How do you write children's books and get them published? You write a children’s book by choosing a target audience, incorporating captivating elements, and beautifully illustrating it. Children’s books may either be self-published or submitted to traditional publishers.
And this article can give you the other tools you need to write the next great children’s book that you may have been thinking about for years, but never thought you'd be able to write and share it with little ones.
What’s your reason for writing children’s books? For me, it’s that smile.
Many authors or aspiring writers dream of publishing a children’s book. Maybe you have an incredible idea that you can’t stop thinking about. Or perhaps you want to put to paper your little one’s favorite bedtime short story — the one you made up while snuggling together.
Whatever the reason, now is the time to check this dream off your bucket list.
And I'm here to help you do that.
I'm a multi-award winning & bestselling children’s book author and ghostwriter of more than 50 children’s books. And I founded a little thing called Children’s Book University®, which helps other authors create books like I have.
What follows is as much information as I could condense into a single article on how to write a children's book. Enjoy!
Get Your FREE Children's Book ChecklistDon't know where to start your children's book? We've got a checklist that will take you through the entire process, from the initial idea to the finished, polished product. Check it out!
Writing and publishing your own children’s book is no longer super challenging to achieve, nor does it take all your life savings (like it might have 20 years ago).
Unless you’re a celebrity or have a large following already, self-publishing your children’s book is a great way to get your foot in the door, even if your ultimate goal is to eventually explore traditional publishing.
If you present a well-performing book and an established author platform, your chances of landing a publishing deal are much higher than if you simply submit a query or manuscript.
How much money can be made from writing a children's book? The answer to this question greatly depends on the subject of the children's book. That's why doing our research is so important, even before we start writing our children's book.
Even for children’s books, we need to validate our book idea.
In this article, you will learn:
Get it here for FREE!Looking to find the right niche for your children's book on Amazon? Download my personal guide on increasing your book's rankings and discoverability on Amazon so you get more sales continuously!
Additionally, book series are generally doing very well with kids. Once little ones come to love a character, they often can't get enough of them and their parents continue buying the books. The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle are wonderful examples.
The roadmap below outlines what steps we’ll take to write and publish a children’s book:
For books marketed to younger audiences, you need to know that parents will want to buy this book. Children usually don’t spend the money to buy your story. Yes, make something entertaining for kids — but you need parents to buy your book first.
The primary purchaser of children’s books is between 30 and 44 years old. Females make up more than 70% of these buyers.
A few ways you could really get to better know your audience are:
Market research is also a huge tool to see what books parents are looking to buy their children. You'd be surprised at how much interest some themes get when compared to others. Take a look at this example here, showing the search volume for common children's book themes on Amazon:
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
Right away, you should see that some topics get way more interest than others- and depending on your personal goals, you might want to avoid writing a book about a topic with low searches.
Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here.
When writing a children’s storybook, it’s really important to know the basic structure of a children’s book. There are lots of templates for writing a children’s book!
To learn more about children’s books and how to structure your writing for a younger audience, you could:
Is there a template for writing a children’s book? Yes, there are many templates for writing a children’s book. Here are some of my favorites:
You should be able to explain your book concept to anyone in a single sentence and in fewer than 30 seconds.
To best explain your book concept to potential readers or traditional publishers, you should develop a logline that encapsulates the plot and the hook.
If you’re not concisely explaining your book’s concept, you might lose potential readers and publishers because it’s too confusing.
These 7 writing tips may help you avoid common issues when writing a children’s book:
Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market. Help your book now
Get Rocket NowYou want to make a children’s book. Below is every resource you’re going to need.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write a children’s book:
STEP 1
. Choose the FormatShould you publish an ebook or paperback? You should consider publishing your children’s book in both ebook format and paperback format.
Paperback is still the most popular format for children’s books. If you’re looking to sell your children’s book on Amazon or in brick-and-mortar stores, you should invest in a high-quality paperback format.
Ebooks are not a very popular medium for children’s books. However, children’s ebook usage is continuously increasing.
