Children's Magazine Month on October, 2024: Anyone Know this Children's Magazine?

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Anyone Know this Children’s Magazine?

it highlights.. (:

How to get a children’s book published?

How to get a children's book published?

Perhaps you're not focusing your 'searches' on the right things. Editors and agents talk about publishing all the time. They have blogs, facebook pages, and twitter accounts. Find them, read them, and follow them. There are writers organizations that offer information on publishing.

The type of information isn't something that can be had overnight or in one search. It took me 3 months to learn the publishing industry inside out, and that research is ongoing because publishing is always changing. You need to do the same. There are many books and magazines about the publishing industry, so check your bookstore or library.

Social networking is one way to get your name out there. Having a website is one way to get your name out there. Having a blog is one way to get your name out there. Having a Twitter account is one way... You get the picture? You network with other writers, literary agents, and editors. You comment on their blogposts and tweets. You retweet their tweets. Support other writers and they'll support you, too.

What kind of children's book is it? Picture book? You'd look for agents that prepresent PB. If you don't know what kind of book you've written then by-golly you shouldn't be trying to publish until you at least know what you've written.

No, you don't illustrate your own book. Publisher hires one. You send your manuscript however the publisher or agent requests it and you find this out by reading its guidelines and not all guidelines will be the same.

Go to the bookstore and find books similar to what you've written. Look up the publisher to see if it takes unagented manuscripts. Look in the acknowledgements section of the book (dont know if books like yours will contain them) because authors usually thank their agents, so find out who the agent is and look up the agency online and read its guidelines.

aaronline.org and agentquery.com are two places in which to find agents. Not all agents who represent childrens will represent books for kids that young - they might only represent Young Adult and/or Middle Grade (9-12 y/o).

Good luck. It's up to you to do your research and make sure you're not taking for a ride by a scammer.

How did you get started writing children’s books? Thank you?

How did you get started writing children's books? Thank you?

First it is good to become familiar with children's books, or pick up some books on writing children's books. Find out what the general word length is for the age group you want to write for.

Get some ideas and begin writing... write many drafts, keep honing and refining it. Be aware of your word choices and how they fit in with that age group. Make sure your spelling, grammar and punctuation are perfect. Check out trade magazines like the Writer's Digest or Publisher's Weekly for tips, advice, and markets to check out.

Look in the Writer's Market (online or at your reference section in the library) for publishers that publish books for that age group. Pay close attention to their guidelines. Make sure they accept unsolicited manuscripts, which means you can just send it in without an invitation-- or see if they like you to query (send an inquiry letter) first. See if they are okay with simultaneous submissions (which means you send it to many publishers for consideration at once) or not. Or if they Make sure your word count, topic, age range, etc., all fit in with their guidelines.

When you print your manuscript, don't do anything fancy. Plain white paper, standard margins, double-spaced. On the first page put the title of your story, your name, contact information and the word count. Write a dazzling query or cover letter to capture their attention, telling them about yourself and what makes your story unique. Let them know if this is a simultaneous submission.

It is important to follow their guidelines to the letter and format your manuscript correctly or they will just throw your entry in the trash or return it unread. Likewise if they come across an error in spelling, grammar or punctuation.

It could take several months, even over a year, to get a response. Most new authors end up on the slush pile-- a pile of unsoliceted manuscripts left aside unopened until one day they assign some intern or assistant to sit down and begin going through them... you'll have to really stand out and impress them over all those submissions for your work to be given to an editor for consideration.

Don't give up... it may take several submissions before one hits. Most failed writers are the ones who gave up trying. New writers get a lot of rejection, it can be discouraging, but if you ever expect to be published you just have to keep trying.

Also on this date Tuesday, October 1, 2024...