted properly--now all you need is a cover letter to accompany your letter. This should be short and to the point. Editors don't like to read long letters--keep it to one page. Give a brief synopsis of your story. Make sure the title, the word count and the target age are in your letter and also why your story would make a good fit with this particular publisher. And, add a little bit of information about yourself. Why did you write this story? What inspired you to write it? Do you write professionally? If so, where else have you been published? But whatever you say, don't tell them that your children or students love your story! Of course they will, that's obvious and editors know this. It doesn't matter if they love it--what matters is whether the editor loves your story enough to spend thousands of dollars on it.

Don't quit, submit! Submit your story. Most picture book manuscripts will fit nicely in a #10 envelope including a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope). Don't forget your SASE! If it's longer, a 5X7 manila envelope will do, or a 9X12. So, your baby is off being read by strangers. Don't sit around and wait for the reply. Continue editing and searching for markets to send your story to. And, why not start a new story? The more you have to work on, the more you will have to submit.

In one sense, getting published is like a numbers game. Luck has nothing to do with it--hard work does. Well-known author, Eileen Spinelli once told me that the key to getting published is not necessarily having a great story, but having a story that fits the particular needs of a publisher. Perseverance--that is what this business is all about! Remember, too, that most authors, if not all (even famous ones) get rejection letters. It's just part of the game!