Writing Children's Books For Dummies

Everything aspiring authors need to write, publish, and sell a children's book 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 But is it actually possible for an unpublished writer—armed with a good story idea and a love of kids—to write, sell, publish, and promote a book?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! Clearly and concisely written with straightforward advice and a plethora of specific up-to-date recommendations, Writing Children's Books For Dummies provides step-by-step information on everything aspiring children's book authors need to know—from researching the current marketplace to developing story ideas, strengthening writing skills, dealing with editors, and submitting proposals and manuscripts to agents and publishers. Updated and improved writing exercises All new content on social media and establishing an online presence as an author Fresh, updated content on publishing via hard copy and all the e- platforms 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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You’re Not to Read 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 How This Book Is Organized 3 Part I: The ABCs of Writing for Children 3 Part II: Immersing Yourself in the Writing Process 3 Part III: Creating a Spellbinding Story 3 Part IV: Making Your Story Sparkle 3 Part V: Getting Published and Promoting Your Book 4 Part VI: The Part of Tens 4 Icons Used in This Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part I: The ABCs of Writing for Children 5 Chapter 1: Exploring the Basics of Writing Children’s Books 7 Knowing Your Format and Audience 8 Getting into a Good Writing Zone 8 Transforming Yourself into a Storyteller 9 Polishing Your Gem and Getting It Ready to Send 9 Selling Your Story 10 Promoting Your Book 11 Chapter 2: Delving into Children’s Book Formats and Genres 13 Understanding Children’s Book Categories and Formats 13 Baby and Toddler Friendly: Books with Pictures 16 Board books 16 Picture books 18 Other books with pictures 21 Working through Books with Lots of Words 27 Early readers 27 First chapter books 29 Middle-grade books 30 Young adult books 32 Exploring the Genres 36 Science fiction 37 Fantasy 37 Horror and ghost stories 39 Action/adventure 39 True stories 39 Historical fiction 40 Biography 41 Learning/educational 42 Religion and diversity 43 Gender-oriented series books 43 Licensed character series books and books into brands 45 Chapter 3: Understanding the Children’s Book Market 49 Getting Insight into Book Buyers 52 For chain and big-box bookstores 52 For independent bookstores 53 Recognizing What Reviewers Offer 56 Discovering What Librarians Add to the Mix 56 Taking a Look at Teachers 60 Considering Parents’ Perspectives 62 Thinking Like a Kid 63 Going after what kids like — regardless of Mom and Dad 63 Knowing what kids don’t like 64 Part II: Immersing Yourself in the Writing Process 65 Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Workspace 67 Finding Time to Write 67 Figuring out when you’re most productive 67 Sticking to a writing schedule 68 Evaluating whether you’re a one-shot wonder or a committed writer 69 Optimizing Your Writing Environment 69 Locating your special writing spot 69 Getting organized 70 Preventing and dealing with interruptions 71 Chapter 5: Starting with a Great Idea 73 Once Upon a Time: Coming Up with an Idea 73 Relying on specific ideas rather than big ones 74 Tapping into your own experiences 75 Drawing from other children’s experiences 77 Pulling ideas from the world around you 78 Stumped? Break through with Brainstorming 78 Going it all by yourself 79 Giving free association a whirl 80 Taking up free-form or structured journaling 80 Buddying up to the buddy system 82 Asking the advice of a writing teacher or classmates 83 Seeking help from your audience 84 Heading back to school 86 Fighting Writer’s Block 86 Chapter 6: Researching Your Audience and Subject 89 Hanging Out with Kids 90 Go back to school 90 Become a storyteller 92 Borrow a friend’s child for a day 94 Dipping into Popular Culture 96 Watching kids’ TV shows and movies 96 Playing kid-focused digital games 97 Reading parenting and family magazines and blogs 98 Flipping through pop culture magazines 98 Surfing the Web 99 Browsing bookstores 100 Visiting children’s stores online or in person 101 Studying kids’ fashion trends 101 Researching Your Nonfiction Topic 102 Outlining the research process 102 Get around locally 103 Go far afield 104 Visit the Web — a lot 105 Have an expert look over your work 105 Part III: Creating a Spellbinding Story 107 Chapter 7: Creating Compelling Characters 109 The Secret Formula for an Exceptional Main Character 110 Defining your main character’s driving desire 110 Fleshing out your main character to show readers her driving desire 111 Getting to Know Your Characters through Dialogue 112 Making a