I have always been curious about writing books but I have no clue how it's done? Could anyone tell me about the process of writing or getting published? What about kids book? Do you need an illustrator or just the writing?
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I'm in the same boat - want to write a kids book but not sure where to begin. My husband got me two books that have some good resources:
Writing Children's Books by Luke Wallin
Publish your Book by Patricia Fry -
My mom is an artist who has also illustrated and written a couple of published children’s books. Children’s books are a VERY HARD market to break into. It is not easy at all to get a children’s book published.
Generally your publisher will select the illustrator, unless you do both (and even then, they still might elect a different illustrator).
There are really specific word counts and guidelines for all the categories of children’s lit (picture books to middle and high YA), and each publisher has different submission guidelines so it takes a lot of time and work to prepare each submission.
Many publishers will not read your manuscript unless it is submitted to them by an agent – and finding a good agent is hard, especially if you’ve never been published before. An agent also, of course, takes a cut of any future profits you might make.
You will have to submit and resubmit your book a ton of times….which can be an emotionally defeating process.
You can also self-publish, but it’s expensive because you need to do paper vs. e-books (since more child read paper than on an e-reader), find and pay an illustrator and market and sell your book yourself.
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I work with an educational non profit. They hire outside writers to write stories for them. These aren't books being sold in Barnes and Noble, but they are being read by children in schools across America. So that's another avenue to explore!
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I don't have anything to add to this post except Yay! I hope you write the book.
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@Mrs. Train: I'm working on a children's book now as well! We can compare notes...
Here's a great guide to the process of working through a publisher (although in this case, the author has a successful website and a bestseller already on her hands, so she has a lot more control over the process than usual):
http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2011/04/twenty-steps-to-writing-a-childrens-book/It's a different process than self-publishing, but both processes cover a lot of the same steps!
A lot of people also swear by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators:
http://www.scbwi.org/ -
I'm a writer (don't have a book published yet, but I am a published writer). I have lots of friends who have published books both fiction & non-fiction though I don't know much about children's books. If you have more questions let me know.
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I worked as a publicist for one of the major publishers, though in the adult division. All I can say about publishing in general is that it's an industry on the decline and so, breaking into it can be extremely difficult.
In my experience, the publishers that I'm familiar with would never read a manuscript that they haven't received directly from an agent. In fact, I remember receiving lots of pitches and manuscripts from people and we were instructed to put them directly in the trash
So I would say that submitting something to an agent is your first step. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. It's a tough industry, but of course it's not impossible!
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@fancyfunction: Thank you, I will look into those.
@yoursilverlining: Thank you so much for answering. I have heard it often that is it a daunting task to get published and it really scares me.
@Happygal: Interesting I haven't heard of a company like that. If a book is really popular in that area could it then be taken to a mainstream publisher or do you simply sell your stories to them and then its done?
@mrbee: I didn't know you were writing one. How cool. We will definitely have to share notes! How far into the process are you?
@mrsjazz: Thank you I have so many questions at this point I almost don't know what to ask. Let me get a few thought out and then I will message you.
@meredithNYC: Putting them in the trash just seems so heart breaking. I will message you a little later once I get it fgured out what I need to ask.
@Maysprout: Thank you, that really means a lot to me. -
@Mrs. Train: If you write a story for an ed. publishing group, like Scholastic, they own that story. It's not the route to go if you have a specific book in mind, but it does connect you to people in the publishing industry and is a rewarding process!
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Check out Blurb! You would have to have an illustrator already but you can publish your own book there and then sell it thru them!
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Agree with meredithnyc....an agent is the best way to go. You CAN send directly to a publisher, but your story goes into the "slush pile" and *maybe* some low-level intern with no real pull will read it and love it and pass it along. But even if they love it, it means very little. They have to get one of the higher ups to read it and love it as well.
It's not impossible for a book to be taken from the slush pile..the Newberry winning book in 2008 was written by a librarian (yay!) and was picked from the slush pile. It was called "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz--published by Candlewick.
So, in my line of work (I'm on a couple of book committees that give awards to YA books so I get to meet authors at publisher dinners sometimes) I see authors get asked this a lot--like, how they got started. And they almost ALL say, the most important step is...writing the book(s). 99% of people in the world feel like they can write a book but it's probably 1% that has the patience to sit down and do it and only 1% of those who actually have the talent/connections to get picked up.
And then of course....not to sound negative, but the reality is even if you DO get published, you might not make any money and the publisher will drop you. That even happens with the most popular authors if they have a couple books in a row that don't sell. That's just the reality of it.
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For children's books...unless you are an author/illustrator, the publisher will want to dictate the illustrator that does your picture book. You won't really have a choice in the matter.
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@Happygal: thank you. I am going to look into that option as well
@Mamaof2: thank you, I thought blurb just did things like photo books but I will look at that too.
@Anagram: thank you. I know I have heard so many people say they want to write a book and it just never happens. Do you think part of that is because the first thing people say is "it's so hard to get published." I was wondering about money too. Like is your kids book really just a labor of love that you get to see come to life or do most average first time authors actually make money. Thanks again for your input!
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