The writing and publishing arena has a number of words specific to the industry, its lingo or jargon. Below are some of the most important ones for the children’s author. 1. Manuscript (MS): This is what your draft is called once it’s complete and ready for submission. 2. WIP (Work in Progress): A manuscript currently…
Author: Karen Cioffi
Karen Cioffi is an award-winning author and children's ghostwriter. She loves to help those who want to be the author of a children's book fulfill their dream. Contact Karen today to get your story started!
Children’s Ghostwriter Fees – Does Price Equal Quality?
As a ghostwriter for children’s books, I get a number of queries each month. And, interestingly, I never know if the potential client will think my prices are too high, too low, or just right. It seems that around $15,000 is the norm to ghostwrite a middle-grade book of 35,000 words. To me though, that…
Getting to Know Your Characters
I read a post about writing for children. It focused on the story’s characters. The post advised creating and knowing your characters inside and out before beginning the story. In fact, it suggested that the author build the story around the characters once they were fully developed. While this is good advice, and many experienced…
Plot and Your Story – Four Formats
Plot. As writers, we’ve all heard of this literary term. But what does it mean? Well, plot is what gives the story a reason to be. It’s the ‘why’ as to the reason the story exists. The plot is what the story is about. And, if the plot is good, it will entertain and engage…
Make Your Children’s Website Focused: 3 Must-Haves, 6 Tips
Updated February 2026 Is your site on the mark? As we get caught up in our writing careers, sometimes it’s easy to forget to stay focused. That’s a no-no! It’s important to present a focused brand and site. Okay, so what are three website must-haves and six tips? The Must-Haves As a writer, whether you’re…
Day’s End Lullaby Video Book Review
Thanks to Amy Robbins-Wilson, creator of Lullaby Link, Day’s End Lullaby is in a video. Amy did a Google search for “lullaby” and came upon my book. She contacted me and offered to include my book as a review video on her site. But, she didn’t stop there, she offered to create a video of…
What Makes a Good Story? Plot Driven vs. Character Driven
Stories can be plot-driven or character-driven, so which is the best formula to use? Knowing a little about both methods should help in making a decision. Plot Driven Story A story’s plot moves it forward from point A to point B. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a straight line; in fact, a course…
Editing a Children’s Book – 10 Tips Checklist for Authors
You’ve been working on your story for a while now and you think it’s just about done. It’s been critiqued numerous times and you revised it numerous times. Now, it’s time for editing. This entails proofreading and self-editing. You don’t want to short-change yourself on the last stretch, so get ready to put the final…
Submitting Your Manuscript – 8 Tips
Writing is a personal experience. Each writer faces his or her own obstacles and processes. However, one common aspect of writing is it always starts with an idea. You may take that idea and turn it into an outline. Then sprinkle it with letters and words and watch it grow. Words turn into sentences, sentences…
Children’s Writing Pitfalls: Words
I wrote a fantasy story geared initially toward middle-grade readers. Realizing the word count wasn’t enough for a middle-grade story, I changed it to a chapter book. Good idea. Right? Yes, it was, but if you do something like this, you need to remember to check the age appropriateness of the words you originally used….