Character Bible 114 Surveying a sample character bible 116 Creating consistency 118 Writing Stories with Two or More Main Characters 119 Choosing Supporting Characters 120 Calling All Character Arcs 122 Character Don’ts — and How to Avoid Them 124 Steer clear of stereotypes 124 Show your character in action 126 Toss out passivity and indefinites 127 Don’t rely on backstory or flashbacks 128 Developing Characters through Writing Exercises 129 Describe your first best friend 129 Borrow your favorite children’s book characters 130 Chapter 8: The Plot Thickens: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution 131 Remembering That It’s All about Action 132 Centering on the Story 133 Making Sure You Have a Beginning, Middle, and End 134 Using Drama and Pacing to Propel Your Story Forward 134 Drama: A reason to turn the page 135 Pacing: How you keep the pages turning 135 Outlining Tools to Structure Your Plot 136 Creating a step sheet 137 Fleshing out your outline 138 Knowing when to circumvent an outline 141 Preventing Plot Problems 141 Writing Your First Draft 142 Chapter 9: Can We Talk? Writing Dialogue 143 The Fundamentals of Good Dialogue 144 Dialogue has a function 144 Dialogue has drama 146 Listening to Real-World Dialogue 147 How kids talk 147 How grown-ups talk 149 Adding a Speech Section to Your Character Bible 149 Reading It Out Loud 150 Divulging Common Dialogue Mistakes 151 Failing to have conflict or tension 151 Repeating information 152 Describing dialogue 152 Using too many speaker references and attributions 153 Creating heavy-handed and unrealistic dialogue 154 Filling space with unnecessary dialogue 154 Improving Dialogue by Using Writing Exercises 155 Talking on paper 155 Introducing your first best friend to the love of your life 156 Chapter 10: Setting the Scene 157 Giving Context to Your Story and Its Characters with Scenery 157 Creating a Context Bible 158 Knowing When to Include Scenery and Context 159 When place figures prominently 160 When the place isn’t just incidental 161 When description of place doesn’t interrupt flow of action 162 When description of context adds something measurable 162 When you must mention an exotic locale 163 When beginning a novel and a specific place is mentioned 163 In a new scene where place is used to transition 164 Providing the Right Amount of Setting 164 Engaging Your Readers’ Senses 165 Knowing When Not to Make a Scene 166 Exercising Your Nose with a Smellography 167 Chapter 11: Finding Your Voice: Point of View and Tone 169 Building a Solid Point of View 170 Reviewing POV options 170 Picking your POV 171 Matching tense with POV 173 Having Fun with Words through Wordplay, Rhyming, and Rhythm 174 Engaging in wordplay 174 Taking different approaches to rhyming 176 Keeping your story moving with rhythm 177 Using Humor to Your Advantage 178 Figuring out what kids consider funny 179 Turning to the outrageous and the gross 182 The Mojo of Good Writing: Voice, Style, and Tone 182 Finding your story’s voice 184 Writing with style 185 Taking the right tone 185 You Know You Need a Voice Makeover When 186  you have more than one POV in a scene 186  you experience the anxiety of influence 186  you find your omniscient narrator battling one (or more) star 187  your story sounds monotonal 187 Helping Your Voice Emerge by Playing Pretend 187 Pretending to be someone else 188 Pretending you swallowed a magic potion that makes you only three feet tall 188 Chapter 12: Writing Creative Nonfiction Books 189 The Nonfiction Children’s Book World at a Glance 189 Writing a Nonfiction Masterpiece 191 Choosing a Great Topic 193 Looking at topics that get kids’ attention 193 Finding topics that interest you 194 Branching out into the real world 195 Testing your topic 196 Outlining Your Creative Nonfiction 197 Starting simple 198 Fleshing out your ideas 199 Enhancing your outline with visual aids 200 Presenting Common Creative Nonfiction Mistakes (And Fixes) 201 Writing Exercises for Creative Nonfiction 201 Pretend you’re a newspaper reporter 201 Create a funny five-step procedure to wash a dog 202 Part IV: Making Your Story Sparkle 205 Chapter 13: Editing and Formatting Your Way to a Happy Ending 207 Your Revising Checklist 208 Theme 208 Characters 209 Plot 209 Pacing and drama 210 Setting and context 211 Point of view 211 Recognizing the Power of a Good Edit 212 Editing Out Common Writing Traps 213 Strengthening your opening 214 Keeping your dialogue tight and on target 214 Transitioning effectively 215 Trimming wordiness 216 Keeping your chronologies in order 217 Removing assumptions 217 Formatting: First Impressions Matter 218 Including the proper information on the first page 218 Following children’s book formatting conventions 220 Presenting Your Pre-Submission Basic Grammar and Style Primer 221 Punctuation 222 Style 223 Miscellaneous 224 Hiring an Editor or Editorial Service 226 Finding a good editor or editorial