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 Publishing
Children’s Books
by Harold D. Underdown and
Lynne Rominger

201 West 103rd Street

Indianapolis, IN 46290
A Pearson Education Company
Copyright  2001 by Harold D. Underdown and Lynne Rominger
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys-
tem, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is as-
sumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every
precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for
damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. For information, ad-
dress Alpha Books, 201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290.
THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO and Design are registered trademarks of Pearson
Education.
International Standard Book Number: 0-02-863975-8
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: Available upon request.
03 02 01 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost number of the first series of num-
bers is the year of the book’s printing; the rightmost number of the second series of
numbers is the number of the book’s printing. For example, a printing code of 01-1
shows that the first printing occurred in 2001.
Printed in the United States of America
Note: This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its authors. It is intended to
provide helpful and informative material on the subject matter covered. It is sold with
the understanding that the authors and publisher are not engaged in rendering profes-
sional services in the book. If the reader requires personal assistance or advice, a com-
petent professional should be consulted.
The authors and publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability,
loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or in-
directly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.
 Publisher
Marie Butler-Knight
Product Manager
Phil Kitchel
Managing Editor
Jennifer Chisholm
Senior Acquisitions Editor
Renee Wilmeth
Development Editor
Deborah S. Romaine
Technical Reviewer
Alison James
Production Editors
Billy Fields
JoAnna Kremer
Copy Editor
Faren Bachelis
Illustrator
Jody P. Schaeffer
Cover Designers
Mike Freeland
Kevin Spear
Book Designers
Scott Cook and Amy Adams of DesignLab
Indexer
Lisa Wilson
Layout/Proofreading
Svetlana Dominguez
Lizbeth Patterson
Contents at a Glance
Part 1: Where to Begin? 1
1 Adults Rule the World 3
Sure, kids will read your book. But children’s publishing is
a business and you need to approach it in a business-like
way.
2 I Don’t Know What to Say! And What Comes Next 11
Tips and techniques for creating stories that children will
want to read.
3 Survey Course: The World of Children’s Literature 19
Let’s take a little journey to explore what children like to
read.
4 Why Write a Children’s Book—and Why Not? 27
If you’re in it for the money, you’re in it for the wrong
reason—and it’ll show in your writing.
5 The Piggy Bank and the Notebook 37
Writing is a business. To do it right, you’ll need the tools
of the trade.
6 It’s a BIG World 45
Change is the hallmark of children’s publishing today.
This isn’t the same industry that brought you your fa-
vorites when you were a child.
7 What’s in a Book? A Guided Tour 53
Though they tell many different stories, all books have cer-
tain elements in common.

Part 2: Finding Out What’s Possible 65

8 Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? Book Formats and
Age Levels 67
This chapter takes a look at fiction and nonfiction and the
many formats of children’s books.
9 Digging Deeper Into the Book Pile 77
Good versus fun books, and genres from fantasy to nonfic-
tion.
10 Apples and Oranges: Kinds of Publishers and
What They Do 87
What does a publisher do—and what kinds of publishers
are there?
11 Keep ’em Rolling: Series 95
Of course you want to write more than one children’s
book. But can your storyline extend over several books?
 12 Is It Ready to Hand In? 103
Everybody loves your story. But not all opinions are cre-
ated equal. Here’s how to choose opinions that count.

Part 3: Out into the World 113

13 Know the Rules, If You’re Playing 115
You want to send your manuscript to a publisher—here’s
how.
14 Who Draws the Pictures? 125
So you’re not an illustrator? Not to worry. Your publisher
has it covered.
15 I Know Somebody Who Knows Somebody … 135
It’s true that connections make things happen. But taking
it too far can make the wrong things happen.
16 The Publishing Maze 145
With so many different publishers out there, you want to
find the one who is the best match for your children’s
book.
17 Deeper into the Maze: Other Kinds of Publishers 155
Sometimes the search for the right publisher takes you to
places you didn’t know existed—and to places you
shouldn’t go.
18 So, How Does It All Work? 165
You know you need publishers. Did you know publishers
need you? Here’s how to build relationships to meet both
needs.

Part 4: Working with a Publisher 175

19 Oh Boy! A Contract! 177
So you’ve finally signed on the dotted line? Great! Now
fasten your seatbelt for the rest of the ride!
20 They Might Take My Idea! Copyright Basics 187
Your story is your story, guaranteed.
21 Make It Better 195
Most experienced authors will tell you: The most intensive
part of writing is rewriting.
22 My Editor Doesn’t Understand Me 205
Don’t feel slighted if your editor doesn’t want to chat with
you on a daily basis. An editor’s life is busier than you
can imagine.
 23 What If I Don’t Like the Pictures? 215
Even if they’re not what you originally had in mind, the
illustrator’s drawings bring your story to life.
24 The Rest of the Process 223
It’s your story, but it takes an entire team to turn it into a
book. And lucky for you, it’s your publisher who pulls this
team together.

Part 5: My Book Is Published! Now What? 229

25 What Are You Doing for Me? 231
How will your publisher market your book? Let us show
you the many ways.
26 Fun Stuff and Bragging 239
Other ways that your publisher might market your book—
but they cost money.
27 Hey, Listen to Me! 247
Do you have some ideas about ways to draw attention to
your book?
28 Bookstore Business 255
Your book is your baby. But to bookstores, it’s a commod-
ity. Here’s a look at how you can help your book sell.
29 Back to School 263
Now’s your chance to go back to school to show what
you’ve learned.
30 I Won a Prize! 271
What could be better than having your children’s book
published? Winning a prize for it, of course!
31 Building a Career 281
Publishing your children’s book is a necessary first step in
your career as a children’s author. But don’t stop here—
there’s much more ahead.

Appendixes
A Glossary 293
B Resources 301
C Samples and Examples 307
Index 317
Contents

Part 1: Where to Begin? 1

1 Adults Rule the World 3
Getting Started ....................................................................3
Piercing the Static ................................................................4
No One Best Way ................................................................4
It Takes Time ......................................................................4
Lots to Learn—Start Here ....................................................5
Books and Publishers ..........................................................5
Picture Books and Chapter Books ..........................................5
So Many Publishers! ............................................................6
Kinds of Publishers ..............................................................6
Putting Away Childish Things ............................................6
Take It Seriously ..................................................................7
Art and Commerce ..............................................................7
“When You Grow Up, Will You Write for Adults?” ..............7
What This Book Can Do for You ........................................8
The Whole Picture ..............................................................8
No Magic Formula ..............................................................8
X Marks the Spot ................................................................8
How Others Did It ..............................................................9
A Vade Mecum ....................................................................9
Know the Forest, Not the Trees ............................................9
No Guarantees ....................................................................9

2 I Don’t Know What to Say! And What Comes

Next 11
You Are What You Read ....................................................12
Dear Diary ..........................................................................12
Practice Makes Perfect ......................................................14
Let It Flow ........................................................................14
Visualization ....................................................................15
Memories ..........................................................................15
Get a Feel for It ..................................................................16
Spontaneity or Results? ....................................................16
Do It Again! ......................................................................18
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

3 Survey Course: The World of Children’s

Literature 19
Try It, You’ll Like It ............................................................19
The Classics ........................................................................20
Ask a Librarian ..................................................................21
I Can Count to 100 ..........................................................22
Hot! Do Touch That! ..........................................................23
Back to the Library ............................................................23
Here a Bookseller, There a Bookseller ..................................23
Stop, Look, and Listen: Talk to Children ..........................24

4 Why Write a Children’s Book—and Why Not? 27

I Want Money, But I’ll Settle for Fame ..............................28
I Want to Be the Teacher ..................................................29
I Get to Be the Mommy ....................................................31
Look What I Did! ..............................................................33
Personal Passions ..............................................................33
Open to Inspiration ............................................................33
The Inner Child ................................................................34
I Got a Star ........................................................................34
The Chance of Getting There ............................................35

