|
Your ad placed
here. See the Ad Rates
page for both the web site and newsletter rates.
Contests,
grants, markets that pay writers may list at no charge...as long as they pay.
Send to Hope.
| |
Exploring New Markets in Children’s Writing
By Christine Dixon
Many writers trying to break into writing for children focus
on fiction. This is such a highly competitive market, even for
published and agented writers. But what many writers may not
have considered is the nonfiction market for children.
Not only are nonfiction books gaining popularity, there is
room for more creative approaches to nonfiction. Some publishers
refer to this as creative nonfiction, or narrative nonfiction.
Gone are the days when non-fiction for children had to be
boring and just a presentation of facts. Children love stories,
and presenting information to them creatively has made children’s
nonfiction a genre that is continually gaining popularity.
What is creative nonfiction? This form of nonfiction is still
factually based, but is written in a style that reads more like
fiction, paying attention to literary style. In essence, a
creative nonfiction or narrative nonfiction book is a story
that will capture a child’s interest, delivering facts in the
story and possibly also as sidebars.
One of the benefits of writing this type of book is that once
you have proven yourself to a publisher, you may open yourself
up to assignments for further books in the future. Often
nonfiction is developed in-house. This means that the publisher
comes up with the idea, and then looks for a writer who they
feel they can work with, and who they know will deliver a
premium manuscript.
As with fiction books for children, an excellent way to build
writing credits is to sell to magazines. Children’s magazines
are always looking for good nonfiction. One of the benefits of
writing for children’s magazines first is that you build a
writer’s resume of samples. Many nonfiction publishers will
look at your samples to determine if they might hire you to
write nonfiction for them.
Nonfiction books for children are either published by trade
publishers who sell to the general public by traditional outlets
such as bookstores and online, or by educational publishers who
sell to schools, libraries and other educational markets.
Nonfiction books for children have many prestigious awards
associated with the genre, including The Orbis Pictus Award
for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, awarded by the
National Council of Teachers of English; The Washington
Post – Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award; The Horn Book
Award, one of the most prestigious awards in children’s
literature; and the American Library Association who awards
the Robert F. Sibert for an informational book for children.
Children’s nonfiction is a highly respectable, interesting
and worthwhile genre for children’s authors to consider,
especially if being creative, researching, learning and
having fun while writing sounds like a great way to make a
living.
There are many children’s book publishers who are interested
in reading nonfiction submissions. The following three
publishers are a great place to start.
BEARPORT PUBLISHING
http://www.bearportpublishing.com/
They publish primary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction and
high interest nonfiction for grades K-6. They do not publish
individual titles but books that are part of a larger series.
If you have ideas or suggestions for a new series, please
e-mail them to
asiegel@bearportpublishing.com along with
your resume and writing samples (ideally nonfiction for
grades K-6).
ABRAMS BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS & AMULET BOOKS
http://www.abramsbooks.com/
They accept nonfiction manuscripts, including nonfiction
picture books. Please send nonfiction submissions along
with your biographical information (what makes you
qualified to write on the subject).
CAT’S PYJAMAS
http://www.catspyjamasbooks.com/index.html
They publish fiction and nonfiction books for children.
Their nonfiction looks to be series-based. Please email
digital samples to:
mail@catspyjamasbooks.com and enter
the subject as EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS
BIO
Christine Dixon is a freelance writer, food & drink magazine
columnist, a book publishing student at Ryerson University,
and has just started Cottage Country Press.
http://www.cottagecountrypress.com
| |
A Carolina Slade Mystery
www.chopeclark.com
Personal one-to-one tuition in story writing success
by a PhD in creative writing.
Writer's Digest 101 Best
Websites for Writers - 2001-2011
The famous Bylines Desk
Calendar is out for 2012. Get your now to manage your writing year right.
|
