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How Else Can I Make Money as a Children’s Writer?
By Margo L. Dill
If you are a children’s writer and focused on children’s magazines
and traditional publishers, then you might be feeling frustrated.
More and more kids’ magazines are closing their doors. Publishing
companies are folding and more are becoming agent-only. To keep
your career alive, you can find ways to earn multiple streams of
income. As my grandma used to say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one
basket.” So, what else can you do to advance your children’s
writing career besides submitting to children’s magazines and
traditional publishing companies?
Query Parenting, Family, and Teaching Magazines
I recently taught a course for the Working Writers Coaching Club
about writing for parenting magazines. One of my students said,
“As a children’s writer, I never thought about writing for these
types of magazines, but I see how they go hand in hand.” Because
there seem to be fewer publications for children accepting
queries and working with freelancers, you can look at the ones
that are geared toward their parents or teachers. Did you write
a craft article for a children’s magazine? Rewrite it as an
activity parents can do with their children, and find a magazine
that accepts this article type. You can look at national magazines,
such as Parenting, or a regional magazine like, Indy’s Child. A
great website to explore for more ideas is
http://www.parentingpublications.org.
Start a Writing Coach or Editing Business
If you’re a published children’s author, consider coaching
beginning children’s writers. Being a writing coach consists of
helping a new writer create goals and stick to them. You will
offer feedback on writing projects and help clients submit their
work to publishers. If coaching isn’t for you, what about editing?
Do you have an English or business degree? Put it to good use and
create an editing business. There are hundreds of writers out
there who have a good story to tell, but they need help with their
grammar, spelling, story structure, and so on. You can work as an
editor and help them get their manuscript ready for submission.
Start advertising your business with a free blog from
http://www.blogger.com.
Educational Writing
Educational writing seems to be one area where writers are still
needed. Companies are hiring writers to pen non-fiction books for
the classroom and library. Publishers take query ideas for books
full of lesson plans and activities. Educational testing companies
need writers for their testing passages and the questions that go
with them. Check out some of these companies if you are interested
in writing for the educational market and reaching kids in a whole
new way—at school: Enslow Publishers Inc., Teacher Created
Materials, Scholastic, Educational Testing Services, Key Education
Publishing, Hayes Educational Publishing, and Lerner Publishing
Group.
Leading Workshops for Teachers, Kids, Librarians, and Other Writers
Even if you don’t have a book published, you can still create
workshops and talks, where people pay you to speak. The best
way to start a speaking business is to look at your areas of
expertise and design a few specific workshops on these topics.
Create catchy titles and descriptions, and post them on your
website or blog. Include a note that fees are negotiable, and
make sure to have an easy way to contact you through e-mail and
phone.
Although the children’s magazine world isn’t the most lucrative
right now and many children’s writers are having difficulty
securing contracts, this doesn’t mean that you can’t have a
successful, paying career as a children’s writer. It just means
you have to look at other ways to play on your strengths and
build the career you want!
BIO
Margo Dill is a freelance writer and editor, blogger, and writing
instructor. She has a historical middle-grade novel coming out
from White Mane Kids and a picture book from High Hill Press.
She is a contributing editor for WOW! Women On Writing and the
memoir editor for High Hill Press. Check out more about Margo,
her editing business, classes, and writing at
http://www.margodill.com.
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