5 The Piggy Bank and the Notebook 37

School Supplies ..................................................................38
Really Cool Toys ................................................................39
A Place for Everything ......................................................40
Here a Book, There a Book, Everywhere a Book, Book! ........40
Puss and Booting Up ..........................................................41
Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Research Right Over ..................42
The Secret Files Garden ......................................................42
There’s a Time and a Space for Everything ......................42
Jack and the Bean Stock: Income ......................................44

6 It’s a BIG World 45

The Golden Age ................................................................45
Paperbacks: Fun and Cheap ..............................................46
The Big Get Even Bigger ....................................................47

viii
 Contents

Who’s Buying? ..................................................................48

Eye-Catching Books ............................................................48
TV, Movies, and Candy ......................................................49
Our Friend Harry Potter ......................................................50
It’s an Electronic World ....................................................50

7 What’s in a Book? A Guided Tour 53

It’s a Cover-Up! The Cover, Jacket, and Spine ..................53
Teacher Says, “Give It a Title” ..........................................55
Legal and Other Details ....................................................56
The Stuff in the Front ........................................................58
“For Me!” Dedications ......................................................58
Tables of Contents ............................................................58
Forewords and Introductions ..............................................58
What’s Between Your Head and Feet? Your Body! ............59
Chapter Books ....................................................................60
Alphabetical and Other Setups ..........................................60
Other Elements ..................................................................60
Go to the Back of the Line—Back Matter ........................60

Part 2: Finding Out What’s Possible 65

8 Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?
Book Formats and Age Levels 67
Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth ........................................67
Have Fun Lying ..................................................................69
For Baby Brother: Picture Books ........................................69
For Big Sister: Chapter Books ............................................70
What’s for Who? How to Tell ............................................70
You Can Throw ’em ..........................................................71
Read It Again! ....................................................................72
I Can Read This ................................................................72
That’s a Lot of Stories! ......................................................73
Folktales and Fairy Tales ....................................................73
Short Stories and Poetry ......................................................73
Mom, Can I Get This? ......................................................74
For the Backpack ................................................................74
For Kid’s Eyes Only—Not! ................................................75

ix
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

9 Digging Deeper Into the Book Pile 77

Good Books (Literary Fiction) ..........................................77
They’re, Like, Soooo Popular: Popular Fiction ..................78
Pat Sat on the Mat (Control the Vocabulary) ..................79
Swords and Sorcerers and Talking Bunnies ......................80
Traditional Fantasy ............................................................80
Mon Dieu! The Clock Is Alive! Personifications ................80
Watership Down vs. Sammy Squirrel: Anthropomorphism ....81
Stories Dressed in Facts: Historical Fiction ......................81
Neighbors Next Door and Far Away ................................82
The Facts Dressed in Lies: Fiction in Nonfiction ..............83
Telling a Story ....................................................................83
Drama ..............................................................................83
Straight Nonfiction ............................................................84

10 Apples and Oranges: Kinds of Publishers and

What They Do 87
Quiz—What Do You Know? ..............................................87
What Does a Publisher Do, Anyway? ..............................89
The Professionals ..............................................................89
Getting the Ball Rolling ......................................................89
Professional Manuscript Preparation ..................................90
Overseeing Production ........................................................90
Sales Force One—or More! ..................................................91
Team Effort: Marketing ......................................................91
A Pocket Full of Marbles and Money ..................................92
Pineapples and Oranges—and Bananas?
Different Kinds of Books ................................................92
Pineapples—Trade Books ....................................................92
Oranges—for the Masses ....................................................93
The Childish Masses ..........................................................93
Mass Appeal: What Publishers Want ................................93
Bananas? The Institutional Market ....................................94
Double Vision! The Blurring of the Boundaries ..............94

11 Keep ’em Rolling: Series 95

What’s the Big Difference? ................................................96
Series or Single Title? ..........................................................96
Let’s Get Series Now ..........................................................97

x
 Contents

I Didn’t Mean to Do That: The Unintended Series ..........97

School and Library Publishers ..........................................98
Easy Readers ......................................................................99
Historical Fiction ............................................................100
Getting Down on Your Knees ........................................100

12 Is It Ready to Hand In? 103

Rabbit’s Friends and Relations ........................................103
Reading Aloud ................................................................104
One Is the Loneliest Number ............................................104
Guided Responses ............................................................104
The Director’s Chair ........................................................105
Apples of Your Writing Eye: Children ............................106
Know-It-Alls: A Critique Group ......................................107
Writing Classes ................................................................108
Critiques by Professionals ................................................109
Good Guys and Bad Guys ................................................109

Part 3: Out into the World 113

13 Know the Rules, If You’re Playing 115
The Basics ........................................................................115
Sew a Label on It ............................................................116
Send a SASE, Don’t Be Lazy! ............................................116
Dear Editor ......................................................................117
The Envelope, Please! ......................................................117
And Then You Wait ........................................................117
What’s an Unsolicited Submission, Anyway? ................117
I’ve Been Waiting Forever ................................................118
Dear Somebody ................................................................120
Covering a Cover Letter ....................................................120
What Not to Include ........................................................120
“Query First”: Letters About Manuscripts ......................121
That’s a No-No! ................................................................121
Neatness and Spelling Count ............................................121
Pink Envelopes and Other Horrors ....................................122
More Than I Need to Know ..............................................122
The Wrong Kind of Bedtime Book ....................................123

xi
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

14 Who Draws the Pictures? 125

But I Can’t Draw ..............................................................126
My Brother-in-Law Can ..................................................126
I Hired Someone ..............................................................127
Why Don’t You Get Dave Caldecott? ................................127
The Publisher’s Job ..........................................................127
But I Want to Illustrate ....................................................128
Be Real: Can You? ............................................................128
For Professionals Only ......................................................129
Best Foot Forward ............................................................130
Instructions to the Illustrator? ........................................131
Not in the Manuscript ......................................................131
What’s OK—and What’s Not ..........................................131
Be Flexible ......................................................................131
Laying Out the Book ......................................................132
Photo Research: The Exception ......................................132
Allow for Magic: It Happens! ..........................................133

15 I Know Somebody Who Knows Somebody … 135

Closed Doors: How to Pick the Lock ..............................136
Secret Agents ....................................................................137
To Agent or Not to Agent? ................................................137
Not Now ..........................................................................137
A Friend in the Business ..................................................138
A Name on the Envelope ................................................139
To a Particular Person ......................................................139
From Your Lawyer ............................................................140
I’m a Member of … ..........................................................140
Conferences and Schmoozing ........................................140
Faking a Contact ..............................................................142
Win a Prize! ......................................................................142
Useful But Not Essential ..................................................142

16 The Publishing Maze 145

Companies, Divisions, and Imprints ..............................145
Dad, What’s an Imprint? ................................................146
One at a Time, Please ......................................................146
Door Number One, Door Number Two ............................147

xii
 Contents

The Big Guys ....................................................................148

What Are They Like? ......................................................148
I’d Like You to Meet … ....................................................149
The Little Guys ................................................................150
What Are They Like? ......................................................151
I’d Like You to Meet … ....................................................151

17 Deeper into the Maze: Other Kinds of

Publishers 155
Sorry, I’ll Try Next Door ..................................................155
Magazines ........................................................................157
Educational Publishers ....................................................158
Regional and Niche Publishers ........................................160
New! New! New! ..............................................................161
E-Books and the Internet ................................................161
All Is Vanity? Vanity and Self-Publishing ......................162
A Lot of Work in Vain ......................................................163
Going Solo ......................................................................163

18 So, How Does It All Work? 165

Publishers Need YOU ......................................................165
Play the Game by the Rules ............................................166
The Union Makes You Strong ............................................167
Catalogs, Conventions, and Guidelines ............................168
Scope Out the Competition ..............................................168
Waiting Patiently—or Not ................................................169
Follow Up Everything ......................................................169
When You Get a Nibble ..................................................169
Not Too Much! ................................................................170
Not Too Aggressive! ..........................................................170
You Can Get It—But You Must Try ................................171
What’s Going On in There? ............................................171
Behind Closed Doors ........................................................172
Help, I’m Sinking! ............................................................172
Do I Know You? ..............................................................173
Lost in the Shuffle ............................................................173

xiii
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

Part 4: Working with a Publisher 175

19 Oh Boy! A Contract! 177
How You Will Hear ..........................................................177
Quiz—What Do You Know? ............................................178
Hand It Over ....................................................................179
What You Gotta Do ........................................................179
What Publishers Do ........................................................180
Your Allowance ................................................................180
Subsidiary Rights ............................................................183
Legal Language ................................................................184
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes ........................................................185

