Image: Books from childhood, by John and Keturah

Jessica writes: “I used to write articles for a fashion magazines and some street mags.  When I started studying psychology at university I switched gears as the developmental aspects of psychology are really fascinating and reminded me of how vivid and important picture books were when I was a child.

Although children’s writing is probably one of the most competitive realms of publishing, I have two stories aimed at an audience between 6 and 9 which I believe would slide well into the current market (based solely on regular trips to Ariel Booksellers). I read your blog regularly, and thought perhaps you could give me some advice about how to avoid the traps, get and agent and get published.”

Unfortunately, this is one area I know nothing about (my book publishing knowledge relates mostly to non-fic), so I passed Jessica’s question on to publisher, blogger and children’s author extraordinaire, Karen Andrews, who offered the following wisdom:

Hi Jessica, 

It’s great to see how your studies have revived your childhood memories of books and stories and inspired an interest to write more. I admit this is what happened to me when I began (but later abandoned) a teaching degree and had to study picture books for a course. However my real ‘hands on’ experience with children’s literature came when I had my own kids and I started reading, and re-reading books, and taking them to story-times at the library. They were my target audience (2 – 5 yrs) for my children’s picture book Surprise! and so I read my manuscript to them many times. I printed out the manuscript and handed them out to most of my friends with kids in the same age bracket to get feedback. I would suggest you do this, too. Doing shelf research is very important, but nothing compares to the unfiltered opinions of children whether a story is working or not! 

There are a variety of ways you can scope out what the current publishing scene is like: there are a number of ‘how to write for children’ books available, and I’ve read many. Most state and regional writing centres host writing for children workshops, as do adult education centres and universities, however I admit doing these are often dependant on time and money. As are attending conferences, but these sometimes offer competitions or opportunities to show your work to publishers and agents. For example, I entered the manuscript for Surprise! in the 2007 CYA conference competition where it was marked highly and that gave me a real confidence boost. I went my own way with Surprise! after that: I published it myself, and have had no regrets whatsoever, but I realise it’s not a choice everyone can make (because they are very expensive). I tried to get an Australian agent, but was unsuccessful, so researched American agents using the 2009 Children’s and Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market book (best money I ever spent), sent off three or four letters, and was picked up pretty much straight away. I only sent three or four letter – as opposed to dozens – because I read all the guidelines carefully. For example, don’t send something for 6 – 9 year olds to agents/publishers who only read for older audiences, don’t send something to a place that’s specifically said they aren’t taking on new authors/clients. 

Finally, since even Surprise!, the rise of social media has helped remarkably. Thanks to Twitter, in my case especially, you can connect with other writers in your field. Writers, generally, are pretty generous, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been alerted to great publications, opportunities, and hidden nuggets of information. 

But most of all – write, and keep on writing. I wish you all the best with it.