Most parents still prefer their kids to read print books, but the number of parents who prefer ebooks or who have no preference is growing.
Ebooks also come in handy during promotions and review requests. Giving away an ebook for review is a lot easier and more cost-effective.
With a little research, you can determine how well books are selling in your desired format. Here's an example of five competing paperback books on Amazon showing for the keyword “Children's Books About Puppies”, which should give you an idea of how well that format is performing. You can even see how many pages these books are, so you can calculate your estimated costs!
Price, Earnings, and Pages Data provided by Publisher Rocket
It’s worth noting that a study out of the University of Michigan found that storytime with ebooks is not as effective. Compared with physical book storytime, parents spent more time talking about the technology, instead of the book’s content, during ebook storytime.
So physical children’s books won’t go away anytime soon.
STEP 2
. Know Your Target CategoryTo write a children’s book, you need to know your target category — that is, the age of your target audience.
When publishing on Amazon, you will be asked to list what ages your book is for. So it’s important to add the most appropriate age range. Otherwise you may receive lots of negative reviews from parents and other caregivers that thought your book to be unsuitable for their little ones.
Depending on the kids’ age reading your book, you will want to adjust the number of illustrations, word count, writing style, and more.
Most children’s books fall into one of these 5 categories:
Below is a table to show average statistics for the most common types of children’s books:
Short words and short sentences are critical for the youngest children, so readers don’t feel overwhelmed. Colorful illustrations and fun characters are more necessary in children’s books than in adult fiction. Where adults can mentally grapple with ambiguity, kids prefer resolved stories and answered questions.
Each stage of development in a child’s life requires a different story structure and book setup. Adapting to each stage and its cognitive ability is essential if we want our book to be meaningful, educational, and fun.
Board Books are considered the youngest category — including on Amazon’s marketplace. They are for kids aged 0 to 2.
A Board Book is printed on thick paperboard. Often, it contains all pictures or fewer than 100 words.
In most of these categories, but especially these Board Books, marketing to parents is probably more important than appealing to kids. Of course, you want your book to be fun and intriguing to children. But make sure you give parents what they’re looking for: a good message and subtle, effective education.
Picture Books are the next category of children’s books. They are for 3- to 5-year-olds.
Children’s picture books contain up to 400 words, but there should still be vibrant illustrations on every page.
Also called the “Early Readers” category, Chapter Books are just what they sound like — the first books that children will read with the story split up into chapters.
Though some children will be excited to start reading chapter books, others will be reluctant. The broad age range for basic Chapter Books is 6 to 10.
Middle Grade books are for children 8 to 12 — a step up from Chapter Books.
These books typically feature a protagonist aged 10 to 13, slightly older than the reader. They should contain no profane language, no violence, and no romance outside of a first kiss or an innocent crush.
Common themes include friendship, acceptance, good conquering evil, and the importance of family.
A Middle Grade book is longer than a Chapter Book but shorter than a YA book. It usually contains between 30,000 and 45,000 words.
Young Adult books are targeted towards readers aged 13 to 18. Abbreviated as YA, Young Adult is meant to appeal to teenagers, although it’s important to note that more than half of YA books sold are read by adults older than 18.
Some people also use “Young Adult” to mean a genre where the protagonist doesn’t fit in, the parents are absent, they live in a post-apocalyptic world, and a coming-of-age story takes center stage. These are tropes and don’t necessarily apply to every YA story, but you get the picture.
YA books won’t always be considered children’s books. But some traditional publishers may classify “Young Adult” as a children’s book category.
STEP 3
. Choose a TitleYou need to choose a winning title for your children’s book. You could do this after it’s written, but having a title in mind may guide you in your writing. You can always improve and change the title after the story is written.
A creative title lets your story’s personality shine through. But you also want readers to actually find your book. This could be difficult if you don’t name your children’s book correctly.
Fortunately, Dave at Kindlepreneur wrote excellent articles on How to Title a Book and Book Title Generators. They will definitely help you craft that perfect title.