20 They Might Take My Idea! Copyright Basics 187

A Tale of Two Writers’ Ideas ............................................187
“Mommy, What’s a Copyright and Where
Does It Come From?” ....................................................189
Safe, So Far ......................................................................190
The Trouble with Folktales ..............................................191
“Dummy! Dumb-Dumb!” Why Stealing Is Stupid! ........192
Plagiarism, Intentional and Otherwise ..............................193

21 Make It Better 195

The Revision Process ........................................................195
The Best Part ..................................................................196
On Your Own ..................................................................197
With Your Editor ..............................................................197
The Writer’s Reference Bookshelf ....................................197
But It’s My Story! ..............................................................198
Get Me Rewrite! ..............................................................198
Structural Editing ............................................................199
Line Editing ....................................................................200
Fact Checking ..................................................................201
Ask for It! ........................................................................202
Editing ............................................................................202
My Paper’s Late ..............................................................202
No Guilt Trips, Please ......................................................203
The Care and Feeding of an Editor ................................203

xiv
 Contents

22 My Editor Doesn’t Understand Me 205

What Are Editors Like? ....................................................205
The New York Ivory Tower ................................................206
People Who Love Books ....................................................206
Cogs in a Machine ..........................................................207
Mass-Market Books for the Very Young—
Bernette Ford ..................................................................208
Successful at a Smaller Publisher—Regina Griffin ..........209
Successful at a Larger Publisher—Kate Jackson ..............210
Getting Started—Jennifer Greene ....................................211
Fifty Years Later—Margaret K. McElderry ......................213
In Good Hands? ..............................................................214

23 What If I Don’t Like the Pictures? 215

After the Manuscript Is Done ..........................................215
Finding a Good Match ....................................................216
Can I See Those? ..............................................................218
But Her Hair Is Brown! ....................................................219
Helping Out with Nonfiction ..........................................220
Letting Go ........................................................................220

24 The Rest of the Process 223

Your Editor … and Beyond ..............................................223
Here Some Copy; There Some Copy;
Everywhere Copy, Copy! ................................................224
High-Fashion Time: Designers ..........................................225
Just the Facts, Ma’am ......................................................226
100-Proof ........................................................................226
Lights! Camera! Action! The Production Manager ............226
So That’s Why It Takes So Long! ....................................227

Part 5: My Book Is Published! Now What? 229

25 What Are You Doing for Me? 231
I’m in the Catalog! ..........................................................231
The Big Mouths ..............................................................232
The Other Mouths ..........................................................233
Local Yokels ....................................................................234
Mommy Says I’m Special! ................................................235

xv
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

I’m in the Newspaper! ....................................................235

Not on the Shelf But in the Store ..................................236
Going Long and Deep ....................................................236

26 Fun Stuff and Bragging 239

Freebies ............................................................................239
X Marks the Spot ............................................................240
Put That Up! ....................................................................240
Postcards from the Edge ..................................................240
Do-It-Yourself ..................................................................240
Creative Genius ................................................................241
For Teacher’s Eyes Only ....................................................241
Buying Ads ......................................................................241
The Bookstore ..................................................................242
The Library ......................................................................242
The Consumer ................................................................242
The Teacher ....................................................................243
Ground-Level Marketing ................................................243
Did Hennie Pennie Live in a Chicken Coop or a Co-Op? ....243
Bookstore Giveaways ........................................................244
Making a Best-Seller ........................................................244

27 Hey, Listen to Me! 247

Nudge, Don’t Push ..........................................................247
Lend a Helping Pen ........................................................249
“I Did It My Way” ..........................................................250
You Gotta Have an Angle ................................................251
Local Yokels, Redux ........................................................252
Moving on Up! ................................................................252
Newspapers ......................................................................252
Radio ..............................................................................252
Television ........................................................................253

28 Bookstore Business 255

A Tale of Two (or More) Bookstores ................................255
Target-Rich Environment ................................................257
First Contact ....................................................................257
Leave a Message at the Tone ..........................................258
Party Plans ......................................................................259
You Gotta Have a Gimmick ............................................260

xvi
 Contents

29 Back to School 263

School Visit Basics ..........................................................263
The Song-and-Dance Routine ..........................................265
The Younger Set ..............................................................266
The Rally ........................................................................266
Story Times and Reading ..................................................266
Class Workshop ..............................................................266
Storytelling ......................................................................267
Carnivals ........................................................................267
Parent/Teacher Fundraisers ..............................................267
Almost Adults ..................................................................267
Do Lecture Me! ................................................................268
Rally Up! ........................................................................268
Work? Me, Work? ............................................................268
Debate Team ..................................................................268
You’re Too Old for a Story—NOT! ....................................268
Making Contact ..............................................................269
On Beyond Schools ........................................................269
On the Road ....................................................................270

30 I Won a Prize! 271

The Big Ones—Newbery and Caldecott ..........................272
Newbery ..........................................................................272
Caldecott ........................................................................272
Other National Awards ....................................................273
The National Book Awards ..............................................273
I Have a Dream: The Coretta Scott King Award ................274
Big Award from “Little House” Lady ................................274
Teen Angst Awards ..........................................................274
Margaret A. Edwards Award ............................................275
The Michael L. Printz Award ............................................275
Get on These Lists! ..........................................................276
ALA Notables ..................................................................276
Children’s Choices ............................................................276
Outstanding Science ........................................................277
Notable Social Studies ......................................................277
Parents’ Choice ................................................................277
Wowing Them All Over the Country ..............................277
Reading Rainbow ............................................................278
End-of-Year Lists ..............................................................278

xvii
31 Building a Career 281
Becoming a Pro ................................................................281
Obstacles ..........................................................................282
The First One’s Easy ........................................................282
Censorship ......................................................................282
Doubts ............................................................................283
An Agent in Your Corner? ................................................283
Books and Their Untimely Deaths ..................................284
Going OP ........................................................................284
Get Your Books and Your Rights ......................................285
Back from the Dead? ........................................................285
Do-It-Yourself Publishing ................................................286
What to Do Until You Can Live on Your Royalties ........287
Packagers ........................................................................287
Writing and Editing ........................................................288
Textbooks and Supplemental Materials ............................288
Teach Writing! You’ve Learned a Thing or Two ................289
Keep Learning ..................................................................289
Take Yourself Seriously ....................................................289
Out into the Big World ....................................................290

Appendixes
A Glossary 293

B Resources 301

C Samples and Examples 307

Index 317
Foreword
In this honest and precise book on writing for children, Harold and Lynne have man-
aged to cram in almost everything about writing for children there is to know.
Almost everything.
What they have left out are these three things: joy, gathering, and ducks.
I know this is an odd list. But read on a bit and see what I mean.
Joy. Too many writers talk about the difficulties of writing. How it takes blood and
bile. How it is enormously difficult and lonely. How no one in his or her right mind
would plan to make a living at it.
But I always want to come down on the side of joy.
Think of it: You will be writing down stories, poems, anecdotes, and information that
might change lives.
I always told my children that they should leave the world a little better than they
found it. Some might say it’s an easy task, given in what awful shape the world is
now. But I believe they have taken that mother line to heart. They are good, moral
adults, and in their work do make a difference to the world.
Well, I am not modest about it. I get enough letters from children whose lives I have
changed with my fictions and my poetry to know that it happens. On a small scale—
certainly. One reader at a time—absolutely.
Art can work miracles.
Story can.
Now about gathering, here is what I mean.
My son Adam, his wife Betsy, and their little daughter Alison live in Minneapolis.
When I travel there, I know I will visit with family. Have good meals. See friends.
Indulge in amusing conversations. Lots of fun music. (Adam is in two bands.)
What it doesn’t mean is writing.
I can still accomplish daily things like keeping up with e-mail and phone calls.
But I do no writing.
Still, I consider these kind of trips “gathering days.” Good writing is made up of de-
tails. So on these hours away from the computer, away from actual writing, I become
a collector of details. Some I collect actively, most passively.
The sweet talc smell of the baby’s neck, under the chin. The way my son flicks his
long hair away from his daughter’s grabby hand. How John, who plays backup guitar
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

