Great Resources

Here are some valuable resources for children's writers. If you've been writing for awhile, or just starting out, these resources are very helpful. While this list is certainly not comprehensive, it's a great place to start!

1. SCBWI - Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators is a national organization that organizes conferences twice a year (LA in August, NY in January). They also publish a bi-monthly bulletin and maintain a helpful website. Most states (or regions) have a local chapter of SCBWI. There are also international SCBWI chapters. You can find out about your local chapter on the main SCBWI website.

http://www.scbwi.org

2. CLN - The Children's Literature Network is based in Minnesota but serves people from all over. The sight is not just for writers, but for anyone interested in children's literature. Some of the website features are author profiles, book lists, and upcoming events.

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org

3. The Purple Crayon - Children's Editor, Harold Underdown, maintains this site with tons of information about writing for children.

http://www.underdown.org

4. Verla Kay's Website - Verla Kay maintains a website with lots of information for children's writers and illustrators.

http://www.verlakay.com

5. Children's Writer Newsletter - This helpful paper newsletter comes out monthly and contains trends, interviews and articles about writing for children. Visit their website for more information and to subscribe.

http://www.childrenswriter.com

Royalties, Advances and Flat Fees - How do they work?

How are children's writers paid for their work? There are two main ways - 1. Advance against Royalties, or 2. Flat Fee.

These two payment types usually correlate with what kind of publisher you are working with. Trade publishers (see previous blog) usually offer a contract with an Advance against Royalties. Educational publishers usually offer a Flat Fee.

What is the difference? Flat Fees are negotiated, one-time payments. You are hired to write a book for a specific fee. For example, you may be hired to write a biography for an educational publisher. Say they offer you a $1,000 fee. You would get $500 when you sign the contract and the other $500 when you hand in the completed manuscript. Then your payment is complete. You do not receive any additional funds. This is called Work-for-Hire or a contract with a Flat Fee.

Trade publishers usually offer writers a contract with an Advance against Royalties. For example, you are selling your book to a trade publisher. They offer you a $5,000 advance. You receive $2500 when you sign the contract and $2500 when you deliver the final manuscript. Then you wait. Royalties are payments based on the number of books that are sold. (Say you get $1.00 per book. So, if 300 books are sold, you receive $300.) But here is the part a lot of people don't understand. You must "earn out" your advance before you receive any royalties. So, if your advance was $5,000 you must sell 5,001 copies of your book before you get any additional money. Once you have sold the 5,000 copies, you will start receiving royalty checks in the mail.

We often hear about people getting big advances. This is good if you want/need more money up front. But, ultimately you will receive the same amount of money in the end. And if, by chance, your book does NOT sell out its advance (the 5,000 copies in our scenario), then the publisher may look less kindly on you when you want to sell them book #2.

So, bottom line - expect to negotiate a flat fee for educational publishers. And when you sell a book to a trade publisher, yes try to get a good advance, but don't worry about getting a huge amount. A smaller advance up front just means receiving royalty checks in the mail that much sooner.

Trade and Educational Books

What is the difference between "trade" and "educational" books for children? I have written for both markets and will explain the difference.

Basically, TRADE books for kids are the books you usually find in bookstores. The intended buyer is the general consumer. They most often are published in hardcover with a paper jacket flap cover.

The EDUCATIONAL market publishes books for children as well. These books are most often found in school and public libraries. The intended buyer is mostly librarians. (There are, of course, exceptions. But this is the basic rule.) These books are often published with a hard cover called a Library Binding (which is very durable) with no paper jacket flap.

My book Muriel's Red Sweater is a trade book published by Dutton Children's Books. My book Saving Shadow is an educational book published by Picture Window Books, which is part of Capstone Press. Capstone is one of the big educational publishers. Saving Shadow fits into their existing line of "character education" books.

This photo (provided by Laura Purdie Salas) was taken at the Annual ALA show in Chicago last week. This is the Capstone/Picture Window booth at the ALA trade show. Saving Shadow is one of their featured books! ALA is attended by a lot of librarians, so the educational markets advertise big at this annual event.

Picture Books

What exactly is a picture book?

This may seem like a silly question. "It's a book with pictures for kids, Dummy," you might be thinking. But there is more to it than that as I have learned over the years.

First off, there is a difference between an Illustrated Story and a true Picture Book. (Although, people basically call them all picture books.) But if you go to the bookstore or library, you can see the difference for yourself.

An Illustrated Story is a book for children that tells a story and has illustrations that accompany the story. Think most fairy tale books. There's the story and every page or so, a picture of some scene from the text. This is a story with illustrations.

A true Picture Book is a pairing of story and illustration. One may be able to live without the other, but the book overall relies on both. I'll give an example.

ROSIE'S WALK by Pat Hutchins is a classic and one of my favorites. (In fact, ROSIE'S WALK, in part, inspired me to write my picture book MURIEL'S RED SWEATER.)

In ROSIE'S WALK there is a story about a chicken who goes for a walk around the farm and gets back home in time for dinner. Now, if you just read the printed page, that's all you would know. But, Hutchins' illustrations add a whole other layer to the tale. We see a fox trying to catch the chicken. At every turn, the fox is thwarted (in a humorous manner) and Rosie makes it back home. Here, the book entirely depends on the marriage of story and illustration.

ROSIE'S WALK is an "extreme" example, if you will. But, the concept is the same. Whenever the pictures add to the story, instead of just capturing a moment in the text, then you have a true picture book.

Editors know this. Librarians know this. If you are both author and illustrator, pairing the two most likely comes naturally. The challenge for an author of picture books is to leave enough room for the illustrator to do his or her thing and add to the story.

And when this happens, you can feel the affect, even if you couldn't name it before. You are reading a true picture book.

Children's Writer Gal Launches

Welcome to my blog about the craft and business of writing for children. Here I will give tips and information that are useful for anyone writing (or thinking about writing) for children.

First a little more about me:

I'm the author of three books for children.

• Muriel's Red Sweater (Dutton Children's Books, 2009)

• Saving Shadow (Picture Window Books, 2009)

• Remembering Mama (Augsburg Press, 2005)

I'm a former English and drama teacher. Now I teach and speak about Writing for Children. I'm also a bookseller and children's book buyer for Micawber's Books, a great, independent bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I would be thrilled if you join in the conversation. If you have a question, I'll try to figure out the answer. We'll talk about manuscripts, types of children's books, editors, agents, and much more. Thanks for stopping by!

Where else can you find me on the web?

My children's author website: http://www.daradokas.com

My blog about working at an independent bookstore: http://bookshopgal.blogspot.com/