To title a children’s book, you need:
The book The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions is a great example:
Speaking of subtitles: It’s important to include a subtitle underneath your title. This helps the marketing of your book by including additional keywords that parents can search for.
As you can see, some kids book genres have decent money coming into them, with less competition. So, make sure you do your research beforehand and see what possible types of kids books you can create. One way you can quickly see the competition of a genre is checking out your book's Amazon categories, and seeing how many sales it takes per day to become a bestseller. That should give you a good idea of the competition in that genre.
For example, take a look at the competition difference here for several children's categories about specific animals. Many young children have a favorite, and making a high quality book in a lower competition category can help your book be discovered by readers.
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
By writing a quality book for a category with low competition, but significant interest, your children's book will stand out from the crowd. If you decide to target a high competition category, just know there are publishers and authors with high experience already in that space, and you will have to work harder to capture a customer's attention.
STEP 4
. Find a Writing StyleYou need to find a writing style that fits the age group you are writing for, the associated word count, the story you’re telling, and your own preferences.
You may be an excellent writer, an engaging blogger, maybe even an already accomplished author of adult fiction or nonfiction. But when it comes to writing style for children, you have to adopt a new mindset and an appropriate writing style.
Here are some writing styles you should consider:
There is no right or wrong approach; it’s merely a question of style. Once you have chosen your style, you will need to stick to it throughout the book.
. Incorporate Important Elements
When you write a children’s book, there are important elements that you need to incorporate, such as an appropriate theme, memorable characters, and relatable dialogue.
Your inspired story idea is only as strong as how you tell it. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are actions, scenes, and emotions. Be sure to be clear about your core message.
The 5 most important elements in a good children’s book:
While the sequence and rhythm of events are significant, keep in mind that not all stories have the same structure. There is no one formula because following a formula would rob stories of their true potential.
Yes, it’s crucial to have an intentional structure. But if it doesn’t fit perfectly, don’t force it.
STEP 6
. Use Solid CharactersYou have to use solid characters in your children’s book. Interesting, unforgettable characters are a must, especially when helping kids recall your story and core message.
The best characters in children’s books…
It's also important to research a character's surface level attributes before starting to write your book. Children will often ask their parents for a specific type of character such as a train, or a pig, or any other current interest they may have. For example, take a look at how much bestselling books earn for these character types, as well as the level of competition become a bestseller:
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
STEP 7
. Make the Story EngagingYou need to make the story engaging in your children’s book.
First, you need a good ending. Younger kids need a happy ending that satisfies them. You don’t want to make a kid cry because your story ended sadly. That doesn’t mean slightly more realistic conclusions are pointless, but your audience may struggle to understand complex topics.
Next, make sure your main character is making deliberate choices to move the story forward. If they aren’t making any decisions, they probably shouldn’t be the main character.
Any good story needs suspense, no matter your age category. Cliffhangers are a great way to engage your reader. In a younger book, a cliffhanger may be as simple as writing “Peek-a-” on one page, then “BOO!” on the next.
Here are some examples of suspenseful questions that different age ranges should ask throughout the story:
STEP 8
. Proofread & EditWhen you finish your first draft, you need to proofread and edit your children’s books.
Check out Kindlepreneur’s useful article on the Best Proofreading Services You'll Ever Find.
You should wait to hire a professional editor until you have self-edited your book. But you need a pro to look at your work before publishing.
Editing is a valuable and necessary investment, particularly for anything longer than 600 words. A professional proofreader or a line editor can help with spelling and grammar. For chapter books and beyond, you may want to hire a developmental editor to look at the big picture.
A good editor is instrumental in making your book a success because poor spelling, grammar, and book structure will reflect poorly on you as a children’s book writer, leading to negative reviews and fewer sales.
Your book and its message might be fantastic, but too many errors will be noticed by your readers. They may voice their opinion in a review like this, which ultimately lowers your overall rating.
So if your book is more than 600-800 words long, you should send it off to a professional editor for proofing.
Yes, you can go over it yourself and let your significant other read through it. But letting an unbiased, independent professional look over it will make your manuscript as good as it can be.
