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Flying High: The right way to send off your children's book
By Harriet Cooper
Andrew, a client of mine, finally finished the children's adventure
book he started ten years ago. Over the last year, we'd added
adventure and interest to his writing by increasing tension,
decreasing back-story and using action rather than dialog tags.
The book was almost ready to fly.
I expected Andrew to make the final changes and then we'd tackle
his synopsis and cover letter. That didn't happen. After working
on the book for so long, Andrew lost patience with the process
and threw his "nestling" out of the proverbial nest. Unfortunately,
this nestling had two broken wings – a generic cover letter and a
poorly written synopsis.
By the time he contacted me again, one of the publishers had
already rejected the manuscript. "The publisher said the focus
was too narrow," Andrew said. "That not everyone is interested
in sailing."
I scanned his letter and synopsis. "I see the problem. You've
emphasized the sailing aspect rather than the kids growing and
learning to work together as a team. Character growth is a big
thing in children's publishing, especially when kids grow by
solving their own problems."
Since I had read the book twice, it was easy for me to add in
story highlights, emphasizing both the adventure aspect but also
the way the kids worked together to solve problems – showing both
their strengths and weaknesses.
Next I tackled the cover letters. Andrew's letters showed no
knowledge of the particular publisher. When I checked the
publishers' websites, I confirmed that only one was a good fit.
The other four either wanted feminist, literary or much shorter
book lengths. Andrew had wasted 80% of his queries on publishers
that would not be interested in his work.
I emailed Andrew. "You have homework. You need to find publishers
that are a good fit with your book, and then check their requirements.
We'll incorporate that information into individualized cover
letters."
His response: "I read somewhere that I was supposed to do that,
but I guess I skipped that step."
As Andrew found out, writing a book is really only the beginning.
Finding the right publisher is as important.
The first step is to go to the library or bookstore and find
children's publishers who have books that fall into the same
category as yours. You can also find some of this information in
newsletters where publishers list current interests.
Once you've found possible publishers, read their websites. Most
publishers are upfront with what they want or don't want, because
they don't want to waste their time or yours.
Check their target audience in terms of ages and reading abilities.
Some publishers specialize in picture books, beginner readers,
middle grade, teen or a more general young adult category. Others
are low-vocabulary/high interest for kids with reading problems.
Not all children's publishers have the same age cut offs for each
category or publish all categories.
Find out their preferred word counts, which can range from 25,000-
35,000 words up to 80,000 words. Picture and beginner reader
books are much shorter. And discover what types of books they're
interested in. Some publishers want literary, feminist or ethnic
books; others lean toward genre such as adventure or mystery.
You'll also get details about what the publishers want to see in
terms of a query letter, a synopsis or a particular number of
chapters. Some want all of the above; others prefer just a letter
and synopsis.
So, before you kick your own nestling out of the nest, make sure
you haven't clipped its wings. If you've done your homework, then
your little nestling may yet soar into publication.
NOTE: Children's book publishers are more likely than other
publishers to take unagented books.
BIO:
Harriet Cooper is an editor, freelance writer and language
instructor. She has edited children's books, newsletters,
educational material and memoirs. Her own articles, humor and
creative nonfiction have appeared in magazines, newspapers,
newsletters, anthologies, websites and radio. With over 30 of
her pieces appearing in anthologies, including 23 in Chicken
Soup, she considers herself an expert in this field and has
worked with several writers to get their creative nonfiction
accepted in anthologies and magazines.
To contact her, email her at
coopereditorial@live.ca
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