service 227 Asking the right questions 229 Digital versus hardcopy edit 230 Chapter 14: Creating Pictures from Your Words: The World of Illustrations 233 To Illustrate or Not to Illustrate 233 Recognizing Why You Should NOT Hire an Illustrator 234 Walking through the Illustration Process 236 Starting with black-and-white pencil sketches 236 Moving on to finished pencils 237 Creating color art 239 Recognizing the importance of the right cover 239 Getting Your Art Seen by the Right Folks 241 Handling Art When You’re Self-Publishing 244 Chapter 15: Finding Feedback and Encouragement 249 Recognizing When to Seek Feedback 250 Getting Help from Friends and Relatives (or Not) 252 Delving into the pros and cons of friendly advice 253 Having a friend in the business 253 Attending Conferences or Retreats 254 Exploring the conference scene 254 Getting away with retreats 256 Participating in a Workshop 257 Working with a Writing (or Illustrating) Group 258 Finding the right group 259 Starting your own group 260 Sifting through the feedback you receive 261 Part V: Getting Published and Promoting Your Book 265 Chapter 16: Getting an Agent to Represent You 267 Defining the Perfect Agent — and His Not-So-Perfect Counterpart 267 Recognizing what good agents can do 268 Watching out for bad agents 269 Finding an Agent 270 Obtaining referrals 270 Researching your heart out 271 Attending conferences 272 Submitting Your Ideas to an Agency 272 Following submission guidelines 273 Standing out from the pack 274 Perfecting the query letter 274 Managing multiple submissions 277 Asking the Right Questions before Signing an Agency Contract 277 Understanding Typical Agency Agreements 278 Sizing up the standard terms and conditions 278 Distinguishing between exclusive and by-project services 280 Negotiating like a pro 281 Terminating Your Agency Relationship 282 Chapter 17: Finding the Perfect Publisher and Signing a Contract 283 Identifying the Right Publisher 283 Gathering information from the marketplace 285 Perusing writer’s guides and directories 285 Drafting Query Letters and Proposals 286 Copyright: Protecting Your Work Before You Send Anything 289 Success! Reviewing Your Publishing Contract 291 Surveying the two types of publishing agreements 291 Getting what you want in the contract 292 Dealing with Rejection 296 Chapter 18: So You Want to Self-Publish? 299 The Good and Bad News about Self-Publishing 300 Exploring Your Self-Publishing Options 302 The print route 303 The digital route 306 Setting a Price for Your Work 308 Distributing Your Book 309 Working with distributors 309 Getting in the door at traditional bookstores 310 Persuading online booksellers 311 Considering other places to sell your book 312 Chapter 19: Donning Your Publicity Cap 313 Understanding What Your Publisher Will Do to Promote Your Book 313 Publicizing Your Own Book 314 Focusing on the digital components 314 Touching on the traditional components 318 Promoting Your Work in Person 319 Planning a publicity tour 321 Joining the signing and reading circuit 322 Hiring a Publicist 322 Discovering what a publicist can do 322 Finding the right publicist 323 Getting the most for your money 325 Chapter 20: Getting Savvy with Social Media 327 Influencing the Influencers 327 The basics of influencing others 328 Understanding the different kinds of online influencers 329 Figuring out where online your influencers live 330 Knowing Where to Create a Social Media Presence 330 Blogs 330 Facebook 331 Twitter 331 YouTube 332 Pinterest 332 JacketFlap 333 Launching a Social Media Campaign 333 Reviewing the ABCs of a social media campaign 333 Surveying the unwritten rules of social media marketing 334 Applying search engine optimization 336 Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Campaign 336 Part VI: The Part of Tens 341 Chapter 21: More Than Ten Great Sources for Storylines 343 Tales of Yore 344 Fairy tales 344 Fables 345 Folk tales 345 Mythology and Mythological Heroes 346 Nursery Rhymes 346 Bible Stories 346 Sibling Issues 347 Family Changes 347 First Experiences 347 Common Childhood Fantasies 348 Friendship and Social Issues 348 Growing Pains (Emotional and Behavioral) 348 Bodies: Their Functions and Changes 349 History Makers and History in the Making 349 Nature, Science, Technology 349 Chapter 22: Ten Recognitions Children’s Authors Dream of Receiving 351 Newbery Medal 351 Caldecott Medal 351 Coretta Scott King Book Award 351 Printz Award 351 Belpré Medal 352 Geisel Award 352 Stonewall Book Award 352 Sibert Medal 352 ALA Quick Pick 352 Texas Bluebonnet Award 352 Index 353

About the Author :
Lisa Rojany Buccieri has written and ghostwritten more than 100 children's and grown-up's books, both fiction and nonfiction, including board books, picture books, and young adult series. Peter Economy is a bestselling author, coauthor, and ghostwriter of more than 55 books, including several For Dummies titles.