To find a great editor, read Kindlepreneur’s handy article Selecting The Best Book Editor.
STEP 9
. Illustrate Your BookWhen it comes to adding illustrations to your children’s book, there are three options you can choose from:
The best option for you will depend on your budget, time, skill level, and trust you’re willing to put into someone else's interpretation of your story.
Illustrating your book may take almost as much time as — if not more time than — actually writing the words of your children’s book.
I’ve broken up the illustration process into 7 steps:
Your book cover is a particularly important illustration. Make sure it attracts the right readers! Services like 100 Covers can really make it shine with special typography.
When it comes to picture books, there are 3 orientations to choose from:
(This doesn’t apply to chapter books or books for older children. Those usually feature the classic 5½” x 8” format.)
You should choose your book’s orientation early on since it will inform virtually every decision about illustrations down the road.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but here are general reasons to choose each:
Whether you hire an illustrator or create the illustrations yourself, you’ll want to make sure you plan your image sizing correctly. This way, once you upload your artwork, everything runs smoothly.
Below are the most common sizes for children’s book images:
If you plan on having your images cover the entire page, make sure to add 0.125” to the top and bottom, as well as one side. This accounts for trimming (sections to be removed in printing).
Amazon offers handy templates to plan your image sizing. But remember that you’ll still have to add the bleed allowance yourself.
Here are great inches-to-pixels and pixels-to-inches converters. These help you know how large your image should be, depending on your selected trim size. Be sure to choose a DPI (dots per inch) of 300 when using the mentioned converter.
A storyboard or book dummy helps you decide what to include in each illustration and how the text will match up with the images.
This is meant to help you determine which illustrations you want to include, better informing your quest to find and hire an illustrator. This step is extra helpful if you are planning to create your illustrations yourself.
The storyboard creation process doesn’t have to be perfect. Be expressive, and have fun. In the end, you’ll probably create a few different versions, each being an improvement over the previous one.
How to create a storyboard or book dummy:
How you combine your text and illustrations is entirely up to you.
However, it's a crucial element on how to write a children's book. Whatever you choose, be consistent throughout.
There are two ways of combining text and illustrations:
Having the text as part of the image makes your book format much more straightforward,, and looks consistent across all devices.
However, you decide to include the text in the image itself, this will have to be done by your illustrator. This method makes editing the text a bit harder — any changes or corrections have to be made within the image itself.
Below (left) is a page from my book The Garbage Trucks Are Here, and on the right is a page from my book A Gemstone Adventure.
The other option is to have the text and image separate. The text sits below or above the illustration or on a separate page.
Below is a double-page spread from my chapter book series, The Amulet Of Amser. It has an image on the left-hand page and the text on the right-hand page.
You can arrange this layout by yourself. You don't have to involve your illustrator.
I've started gathering individual authors and agencies into one big list to help with your search. Check them and their sites out below. Keep in mind that I haven't used these services myself.
Here’s a list of outsourcing sites and social media sites where you can choose an illustrator for your children’s book:
These outsourcing sites provide you with reviews from the artist’s previous clients and may even include information about previous completion rates. Most importantly, these sites are cost-effective.
On most outsourcing sites, you’ll post your project (similar to a job offering), and children’s book illustrators will bid on it.
To get an idea of how much you should be offering, browse some of the platform’s current projects. Know that your bid sets a baseline only, as each illustrator will bid individually on your project if he or she is interested in working with you.
: To get you started with your illustrator search, I’ve created swipe files that you can use to post your Illustrator Project Description into any of the previously suggested sites. You can download it here
After the initial bidding process (usually a couple of days), you will have to go through each illustrator’s profile and portfolio to decide who would — or wouldn’t — be a great fit.
You’ll need to pay for illustrations. An illustrator is more critical than an editor for picture books — the illustrations are what the reader will be most focused on.
To get a feel for acceptable prices for a project, browse websites to find postings for similar projects. Actual prices differ significantly from service provider to service provider and change drastically over time.
