Once I ghostwrite a children’s story, I edit and proof it. If I don’t have enough time to let the story sit for a while, I’ll send it out for proofing. Or if it’s a middle grade or young adult and I’ve been working on it for a long time and am too close to…
Tag: writing for children
Writing for Children – Know What You’re Doing
As with anything you attempt to do, it’s important to know what you’re doing. My father was a contractor – he built homes. How structurally sound do you think those homes would have been if he didn’t know what he’s doing or didn’t know how to read blueprints? Or what about a musician who didn’t…
Children’s Ghostwriter, Rewriter, or Writing Coach – Which Do You Need?
Are you going to wait until you’re in your fifties, sixties, seventies, or older to fulfill your dream of being a children’s author?
Chapter Book Guidelines
I like writing children’s chapter books. They allow the writer more freedom than picture books or early readers, but they’re not as involved as middle-grade or young adult books. The children’s chapter book is just right—at least to me. I’m currently working in three different genres: picture book, chapter book, and a young adult. And,…
Selling Middle Grade
In my last post, Writing Middle Grade, I wrote about a webinar I attended through Writer’s Digest. It was presented by literary agent Andrea Somberg and focused on writing and selling middle grade (MG). The first article is about writing MG. This article is about selling MG manuscripts. To sell your manuscript, the manuscript itself…
Written a Picture Book? Are Illustrations or Layout Next?
I read an interesting article from a self-publishing service (1106 Design). The article explains that the best way to produce a children’s picture book is to create the interior layout before getting the illustrations done. This is something I hadn’t thought of. But it makes so much sense. I write a lot of stories…
5 Power-Tips to Creating Memorable Characters
From the simplest clues, a character can take shape. Maybe you first reference the character as the boy or the tall girl. Even with those simple words, you’ve given that character life. Before that, there wasn’t a boy or a tall girl. But along with things (characteristics) you should include, there are a number of…
A Middle Grade Book Versus a Young Adult Book
I’m finding lately that a number of clients don’t understand the difference between a middle grade (MG) book and a young adult (YA) book. So, let’s go over a few of the basic differences. Also, keep in mind that there are simple MG and upper MG as well as simple YA and upper YA. The…
Book Marketing On a Budget for Your Newly Published Book
The purpose of this article is to emphasis how important it is to market your book. If you don’t, you won’t get any sales and just as bad, no one will read a story you’ve slaved over. The other purpose is to explain the strategies I used, am using, and will use to promote my book.
5 Tips to Determine Your Audience and Target Market
I recently had a query from a potential client about a picture book series. As we spoke on the phone, he said he already created the first book with the help of a graphic designer. He said the book is kind of a coffee table book. People would buy it because it looks good and…