in Adam’s Irish band, sweats in large discontinuous swatches on his T-shirt. The sil-
houette of my daughter-in-law holding Alison and how they pat one another on the
back simultaneously. The damp Minnesota heat that leaves moist patches, like tears,
under my eyes. The exact arch of a catalpa tree leaning over the street.
It may look as if a writer uses such stuff to keep her away from the actual hard work
of writing. And in fact many authors will tell outsiders just that. But do not be fooled.
It is actually all grist to the mill.
For example, while I am speeding through the latest Dick Francis novel, I am also
noting how he keeps his story moving, how the arc of his telling forces the reader to
keep going. Reading the latest issue of Cricket or Richard Peck’s Newbery Award novel
I am taking in what is considered the best writing today. Working crossword puzzles, I
am discovering new words. Watching TV, I am practicing dialogue. Listening to local
gossip, I invest in character.
I never turn off my writer’s head. Conversations are stuffed in there, the chalky sweet
smell of paper-white roses, the sharp fishiness of herring fillets, the rough crumble of
unharled stone, the way a rose bush points its wayward fingers upward in its search
for some new purchase, how the ruined towers of a castle take on extra life against a
grey sky, the feel of my granddaughter’s small wriggly hand in mind.
All this and more will be returned to me when I need it in a scene or a poem or as a
central metaphor for a story.
I didn’t know that when I began writing. I thought any time away from the type-
writer was wasted time. Then my husband and I spent nine months camping in
Europe and the Middle East and I started throwing images of what I had seen into my
stories. That’s when I understood how important gathering days are for writers.
Finally, there are those ducks.
Often I feel as if my writing time is slowly being nibbled away by ducks. Other writers
have made similar complaints. Life, we all say, simply gets in the way.
But then on reading a biography about Emily Dickinson, where she’s shown making
tea cakes and writing letters, helping in the house and playing with her nephew, etc.,
I realize that we writers still must live in the real world. That means cakes, letters,
bills, clogged toilets, etc. That means reading other people’s books, watching TV,
doing crossword puzzles, chatting on the phone. That means taking children to
school, to the orthodontist, to choir practice, to basketball games. That means work-
ing till 3, till 5, till 8, till midnight. That means vacuuming the living room of cat
hairs, dog hairs, husband’s hairs. That means running to the grocery store, the paint
store, the shoe store. That means going to the doctor, the dentist, the hair salon.

xx
 Foreword

What that means is life.

Besides, without life, what’s there to write about?

—Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen is the award-winning author of more than 200 books for children, young
adults, and adults. Ms. Yolen’s best-known title, the critically acclaimed Owl Moon
(Putnam/Philomel), illustrated by John Schoenherr, won the prestigious Caldecott
Medal for 1988. Among Jane Yolen’s many other awards are the Catholic Library
Association’s 1992 Regina Medal for her work in children’s literature and the
University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Award for the body of her work. She has also re-
ceived numerous state awards, including New York’s “Charlotte,” Nebraska’s “Golden
Sower,” and New Jersey’s “Garden State Children’s Book Award.”

xxi
Introduction
Harold attends children’s writer’s conferences, and he runs a personal Web site on the
world of children’s publishing, and over and over again people ask him about how to
get started, where the publishers are, how to get feedback on a manuscript, and about
other problems with which writers struggle as they try to establish themselves. It’s
hard to find all the basic information about this cozy but mystifying world. And that,
quite simply, is why we wrote this book—to bring together all that information. What
you have in your hands is, we hope, a resource that lays out all the basics and points
writers in the correct direction to learn more.
Different people, of course, may have different ideas about what the basics are, or need
different kinds of information at different times. So we’ve written dozens of definitions
of publishing terms and taken a philosophical look at how your motives can affect
your writing. We’ve dissected the parts of a book and sketched a mini-history of chil-
dren’s publishing. We provide help in understanding contracts and sample letters to ac-
company manuscripts. And we’ve included many places to go for more information.
We love being involved in children’s books, but know from personal experience that
there’s a lot to keep up with. We hope this book helps you to do that, and to spend
more time writing and less time trying to figure it all out.

How to Use This Book

The world of children’s book publishing can be confusing and complicated to those
unfamiliar with its traditions and procedures. We’ve organized this book into five
parts to unravel the complexities for you, guiding you through the maze to your ulti-
mate goal: publication.
Part 1, “Where to Begin?” provides suggestions and information about moving your
ideas from your imagination onto paper—the first steps of their journey to publication.
Part 2, “Finding Out What’s Possible,” explores the many faces of children’s publishing.
From board books for toddlers to historical novels for young adult readers, the kinds of
children’s books have different audiences, approaches, needs—and, of course, publishers.
Part 3, “Out into the World,” gives you guidance in getting your manuscript from
your desk to the right company, and to the right editor at that company.
Part 4, “Working with a Publisher,” explains what happens after you sign on the
dotted line. If you think your work ended when the publisher accepted your book,
these chapters are especially for you!
Part 5, “My Book Is Published! Now What?” discusses the many events that move your
book up the sales chain. From publicity appearances to reading for school children, there
are many opportunities for you to increase your book’s presence in the marketplace.
 We’ve also created a glossary of terms used in children’s publishing, a resource list of
books, magazines, organizations, and Web sites, and sample letters and guidelines.
You’ll find all these in the appendixes.

Extras
Sidebar boxes throughout the book highlight interesting information and important
details.

Vocabulary List Class Rules

These boxes explain terms and These boxes provide warnings
lingo common in the children’s and cautions.
publishing industry.

Can You Keep a Secret? Stories from the

In these boxes, you’ll find sug- Playground
gestions, tips, and resources to These anecdotes from, and pro-
help you present yourself as a files of, children’s authors and
pro. publishers give you an inside view
of the children’s publishing
world.

Acknowledgments
From Harold D. Underdown: Harold is always telling writers that a book is a team
effort. This one was no different. It wouldn’t have happened without the help of
dozens of people. Renee Wilmeth contacted me to start it off and helped me shape
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books

