From bud to full flower takes its own time.
So you want to
write a children's book?
As a publisher, I subscribe to a lot of book publishing
and marketing newsletters.
Yesterday, I received the following email from two of
those newsletters:
Ever wanted to write a children’s book?
If so, publishing your work as an e-book on Amazon’s
Kindle platform is a great way to go
– and now is a great time to get started.
The children's e-book market is up 475% this year alone,
which makes it one of the fastest-growing book categories
on Amazon.
Plus, once you know a simple formula, children’s books
are one of the easiest types of books to write.
To discover how to get started writing and publishing
your own children’s e-books,
Steve interviewed an author who wrote a silly little
26-page Kindle children’s book
in less than seven days, which, more than two years
later,
still produces more than $1,000 in royalties each month!
The idea that anyone can write a children's book using a
"simple formula" is offensive
and misleading. Writing a good children's book is not
easy, it's hard!
It takes dedication, hard work and a willingness to
educate yourself about children's writing.
A common misconception is that writing for children is easy,
A common misconception is that writing for children is easy,
because the writing in children's books appears simple.
But that simplicity is deceptive; it takes skill and
experience to know
how to write for children in a way that's appealing
without talking down to them.
Writing good children's books is harder than writing good
adult books.
That book your children beg you to read every night?
It was probably the result of many rounds of edits trying
to get exactly the right words
and the right tone. Of course, good adult writers do the
same thing,
but they don't have to agonize over every word, every
sentence the way children's writers do.
Simplicity is hard! Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is one of the most well-known
Simplicity is hard! Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is one of the most well-known
and beloved children’s writers. The seemingly simple
rhyming text of his stories
has fooled many writers into thinking that it’s easy to
write such books,
but Geisel labored over each book, writing and rewriting,
sometimes for a year or more.
Encouraging people to write a "silly little" children's book using a "simple formula"
Encouraging people to write a "silly little" children's book using a "simple formula"
does no one a service, least of all the writers
themselves.
The marketing copy above leads people to believe that
fame and riches are just around the corner
and easy to achieve, when in reality
nothing could be further from the truth.
There are thousands of new children's books published
every year,
probably even more than that when you count all the
self-published books.
Many of those will languish in obscurity, many others
will sell a decent number of copies
and sit solidly midlist, and very few will sell a large
number of copies.
I personally know many, many children's authors, both
traditionally published
and self-published, and very few are getting rich.
(Actually, I don't think any of my author friends are
rich. If you are, let's talk!)
If you want to write a children's book, great! I admire anyone who pours their heart,
If you want to write a children's book, great! I admire anyone who pours their heart,
soul, time, and effort into writing a book. But don't do
it in expectation of making money.
Yes, you might get lucky like the author mentioned in the
ad above, but that's the exception,
not the rule, and unless you are very, very lucky you
won't achieve that.
There is no magic formula that guarantees success -
believe me, if there were,
the big publishers would be using it! If you're going to
write for children, do it for love,
not for money. For most authors I know, the letters they
receive from children
mean much more than the royalty check.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money from
your writing, but if you go into it
with that as your primary goal, there's a good chance
that you're in for disappointment.
As a book blogger and Cybils Awards organizer/judge, I'm active in the children's book blogging community. Self-published books have developed a bad reputation in the community,
As a book blogger and Cybils Awards organizer/judge, I'm active in the children's book blogging community. Self-published books have developed a bad reputation in the community,
and many bloggers now have review policies that exclude
self- or indie published books.
For years, I've advocated for indie publishing among my
peers.
Authors self-publish for many reasons, and
self-publishing by itself is not an indicator
of the level of quality. Self-publishing gives a
voice to those who are disenfranchised
by the traditional publishing industry. As one of
the leaders of the Cybils Awards,
I continually advocate to keep self-published books
eligible and judged fairly and impartially.
There are excellent self-published books,
and a few have even been finalists or winners in the
Cybils Awards.
