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

Question

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

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

I have not written a child's book but  I think a good starting place would be start reading the most popular from the Library. Tell stories to your own children if you have any. Otherwise, tell them to your neighbour's kids.

Get some children to help you make up a story. Accept the impossible things they tell you and together, work out a solution.   Hope you succeed.