the outline, Lynne Rominger came on board to help make it happen—and to add her
own expertise, particularly in the marketing area. Debbie Romaine was an editor’s edi-
tor (quite literally). Finishing this while I was working full-time was tough, but
Debbie made it possible.
Many others contributed their expertise and experience in e-mails and phone conver-
sations, some of which I’ve quoted directly, others of which contributed to the think-
ing that shaped the book. They include Jennifer Armstrong, Bruce Balan, Susan
Campbell Bartoletti, Miriam Bat-Ami, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Larry Dane Brimner,
Evelyn Coleman, Elizabeth Devereaux, Muriel L. Dubois, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, Sandy
Ferguson Fuller, Charles Ghigna, James Cross Giblin, Lois Grambling, Megan Halsey,
Tony Johnston, Elaine Landau, Grace Lin, Diane Mayr, Stephen Mooser, Josephine
Nobisso, Jules Older, Larry Pringle, Dana Rau, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Aaron Shepard,
Alexandra Siy, Donna Spurlock, Ginger Wadsworth, Jan Wahl, Rozanne Lanczak
Williams, Carolyn Yoder, and Jane Yolen. If I talked with you and you’re not on this
list, blame my record-keeping, not my lack of gratitude.
I interviewed a number of people by phone or e-mail and appreciate the time they
took to deal with my sometimes lengthy lists of questions. So my special thanks to
Emma Dryden, Bernette Ford, Jennifer Greene, Regina Griffin, Kate Jackson, Mar-
garet K. McElderry, George Nicholson, and Paula Quint—and also to colleagues at
Charlesbridge and ipicturebooks.com, for putting up with my sometimes distracted
air while working on the book.
My family and friends have been remarkably tolerant of my absence from their lives
over the last several months and of my aura of pre-occupation on the rare occasions
when I came to the surface.
My thanks above all to my wife, Ann Rubin, who not only encouraged me to take on
this project when it first was offered, but never once expressed regret at having done
so, and even continued to encourage me. As an artist, not a publishing insider, she
also brought perspective into what was truly important on the many occasions when
I got lost in the details. Most of all, her confidence that what I might want to say was
worthwhile kept me going. This book would not have happened without her.
From Lynne Rominger: First, Lynne would like to thank God. I can do nothing in
this world without His Grace. Next in line: Harold Underdown, of course. It was a
pleasure working on this book with such a professional, knowledgeable, and interest-
ing children’s book super editor! You are an inspiration to me, Harold. Another round
of thanks go out to Sheree Bykofsky, my agent, Renee Wilmeth, the acquisitions edi-
tor of this book, and Jennifer Basye Sander, my mentor. All women deserve my grati-
tude for nurturing my writing career. And Debbie Romaine receives a huge thank you;
you are a miracle worker, Debbie. Now, how can I possibly write a book without
thanking my family? Nick, Sophia, Faith, and Hope—you are the most patient and
loving children in the world. I promise to read to you all often and hope you grow up
to love books. Finally, my undying adoration and thanks go out to my soul mate and
the eternal love of my life, Pashko Gjonaj. There was not a moment while writing

xxiv
 Introduction

this book that you were not in my mind and my heart, your love leading me to the
next paragraph and the next page. I am wired backward without you but forward with
your arms around me. I love you so much I could just burst. With you, I am complete.

Special Thanks to the Technical Reviewer

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books was reviewed by an expert who
double-checked the accuracy of what you’ll learn here, to help us ensure that this
book gives you everything you need to know about writing your story, getting your
children’s story into the hands of a publisher, working with a publisher, and building
a career. Special thanks are extended to Alison James.
Ms. James is an author of novels and picture books, a translator, and a founder and or-
ganizer of the Kindling Words conference and Writers Colony.

Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being
trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and
Pearson Education cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in
this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service
mark.

xxv
 Part 1
Where to Begin?
If you’re not a part of it, children’s publishing can be a confusing world. In this part
of the book, we’re giving you the basics so you can get started with what you want to
do: write books for children.

We kick off with ways to get started writing, show you how to find the best, most
popular, and most recent children’s books, and take a look at how your motives for
writing can affect your writing itself. Then we take you from your immediate world—
your office space and how to get organized—to the big world of publishing and what’s
been happening there recently. Finally, we give you a detailed guided tour of a book, so
you can call each part by its right name.

That’s a lot to cover, so hold on to your hat, and turn the page!
 Chapter 1

Adults Rule
the World

In This Chapter
➤ What this book is all about
➤ Some basics about children’s books
➤ The importance of taking yourself seriously
➤ An introduction to the challenges of writing for children
➤ A quiz—what do you want to know?

Welcome to a wonderful and challenging world, the world of children’s books. We

gave this chapter a title that pushes against the subject of this book just to remind
you (and us) of a strange paradox at the heart of children’s publishing. We are at work
creating books for children, but everyone involved in producing and then buying
them, with rare exceptions, is an adult. Even if in your mind you are writing for a
child you know well—your own child, or the child you once were—for your work to
become a book it must go through the hands of many adults.

Getting Started
So you want to write a children’s book. Maybe you already have. Maybe you’ve sent it
out to a few publishers and it’s come back to you. Or maybe you’ve been writing for a
few years, and had some success, but want to push on ahead. Wherever you are,
you’re beginning, though what you’re beginning may be your whole career or just a
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

stage in it. In either case, we think this book is for you. Getting started is hard, so
we’ve filled this book with information, advice, resources, and stories of success and
failure.

Piercing the Static

Harold describes the thousands of manuscripts that children’s publishers receive
every year as static, making it almost impossible for the few good ones to be noticed.
You’ve got to pierce that static. To do that, you need four things:
➤ You need to work hard on your writing and keep striving to improve it.
➤ You need to learn as much as you can about the publishing world.
➤ You need to be persistent, over years if necessary.
➤ You need some luck.

That’s a tall order. Many people never do get published. We aim to help you get
through the static so you can have a chance of being among those who do.

No One Best Way

You may be looking for the best way to get your children’s book published. If so, we
want you to know up front that there isn’t one. There are as many ways as there are
people, and that can be both frightening and freeing. It’s frightening, because you’ll
have to figure out some things for yourself. It’s freeing, because it allows you to be
yourself. The good news is that in this book you’ll learn about options you might not
have considered—types of writing to try, ways to approach publishers, kinds of pub-
lishers to investigate—and you’ll learn how to chart your own path. Keep going down
that path! If you don’t, you won’t reach the end of it.

It Takes Time
We hope you’ll come to understand the value of patience. As you’ll see in some of
the stories we tell, writing for children is not the simple task that some outsiders as-
sume. It’s more like becoming a brain surgeon, in some ways. It takes years and years,
in which you learn many things and practice your technique and gradually get better.
So don’t be too hard on yourself, and don’t look over your shoulder to compare your-
self to others. Deal with the challenges in front of you, whatever they may be, and
after that you can worry about the next ones. As you learn and grow, and improve,
you may not even notice your progress, but a day may come when you look up and
find that you’re on the top of that hill that only a short while earlier had looked like
it was unclimbable.

4
 Chapter 1 ➤ Adults Rule the World

Stories from the Playground

It can take longer than you might expect to feel that you have arrived. So said Simms
Taback, illustrator, in his acceptance speech for the Caldecott Medal, the most prestigious
award for illustrators (his speech was published in the July/August 2000 issue of The Horn
Book Magazine): “What’s really wonderful about getting this award is that I feel like a rel-
ative newcomer to the world of illustration, as if I have only just arrived as a practitioner
of this craft. But actually, I have been illustrating for 40 years.” He goes on to cite mis-
steps and bad luck that kept him from feeling that he had ever “made it.”

Lots to Learn—Start Here

There is a lot to learn. Children’s book publishing is a big business. There are many
kinds of publishers, and many kinds of books, and right ways and wrong ways to do
even such a simple thing as write a cover letter to go with a manuscript. This is a
world unto itself, and you need to know the jargon and the shared assumptions of
the people in it if you are going to have a better chance of succeeding.

Books and Publishers

Writing itself is hard enough. But if you are to go from a neatly typed manuscript
to an actual book, you need to make sense of the children’s publishing industry.
You need to figure out what you have written and what publisher might be inter-
ested in it.

Picture Books and Chapter Books

There are many kinds of children’s books, and we’ll go into them in the chapters in
Part 2, “Finding Out What’s Possible,” but to start with you need to understand a
basic distinction. Picture books are books in which the pictures and words tell the
story together. Often they have pictures on every page, and are read to children by
the adults in their lives. Chapter books, on the other hand, have chapters. They may
also have pictures, but they aren’t as important. The words tell the story. And these
books are usually meant to be read by children or teenagers themselves.

5
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

Both of these basic types get divided up into smaller

categories. Do you have to know exactly what you’ve
written? No, and sometimes a publisher will have a
different idea about what you’ve written than you do.
But it helps to know the basics, because some publish-
ers only publish one type or the other. So you’ll need
to learn about them, too.
Vocabulary List
Picture books are for younger
children, have pictures on every So Many Publishers!
page, and tell a story through At first glance, it may seem like there are hundreds of
words and pictures. Chapter publishers all over the country. Or it can seem like
books are for older children, there are only five, and they’re all in New York. It’s
may be illustrated, but tell a tricky to sort them all out, especially since in the last
story primarily through words. decade publishers have bought out other publishers
in what seems like a never-ending dance of mergers
and acquisitions. Actually, though five or six very
large publishers may seem to dominate the market,
there are many other publishers around the United
States and Canada, and we are going to help you find
them.