But I sometimes feel that advocating for self-publishing is an uphill battle,
But I sometimes feel that advocating for self-publishing is an uphill battle,
when for every excellent book there are hundreds of
others that are poorly done.
People like Steve Harrison are making the situation worse
by encouraging people
to take the easy road, to produce more dreck that will
further drag down
the reputation of self-publishing. Not only that, but it
misleads authors
to believe that there is an easy road to success. There
is no easy road that guarantees success!
You might get lucky, but then, someone wins the
Publishers Clearing House, too.
If you want to write a children's book, go for it! But rather than looking for easy formulas, take the time to learn what makes a good children's book. To start with, read a great many children's books. (If you have children, this isn't hard!) Read them critically, with an eye to what works well and what doesn't. (I've learned so much about children's books from nearly ten years of reviewing them for the blog, and nine years of being a Cybils judge). Read books about writing children's books. Take classes from reputable institutions or teachers. Join the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and your regional chapter of it. Attend writing conferences. Join or form a critique group. Check out any potential agents, publishers, promotional companies, contests, and more on the excellent Preditors and Editors.
One of my good friends, Anne Boles Levy, has her first book coming out in August, a YA fantasy published by independent publisher Sky Pony Press. For Anne, it's been at least a fifteen year journey: writing, editing, revising, and submitting the book. Anne works regularly with a critique group that includes multiple award-winning authors; I believe that the group has been working together since before any of them were published. During that fifteen years, in addition to writing Anne also invested a lot of time into things that helped her to be known in the children's book community: blogging, attending conferences, and even founding a children's book award. None of that guarantees any good reviews, of course, but it does mean that Anne has a better than average chance of getting bloggers to take a look at it. I haven't yet seen the book (although I can't wait!) but I assume that all the work she put into writing it has paid off in the form of an excellent book.
Now, I'm not saying that everyone needs to invest fifteen years. That's a lot of time to wait to achieve your dreams. But I am saying that true success does not come overnight in most cases, and if you want to succeed, you need dedication, perseverance, hard work, and a willingness to learn.
Don’t give in to the siren call of get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, invest your time and money in learning the craft and trade of children’s writing and publishing.
If you want to write a children's book, go for it! But rather than looking for easy formulas, take the time to learn what makes a good children's book. To start with, read a great many children's books. (If you have children, this isn't hard!) Read them critically, with an eye to what works well and what doesn't. (I've learned so much about children's books from nearly ten years of reviewing them for the blog, and nine years of being a Cybils judge). Read books about writing children's books. Take classes from reputable institutions or teachers. Join the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and your regional chapter of it. Attend writing conferences. Join or form a critique group. Check out any potential agents, publishers, promotional companies, contests, and more on the excellent Preditors and Editors.
One of my good friends, Anne Boles Levy, has her first book coming out in August, a YA fantasy published by independent publisher Sky Pony Press. For Anne, it's been at least a fifteen year journey: writing, editing, revising, and submitting the book. Anne works regularly with a critique group that includes multiple award-winning authors; I believe that the group has been working together since before any of them were published. During that fifteen years, in addition to writing Anne also invested a lot of time into things that helped her to be known in the children's book community: blogging, attending conferences, and even founding a children's book award. None of that guarantees any good reviews, of course, but it does mean that Anne has a better than average chance of getting bloggers to take a look at it. I haven't yet seen the book (although I can't wait!) but I assume that all the work she put into writing it has paid off in the form of an excellent book.
Now, I'm not saying that everyone needs to invest fifteen years. That's a lot of time to wait to achieve your dreams. But I am saying that true success does not come overnight in most cases, and if you want to succeed, you need dedication, perseverance, hard work, and a willingness to learn.
Don’t give in to the siren call of get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, invest your time and money in learning the craft and trade of children’s writing and publishing.
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Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com
gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of
life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com
which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
To quote the Dr Seuss
himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn;
the more places you'll go.”
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