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Home | Writing | Short Stories

Some Advice on Writing Children's Books

By: lifevestpublishing

Because they tend to focus on simple stories, and are told in clear, easy-to-read prose, a lot of people tend to assume that anybody can write a childrenï¿½s book. Thatï¿½s true, anybody can write a childrenï¿½s book, but you can only write a good childrenï¿½s book if you know what youï¿½re doing. Just because itï¿½s a fairly simple form of storytelling doesnï¿½t mean that it doesnï¿½t require a degree of imagination and talent, and some knowledge of what goes into a good childrenï¿½s book.

The first thing any author in any genre will tell you: Read the genre you want to write.

Read everything you can get your hands on. Stephen King has stated time and again that, while you can learn plenty from a great book, you can learn some of the most important lessons from terrible books! In short: know the genre, whether itï¿½s childrenï¿½s books, crime novels or romance.

Second, know who youï¿½re writing for. If youï¿½re writing childrenï¿½s books, youï¿½re probably thinking ï¿½Kids, duhï¿½. Not quite. Your book should certainly be accessible to any kid with the reading abilities to tackle it but youï¿½re not just talking to the kids with your book, youï¿½re also speaking to the parent, to brothers and sisters, to grandparents, the people who are going to read this book to the child, and, probably, the people who are going to be paying for the book.

Itï¿½s not hard to write a story thatï¿½s accessible and enjoyable for small children, big kids, and full grown adults, honestly. If you know the basics of story structure, weï¿½re all motivated by the same things. We all want to be loved and respected, we all want to accomplish what we set out to do. If you donï¿½t have time to go look up the heroic structure, the monomyth, etcetera etcetera, all storytelling structure comes down to this:

Need
Go
Get
Return
Change

The hero needs something, he or she goes to get it, and then returns to where they started, having improved their standing in life in the process. It could be as simple as a person wanting a glass of water, getting up and getting a glass of water, and returning to where they were sitting. If you can use this structure to tell a story that is funny, or touching, or sad, or happy, or inspiring, you can write a childrenï¿½s book that will be entertaining for all ages. Just know whatï¿½s important to kids, whatï¿½s important to big brothers and sisters, parents, and grandparents, and you know what kind of story youï¿½ll be telling.

Third, you should know at least a little bit about publishing. Look, itï¿½s easy to get ripped off out there if you donï¿½t study up on childrenï¿½s book publishing. Itï¿½s not that there are dozens of fly-by-night con artists waiting to take the money and run, itï¿½s that most childrenï¿½s book publishers will only pay you a disproportionate fee to buy all of your rights. They will own your book, straight out. You wonï¿½t make royalties, you wonï¿½t be allowed to write a sequel (unless they ask for one), you simply wonï¿½t own your own book anymore.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways around this. A few big-name expert book publishing offer deals where you can keep the ownership rights, but not many. Your best bet is probably going through a smaller, more focused childrenï¿½s book publisher. There are a lot of services online that will publish your childrenï¿½s book for you, including marketing and distribution through Amazon.com and so on.

These services do charge a small fee, but if you have faith in your own work as something that will interest parents, you should see a profit over time. You will retain your ownership rights, and you will have complete freedom to do what you like with them. Whatï¿½s more, anyone can publish a book with these childrenï¿½s book publishers. The big name publishers usually have their plates full, already, and only rarely take on new, unsolicited, first-books from new childrenï¿½s book authors. With a self-publishing service, your foot is already in the door.

Article Source: http://bytepowered.org/articles

LifeVest Publishing, Inc. is a Worldwide Independent Publisher, currently publishing in four countries and in four languages. This book publishing company offers expert book publishing is the areas of childrenï¿½s literature, cookbooks, and business books. As an educational and independent childrenï¿½s book publisher, LifeVest Publishing, Inc. provides quality, affordable book design and publishing. LifeVest also caters to poets as a poetry book publisher.

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