Kinds of Publishers
Different publishers, and sometimes different divi-
Vocabulary List sions of the same company, create very different kinds
Trade books sell mostly in book- of books. A company selling books to libraries takes a
stores, but some may also go into different approach than one that sells its books in
the “institutional” market— bookstores, or one that puts its books in racks in drug-
schools and libraries. Mass mar- stores. Depending on what you want to write, you’ve
ket books are for the masses, got to find the right match. Trade publishers aim for
and are sold in warehouse stores, the bookstores for the most part, though some also
racks in newsstands, supermar- sell to schools and libraries. Mass market publishers
kets, and similar outlets. Trade target a wider audience, and find it in supermarkets
books are usually more expensive and other general retail stores. Beyond books, maga-
than mass market ones. zines and electronic publishing beckon, too.
We’ll have a lot more to say about these different mar-
kets later in the book.

Putting Away Childish Things

As you read this book, and as you start to have contact with publishers, writers, and
librarians, you’ll find that children’s publishing isn’t all fluffy kittens and sad-eyed

6
 Chapter 1 ➤ Adults Rule the World

puppies. It may not be quite so cutthroat as some

businesses, but we’ve both heard it said that “it’s a
bunny-eat-bunny-world.” Be prepared for this.

Take It Seriously
Begin by taking what you are about to do seri-
ously. This is not a hobby or a pastime, or some-
Can You Keep a Secret?
thing you can succeed in by writing only during How big is children’s publishing?
your summer vacations. On the other hand, you Estimates suggest about $2 bil-
don’t have to define success by making money lion in sales annually, with six
from your writing. As many will tell you, it’s un- publishers—Random House,
likely you’ll ever be able to quit your day job. Penguin Putnam, Golden Books,
Writing for children is not easy and takes time, HarperCollins, Scholastic, and
space, and dedication. As we’ll detail in Chapter 5, Simon & Schuster—accounting for
“The Piggy Bank and the Notebook,” it’s important about half. This is 4,000 to 5,000
to set up a space, set aside writing time, and re- books published each year, half
member that you need and deserve this. by the big guys. But hundreds
(maybe thousands) of smaller
companies publish books, too,
Art and Commerce right down to individuals who
Remember, too, that at the end of the process, at publish their own books.
least if you want to get published, is a book or mag-
azine or something similar that someone (actually
thousands of someones) will have to decide to buy. You’re an artist, but you’re not cre-
ating one idiosyncratic work that needs to find only one buyer, or that you might even
be keeping for yourself. Book publishing lies in an interesting middle area between art
and commerce, between pure self-expression and the manufacture of millions of such
useful but generic items as pencils and bars of soap. There’s room for creativity, but you
need to find an audience (your market), and a publisher will help you do that.

“When You Grow Up, Will You Write for Adults?”

Once you reach the point of identifying yourself as a writer for children, it won’t be
long before you run into the condescension of those who assume that they, too,
could write wonderful children’s books, if they could just find the time. Or those who
exclaim that it’s just wonderful that you’ve taken up such a hobby.
Sadly, many people don’t understand that writing for children is as significant, chal-
lenging, and absorbing as any other form of writing, from investigative journalism to
spoken word poetics. The attitude of these benighted souls seems to be that children
aren’t as mature or intelligent as adults, and so it must be easier to write for them.
Don’t slide unaware into becoming one of the people who believes this. You are
doing serious writing, writing that actually is harder than writing for adults. After all,
you aren’t writing for someone just like you, though perhaps you are writing for the

7
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

child you used to be. It can be tricky to write for this “other”: after all, adults writing
for other adults can use their own reactions as guides to how their audiences will
react. You can’t do that. Be proud of what you are doing.

What This Book Can Do for You

Just how are we going to help you deal with the issues we’ve been discussing, as well
as teach you what you need to learn? What follows is a discussion of what we realisti-
cally can and cannot do for you.

The Whole Picture

We’ve worked hard to give you a comprehensive overview of this field. We aren’t just
giving you information about children’s book publishers—we look at magazines and
electronic publishing too. We get you started with tips on getting your manuscript
to the right publishing companies, follow up with guidance on revision and cont-
ract negotiation, and help you complete the process through marketing and self-
promotion. We’ve included a little of everything, though of course we’ll be happy to
hear from you if there’s something you think we’ve left out and you want to suggest
for the next edition—we provide contact information in Appendix B, “Resources.”

No Magic Formula
Looking for guidance on writing? We give you help on getting started writing, on ex-
amining your motives for writing, and on getting feedback. But we don’t tell you how
to write. There are so many different kinds of children’s books, and we’re covering so
much other information, that a how-to-write section would have become a series of
oversimplified formulas. You could use them, and end up with formulaic stories, but
there’s nothing an editor dislikes more than formulaic stories. Fortunately, there are
already many great books that explain how to write different kinds of children’s
books. We’ve listed many of them in Appendix B.

X Marks the Spot

The many books, Web sites, and other sources for more help that we identify in the
appendixes and throughout make this book a treasure map to the many places you
can go for more information. You could find those places yourself, of course. But
there are hundreds of books on publishing and on children’s books, and as many
Web sites. We’ve checked them out and organized them and made some judgments
on which ones are worthwhile, so that you don’t have to take the time out from your
writing to do a lot of digging.

8
 Chapter 1 ➤ Adults Rule the World

How Others Did It

A book full of advice and information would be
pretty dry and hard to understand without real-life
stories. We don’t include these just for the human
interest, though that would be enough of a reason.
We include them because there’s no better way to
learn how to move forward in children’s publish- Class Rules
ing than to hear how others have done it. Or
Children’s author Jules Older
failed to do it, as the case may be. We’ve got sto-
notes three mistakes many writ-
ries and tips from extremely successful authors,
ers make starting out:
and from authors just getting started, from authors
who’ve succeeded in many areas, and from others 1. Thinking cute, instead of
who’ve specialized. And when it’s called for, we’ve thinking big.
got stories from publishing insiders too, so you can 2. Failing to be funny.
begin to get to know the people with whom you 3. Writing for a previous gen-
may be working. eration, instead of today’s.

A Vade Mecum
In a way, this is a most old-fashioned kind of a book, a “vade mecum.” This is a refer-
ence manual, a book that “goes with me.” We don’t expect you to read it from cover
to cover, though we’ve set it up so that you could if you wanted to. We think you’re
more likely to read some of it, put it on your shelf, pull it down to look something
up, look through it again a year or two from now, and perhaps find that a section
that hadn’t seemed relevant at first has become critically important. We hope this
book will go with you as you learn and move ahead with your career.

Know the Forest, Not the Trees

Though we’ve packed it full of specific information, we hope this book will most of all
help you begin to get to know the forest of children’s book publishing. The strange
ecosystem that is children’s publishing changes slowly, even though individual trees
may come and go. From the trees in this book—individual publishers, editors, types of
books—you’ll begin to put together an understanding of how the forest works, so that
when you venture into new and uncharted parts of it you’ll be less likely to get lost
and go hungry. You’ll know where to look for food and how to watch out for danger.
You’ll know how to survive, even if you don’t recognize all the trees.

No Guarantees
One thing we can’t offer you in this book is a guarantee. There are thousands of as-
piring authors out there, and we know from talking to some of them that you can
follow the “rules” (or even find creative ways to bend them) and work for years and

9
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

still not get published. If all you want is to get published by a well-known publisher,
in fact, you might want to give up now. That desire isn’t going to be enough to get
you there. You have to like what you are doing, and stick to it, have some talent,
and, even then, understand that you might not make it. If the journey is worth it in
itself, we’re here to help you choose your supplies and maybe even be one of your
traveling companions. But if the trip’s only worth it if you arrive at your destination,
you might want to think twice.
Above all, be inspired by the example of a J. K. Rowling, but don’t be disappointed if
a career like hers doesn’t evolve for you. With the amazing worldwide sales of mil-
lions of copies that the Harry Potter books have achieved, she did what no other au-
thor, whether for adults or for children, has ever done. Ever! Don’t measure your
success, or lack of it, against hers—or against the success of any other author. Your
personal best is what matters.
Enough of preamble! On with the book!