Payments are generally released based on milestones that you set, such as the completion of the storyboard. The milestone setup will depend on the scope of your project and the platform you are using to hire your illustrator.
The cost of your illustrator depends on multiple things:
Once you choose the best-fitting illustrator for your project and they’ve completed their work, you need to obtain the illustrations.
You want high-resolution images (300 dpi) with the proper sizing and the raw files of all images. This will enable you to make changes directly to your illustrations if need be.
A signed art release form is relevant if you decide to hire an illustrator directly. Any art attained via outsourcing sites should automatically make the illustrations your intellectual property.
Take my full featured video course on how to select the best keywords and categories for your book.
Take the CourseThe answer to whether or not you should copyright your children’s book is entirely up to you. Just know that under U.S. copyright law, you already own your work the instant you write it down. However, you can protect your copyright by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
Read Kindlepreneur’s handy article written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US
What should I not do when writing a children’s book?
You should try not to sound too preachy or instructional about your themes and morals. Kids are very perceptive. They smell an agenda miles away.
You should not leave a story unresolved or a question unanswered. Depending on the age group you’re writing your children’s book for, you need to provide a satisfying ending — particularly for smaller kids.
You should not break patterns. Children love a routine. The key to routines or patterns is to not break them. In your children's book, once we’ve established a pattern (rhyme, repeating phrase, character behavior, etc.), try your best to stick to it.
One of the easiest ways to convert your children’s book into an ebook is Amazon’s Kindle Kids’ Book Creator.
While I use other methods, I love working with and recommending this simple yet powerful tool. It’s FREE and helps you create an ebook version for your illustrated children’s book. You can import artwork, add text, and create Kindle Text Pop-Ups.
And the best part is that there’s no HTML/CSS knowledge required!
Yes, your children’s book should have a subtitle, mainly for marketing purposes.
As I share in my book How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book, making use of a subtitle can be very beneficial for connecting with potential readers.
Giving your children’s book a subtitle provides you with an additional opportunity to use keywords, key phrases, or synonyms that potential readers might be using when searching for a children’s book like yours.
Using a subtitle also allows for more creative freedom than with your actual title. So if your title itself doesn't fully communicate the topic of the book, you’ll have the subtitle as a backup.
Figure out what is trending in children's books using Publisher Rocket. Use this info to develop an effective subtitle.
Just type in a children's book idea, and you can quickly see how many people are searching for those books on Amazon, the average amount of money made by the top books, and even the competition:
This data was created using Publisher Rocket.As you can see, some kids’ book genres have decent money coming into them with less competition. Make sure you do your research beforehand and title/subtitle your children’s book accordingly.
You write a children’s book description (blurb) by looking at similar books’ descriptions. Pay special attention to length, word choice, and the style they are written in. That’s usually a great way to see what your audience expects and is used to.
Like books of other genres, your book description is fundamental to your children’s book’s success.
While your book cover and title help with your book’s discoverability and grabbing a potential buyer’s attention, your description is often the reason a reader decides to buy (or not to buy) your book.
To help you with your blurb format, be sure to check out Dave’s amazing Book Description Generator that takes care of all the text formatting for you.
Amazon has over 450 paperback and 260 eBook categories for children’s books. Your children’s book should be in the category that best describes your audience:
(These categories are how Amazon’s marketplace categorizes children’s books.)
During your children’s book setup, you may have noticed that not all children’s book categories are offered as an option. That’s because some of Amazon’s categories need to be unlocked before being selected.
However, if you set up your children’s book correctly by adding age ranges, you will be able to add your book quickly and easily to any of these hidden categories by following Dave’s steps in his article How To Choose the Best Book Categories. This is a game-changer for you and your children's book.
The best book cover design for your children’s book is one that entices potential readers, looks professional to parents, looks fun to kids, and communicates what your book is about.
To get the best cover design you can for your children’s book, follow this guide for making standout book covers. Then create a book mock-up for your book marketing efforts.
Follow this guide, and you’ll craft a beautiful story tailored toward your audience. And you’ll have the illustrations to make your children’s book eye-catching, and intriguing.