The Least You Need to Know

➤ You’re starting out on a long and interesting road. Don’t try to rush it.
➤ Getting a children’s book published takes persistence.
➤ Understand the difference between picture and chapter books and between
trade and mass market.
➤ Take yourself seriously, and take writing for children seriously.
➤ Use this book as a reference manual and a starting point—we don’t have all
the answers, but we’ll help you find them.

10
 Chapter 2

I Don’t Know
What to Say!
And What
Comes Next

In This Chapter
➤ How to find a direction
➤ How to use a journal to explore your interests
➤ Why writing must be practiced and how to do it
➤ What you need to do to write and how to create the time and space
➤ What to do when you think you’re finished

There are few things as terrifying as a piece of blank paper staring up at you. Hungry
polar bears in a snowstorm or ghosts in a bedding shop come to mind. The empty
whiteness of it is terrifying, as Melville said about the eerie whiteness of Moby Dick.
We’re going to suggest ways to fill that page: how to discover what you want to write,
if you’re unsure, and how to practice your writing and imagining skills, in much the
same way you might practice skiing or hitting a golf ball. These are limbering-up
exercises—we won’t tell you how to write them, but we’ll get into the specific formats
and types of children’s books in Chapters 7, “What’s in a Book? A Guided Tour,” and
8, “Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? Book Formats and Age Levels.” In this chapter,
you’ll also learn how to create the conditions you need to write without distractions,
and how to keep working on your writing until it’s truly ready.
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

You Are What You Read

Do you have the writing bug, but you just don’t know what to write? Take a few min-
utes to ask yourself what you like to read. When I say, “Go,” I’d like you to get up, go
over to your bookshelves, and take a careful look at them. Which books sit there,
never opened? Which ones have cracked bindings, well-thumbed pages, and little
notes in the margins? Can you see certain kinds of books you usually read, or are
your favorites fiction, nonfiction, light, heavy—all over the map? Then come back
here and think about what you’ve seen. OK, go!
Back already? So, what did you notice? Do you read lots of fiction? Nonfiction? Do
you really love detective novels but never read those serious novels you think you
should?
In your reading, as in your writing, rule one is to write what you want to write, not
what you think you should. “Shoulds” clog the mind and get in the way of the clear
thinking you need to do your best writing, so run away from them.
Let’s say you’ve noticed that you really like to read
books that present science to a general audience, such
as Lewis Thomas does for adults. Well, you can do the
same thing for children, provided you do your re-
search, of course, and truly understand the scientific
principles covered. Almost any kind of book you like
as an adult points to a similar kind for children:
Can You Keep a Secret?
➤ Like romance novels? So do teenagers.
Your ninth-grade English teacher
may have instilled in you a deep ➤ Enjoy science fiction? Children do, too.
respect (and fear?) for the clas- ➤ Biographies grab you? Libraries grab them.
sics, but that doesn’t mean that
➤ Prefer magazines? So do many children.
you have to go out and try to
write one, at least not yet.
Rest assured, you’ll find something to write. But don’t
Creativity is hard enough; do like
be too hasty and start by writing a specific type of
the pros do and write what you
book for a specific audience. First you need to explore
like to write, not what your fam-
ways of generating raw material, get in some practice,
ily says you should.
and set up the habits and schedule that will keep you
going.

Dear Diary
Just about everybody has kept a diary at some time or another. If you haven’t, don’t
feel bad, because most diaries cover mundane events, or, if written by a teenager, feel-
ings that are very important to the diarist but probably to no one else. Now that you
are writing, however, you should seriously consider keeping a diary that goes by a
grander name—a journal.

12
 Chapter 2 ➤ I Don’t Know What to Say! And What Comes Next

A journal can be many things. You can use it to

write about whatever is on your mind at the time.
You can use it to record things you’ve observed
that interest you, from the changing of the cloud
patterns in the sky to the changing of emotions in
the teenagers sitting next to you in the bus. You
can use it to note ideas, remember sentences that
Vocabulary List
come to you, transcribe snippets of dialogue, or to
do pen portraits of interesting characters. You can The word journal is related to
use it to explore your feelings about writing, or the French word for day, jour. As
your reactions to books you’ve read. More practi- that implies, a journal is a blank
cally, you can keep track of when you write, for book to write in daily. Your jour-
how long, and how effectively, so that you can fig- nal should be as much a part of
ure out your best writing times. your life as a cup of coffee in
the morning or the evening
If you’re going to get the most out of your journal,
news.
you need to use it regularly. It’s good to keep it
with you so you can jot something down when-
ever you want to, but don’t stop there. Make an
appointment with yourself to write in your journal every day. Try to make it be
the same time. If you can’t, make sure that you find times when you won’t be
interrupted.
Writing every day can be difficult to maintain, especially without a structure. Don’t
feel bad that you aren’t inspired; give yourself a break and give yourself a structure.
Take a month to explore your feelings about your parents and your siblings, or to
note down some key memories from a particular year of your childhood. Or give
yourself a theme of the day:

➤ Monday for family.

➤ Tuesday for friends.
➤ Wednesday for writing.
➤ Thursday for the natural world.
➤ Friday for planning.
➤ Saturday for fun.
➤ Sunday for spirituality.

Choose whatever topics are most important to you. What matters is that you make
your journal your own, and that you be as honest with yourself in it as you can be.
Make a point of reading back through it from time to time. Gradually, ideas and areas
of interest will start to emerge and become clearer. Also, with the added practice of
writing in a journal, your writing will benefit.

13
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

Practice Makes Perfect

A journal isn’t the only way you can practice your writing. There are many ways in
which you can work not only on improving the quality of your writing but also on
your fluency. Getting words down on paper so that you can go back and revise later
is a challenge to every writer, so the more easily and rapidly you can write, the better.
Writing exercises will also help you get started on a particular project. No writer starts
a manuscript without a considerable amount of what is called “prewriting,” meaning
brainstorming, outlining, and the like. Jennifer Armstrong, a published author of fic-
tion and nonfiction, observes:

I spend a lot of time on preparation. Lots of notes, lots of outlining, lots of

character sketching. (This of course all depends on what I’m writing.) Not until
I really know where the book is going do I begin writing prose.

Our schools often leave us with the idea that the best way to write, and the way that
the good writers write, is to sit and let the story flow out. That doesn’t happen very
often. There’s a lot that comes beforehand, and as you’ll see a little later in this chap-
ter, there’s a lot that comes after.

Stories from the Playground

When exploring writing for children, don’t limit yourself to books aimed at children’s writ-
ers. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life are
great sources of inspiration and practical exercises. Ignore the New Age vocabulary if it
bothers you. Or check out Jessica Wilbur’s Totally Private and Personal: Journaling Ideas for
Girls and Young Women. In spite of the title, it’s great for people of any age and either
gender. Take the time to browse through the general writing section in your local book-
store for books like these.

As you’ll discover when you spend a little time exploring the titles about writing in a
good bookstore, there are many ways to work on your writing. Here are a few.

Let It Flow
Writing without stopping to edit yourself or rethinking is difficult to do, but you can
learn to do it. Give yourself five minutes to write, without stopping, without going

14
 Chapter 2 ➤ I Don’t Know What to Say! And What Comes Next

back and correcting a word or a spelling. If you can’t think of anything to write, just
write “I can’t think of anything to write,” and keep going. Use a pen, a pencil, a type-
writer, or a computer. The tool doesn’t matter, so long as you feel comfortable with it.
Do this every day, in your journal or not, as you choose.
After you’ve had some practice with this technique, try varying it. Give yourself a
topic to start off with, or a writing prompt (a sentence to complete), and see where it
leads you. Write “I love to write children’s books because …” or maybe “I’m scared to
write children’s books because ….” After some use of this technique, you may find
that your conscious mind lets go a little, and you start writing things that surprise
you. Like speakers practicing speaking off-the-cuff on impromptu subjects, this free,
sustained writing can loosen you up and raise the overall quality of your writing.
You’ll still be revising, but from a higher level. Our thanks to Natalie Goldberg for
these ideas.

Visualization
Clear, concise description is a joy, and difficult to achieve, whether you are writing
about a dark and stormy night or a new scientific discovery. Practicing visualization
can help you improve your skills at description.
Settle on a scene you’d like to visualize, perhaps from your childhood, perhaps more
recent, but not one that’s right in front of you. Close your eyes, and conjure it up.
Take some time to bring as much of it to your mind’s eye as possible. If it’s a room,
imagine yourself walking around in it, looking under things, behind things, maybe
even out the window. If you imagine yourself outside, walk around there, too. Settle
on the limits of your scene. After you’ve looked your fill, listen. What sounds belong
in your scene? What do you smell? What do you feel: the temperature of the air, the
textures of the objects around you? If there’s something edible, what do you taste?
After you feel you’ve fully placed yourself in your chosen scene, open your eyes and
write. Describe it as fully and evocatively as you can. Don’t edit! As with the previous
exercise, just keep writing. After you have finished—and you could go on for pages
and pages—you can go back and edit. You might use this to help you imagine a set-
ting for a story, or you might just use it for practice. But try it again, with a different
place. With practice, your ability to picture places familiar and unfamiliar will im-
prove, and so will your ability to describe them.

Memories
Many writers for children draw on childhood experiences and memories as the raw
material of their writing. Even if that is not your intention, even if you plan to write
only about American history or biology or sports, being in touch with your own
childhood and the feelings that you had then can only improve your ability to con-
nect with your audience.

15
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

Think about an important milestone in your child-

hood, maybe the moment when you first succeeded in
tying your own shoelaces, or the moment when you
walked up to the chalkboard and wrote the right an-
swer to a difficult math problem, or the moment
when you said something clever at lunch and you no-
ticed that cute boy (or girl) smiling. Visualize it. Write
Can You Keep a Secret?
about it. Or remember the time you got lost in the big
Looking for some guidance on department store, or the time you had a fight with the
writing specific kinds of children’s playground bully, or the time you saw the girl (or the
books? You won’t find it here, boy) you had a crush on dancing with someone else at
because that would be a whole the school dance, and obviously enjoying herself.
other book, and because there Visualize that and write about it.
are already many wonderful
You might take some time exploring as many memo-
books that provide just that
ries as you can bring up from a particular time in your
help. What books, you say?
life, or following a thread of memories about your
You’ll find a carefully selected
pesky kid sister from your earliest one to the day you
list of them in Appendix B,
left for college. Set yourself your own memory explo-
“Resources.”
rations. Try different emphases: for one, you might
concentrate on recalling how the breakfast table and
your family around it looked; for another, you might
focus on the story of what happened when you dug a hole to China in the back yard.
Find the threads that interest you and follow them!
You may then develop something from your memory explorations. One or more of
them could become the basis for a scene in a novel, or for an entire picture-book
story. Or these explorations might help you understand what interests you in the
world around you and find ways to present information to excite the child, you,
and—we hope—your audience.

Get a Feel for It

Do you think you’re ready to write that story? Maybe you already have. Whether you
have or not, here’s one final exercise that will help you get a feel for the form of a
children’s book.
Choose a favorite children’s book and head to your typewriter or word processor. And
all you have to do is to type it up, breaking the paragraphs where they break in the
book. If it’s a picture book, do the whole thing. If it’s a novel, do a chapter or part of it.

Spontaneity or Results?
Now you’re all ready to be creative. So wait for inspiration to strike, and then get to
work. You may be waiting a long time. Writers—accomplished writers—learn early to
just start writing. Writing is work: flashes of insight followed by the labor of translating
that insight into words, and then revision (tips follow). Just like any other job, if you

16
 Chapter 2 ➤ I Don’t Know What to Say! And What Comes Next

plan to succeed and turn in the goods, you need to

put your nose to the grindstone.
But unlike those lucky people in 9-to-5 jobs, writers
don’t have supervisors breathing down their necks
to get the job done—especially unpublished writers
without deadlines. Your first book will result en-
tirely from your own willpower. And even after Class Rules
you’ve got a book contract or established yourself
as a full-time children’s book author, you still won’t We’re emphasizing the impor-
have anyone hovering over you with a whip each tance of setting up time to write,
morning, yelling, “Write!” You also won’t have any- but don’t leave out time to goof
one telling you that your break ran too long. In off, as Barbara Seuling notes in
one word, the profession you’ve chosen takes dedi- How to Write a Children’s Book
cation. You need to look at your writing as you and Get It Published. If you feel
would any other job and set up a schedule. guilty about doing things other
than writing, sooner or later writ-
Sitting behind a computer day-in and day-out in ing will become a drag. Give
your bathrobe, barely showered, slaving away on a yourself writing time, yes, but give
manuscript that might sell to a publisher or might yourself nonwriting time, too.
not, isn’t super glam. Believe us. It’s easy to pro-
crastinate. We, too, have had those times when
washing the dog seems more urgent than writing.
To succeed in the solitude of writing, we offer
these tips:

➤ Set a schedule and stick to it. Say to yourself,

“I’m going to write every day from this time
to that time,” and do it. If you can only man-
age 15 minutes, that’s OK. Just make it every Can You Keep a Secret?
day. Post your schedule on the refrigerator, Jennifer Basye Sander, an author
and ask your family to respect it. of more than 20 books and the
➤ Remove distractions, including children. mother of two small boys, hires a
Many, many parents hope to juggle the needs baby-sitter for several hours a
of their writing and of their children. But day while she writes. Coauthor
Lynne either has her mother care
writing is a job. Any established writer will
for her four small ones while she
tell you that you can’t concentrate on chil-
writes, or she writes in the early
dren and writing at the same time. morning or late evening hours
➤ After you establish a schedule, every so often while they sleep.
give yourself a change of scenery. When you
write full-time from home, you’ll find your-
self turning into Howard Hughes if you don’t get out of the house sometimes.
So take a notepad and pen to your local coffeehouse or library and write there.
Stick to your schedule, just write somewhere other than home.

17
Part 1 ➤ Where to Begin?

➤ Let your neighbors and friends know you’re working, not watching old movies.
If you don’t, you may find yourself the block baby-sitter or errand runner. Be
firm and practice saying, “I’m sorry, but I’m working, I can’t pick up your dry
cleaning for you or baby-sit your son.”
➤ Let the answering machine pick up the phone, and don’t answer the door. You
aren’t home, you’re writing.

Other than these few tips, there really isn’t much more we can say about time man-
agement. You just need to do it—write! If you want it (the finished book) badly
enough, you’ll do it.

Do It Again!
Remember when you were in school you’d sit down and write an essay straight
through from start to finish and hand it in? Professional writers don’t work like that.
You spend a good amount of time first getting ready to write—researching, brain-
storming, outlining—you write, and then you revise. And it’s no exaggeration to say
that most writing is revision. Because a lot of that happens after you start working
with an editor, we go into the different parts of that process in Chapter 21, “Make It
Better.” But of course, you’ll also want to revise on your own.
You can go too far with revision. There’s a point where more revision is just avoiding
the dreaded time when you show your work to someone else. How do you know
when you’ve reached that point? You’ll have to learn your own work habits, but
watch out for revisions that don’t change much. Are you changing a word here and
there on each round, just tinkering? Or are you switching back and forth between
two approaches? Both of these are clues that you’re really done with the piece, for
now, and that it’s time to send it out. At least it’s time to get some good feedback on
it, as we will show you how to do in Chapter 4, “Why Write a Children’s Book—and
Why Not?”

The Least You Need to Know

➤ Knowing what you like to read will help guide you in discovering what you
might like to write.
➤ Systematic use of a journal can help you grow as a writer.
➤ Creativity exercises will help you explore your interests and improve your writing.
➤ Set a schedule for yourself.
➤ Revise, revise, revise—but know when to stop.

18
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