Children value creativity and individuality. There is no one way to draw. No one way to paint. No one way to write. It’s about being uniquely you, lending your unique voice to your unique story.
That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of the way you write, and you draw because that’s what sets you apart. Diversity is important. Tell your story.
Check out my book, How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book – Everything You Need To Know To Write, Illustrate, Publish, And Market Your Paperback And Ebook.
It will teach you how to:
Writing a children’s book is one thing; writing a children’s book that sells is another. Check out Kindlepreneur’s video on How to Write a Children's Book: 8 EASY STEPS!
Want more videos like this? Then click HERE to subscribe to Kindlepreneur’s YouTube channel.
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As a children’s book editor, I’ve helped hundreds of authors write, edit and publish their children’s book.
Anyone can sit down and dash out a children’s book, and with a little help and guidance, yours can be good enough to earn the attention of thousands of children.
And nothing beats the feeling of holding your printed book in your hands and reading it to a child for the first time. Follow these 12 steps and you’ll get there in no time.
In this article you’ll learn:
How to write the right length
How to structure the plot
How to work with an illustrator
How to revise
How to publish
I also help authors with:
Lastly, you can read this whole post and get a decent understanding of how to write a children’s book, but if you want the full, in-depth experience with even more information, videos, PDFs, quizzes, and exercises, you can take my 30-video course on how to write a children’s book:
Online Course: “Two Weeks To Your Best Children’s Book.”
Okay, buckle up and get ready! These are the 12 steps to writing a children’s book.
You probably have an idea already, but you should work on refining it. Here’s how:
Google “children’s book” and a phrase that describes your book.
Once you’ve found books that are similar, look at the summary of those books.
Figure out how your book is different than the published ones.
This might seem commonsense to check what’s already out there before putting all your time and energy into a book, but so many authors don’t do it! This is just basic research that you can do in 2 minutes that will give you a sense of competing books.
When I lead most authors through this process, they discover that their idea has already been written about. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing — actually, it’s proof that children want to read about their topic!
The trick is to have one twist for your story that makes it different. If it’s a story about bullying, perhaps your book tells the story from the point of view of the bully! Or if it’s a story about a dog, make this dog a stray or blind in one eye.
Maybe your story is different because you have a surprise at the end, or maybe it’s different because it’s for an older or younger age group, or your character has a magical guide like a fairy or elf to lead them through their journey. Just add one twist that distinguishes it from other books.
I edit hundreds of children’s books every year, and the best books have unique characters. They are quirky in some way. They have a funny habit. They look strange. They talk differently than everyone else.
But when I see a book where the main character is indistinguishable from every child, that worries me. You don’t want a character who stands in for every child, you want a main character that feels REAL.
My advice would be to go through a Character Questionnaire and figure out how much you know about your character:
What does your main character desire?
What is their best/worst habit?
Are they an extrovert or introvert?
How do they speak differently than everyone else? (cute sayings, repeated phrase/word, dialect, high/low volume)
Do they doubt themselves or do they have too much bravery?
Do they have any pets? (or does your animal character have human owners)
What makes your main character feel happy?
Do they have any secrets?
What would this character do that would be very out of character?
What is one thing this character loves that most people dislike?
Now score yourself on how many you knew right away:
8 – 10
Congrats! Your character feels like a real person to you!
6 – 7
Pretty good! You have thought deeply about your character.
5 and below
Take a few more character questionnaires before you start writing.
If you’d like more questions, I have an expanded version of this questionnaire in my course.
I also have another post on the 10 steps to writing a memorable character.
What’s the right word count for your book?
This is probably the most common question I get asked, and it’s also the one that most writers get wrong.
Ultimately, you need to figure out what age range you’re writing for, and then write within that word count.
Most writers are writing picture books for ages 3 – 7 — that’s the most common category. If that’s you, then shoot for 750 words. That’s the sweet spot.
If you write a picture book more than 1,000 words, you’re sunk. You absolutely have to keep it under 1,000 words. It’s the most unyielding rule in the entire industry. Seriously, take out all the red pens and slash away until you’ve whittled it down.
Many unpublished children’s books fail to grab the child’s attention (and parent’s attention!), and that’s because they start too slow. If your story is about a child joining a circus, they should join on the first or second page.
Don’t give backstory about this child’s life. Don’t set the scene or tell us what season it is.
Just have the circus come into town, and as soon as possible, have the child become a clown or tightrope walker or lion tamer.
You have such a short space to tell your story that you can’t waste any time. The pacing of children’s stories generally moves lickety-split, so don’t write at a tortoise pace.
For instance, look at the picture book “HippoSPOTamus.” When do you think the hippo discovers the red spot on her bottom?
Yep, it’s on the first page.
And that event launches the entire story.
Start your book that quickly.
Every character has a problem. It could be a mystery, it could be a person, it could be a crisis of confidence. That problem is what they will struggle with for the entire book.
The majority of the book will be obstacles the main character has to hurdle before they can solve their problem.
Here are the main mistakes beginning writers make with their character’s Main Problem:
The character solves the problem too easily. Make your character really struggle and fail. Ideally, the main character should fail at least three times before solving this problem, and perhaps fail as many times as five (if you’re writing for older children).
There are not a series of obstacles. On the character’s way to solving the problem, the main character should run up against a whole bunch of obstacles. Don’t have him defeat a single obstacle and then voila, problem is solved. To build a rocket ship to fly to space, the main character should lose some parts, his mother should call him for dinner, his friend should tell him it won’t work, it should rain, etc.
The character doesn’t care enough about solving the problem. This has to be a HUGE problem for the child — they have to feel like it’s a matter of life and death, even if the actual problem is only a missing button. As long as the child feels like it’s a huge problem, the reader will feel like it’s a huge problem.
Children love repetition! Parents love repetition! Publishers love repetition!
Everybody loves repetition! (check out my post on 17 fantastic examples of repetition in literature).
If you’re not repeating something in your children’s book, it’s not going to be a great children’s book.
I mean, all of Dr. Seuss is basically built on repetition (and he’s pretty much the godfather of children’s books).
Here are three types of repetition that you can use:
Repetition of a word or phrase on a page
Repetition of a word or phrase across the entire book
Repetition of the story structure
Any book that rhymes is using repetition of similar words, and I would argue that story structure repetition is even more important than language repetition.
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One of the main jobs of the writer is to set up the illustrator for success. (and you can hire an illustrator from the SCBWI illustrator gallery)
But so many writers aren’t thinking about what kind of material they’re giving to the illustrator.
If you have a book that takes place inside a house between two characters, the illustrator is going to struggle to draw visually interesting images.
A good illustrator can radically improve your book, but they’re also working with what you give them. So give them more:
Choose fun buildings for your setting (put it in a greenhouse rather than a school)
Think of funny-looking main characters (a lemur is much more fun to draw than a dog)
Get out in the open rather than being inside (wheat fields are more entertaining than a bedroom).
Inside locations like a school limit illustrators:
While illustrators have much more freedom with fun outside possibilities:
Remember, a publisher isn’t only evaluating your book on the words alone. They’re thinking about the combination between your words and an illustrator’s pictures. And if you don’t provide a solid half with the words, they’re going to say no.
And if you’re self-publishing, good visuals are much more fun for the child!
Also, if you’re exhausted by trying to find an illustrator that you can trust, and is affordable, let Bookfox Press do all the legwork for you. We have trusted illustrators that we’ve worked with before, and who do incredible work.
Once the main problem of the story is resolved (the cat is found, the bully says he’s sorry, the two girls become friends again), you only have a page or two to finish the book.
Since the story is done, there’s no longer any tension for the reader, which means they don’t have an incentive to keep reading. So do them a favor and end the book as quickly as possible.
Basically, you want to provide a satisfying conclusion and wrap up all the storylines.
One of my favorite tricks for an ending is a technique that stand-up comedians call a “Call Back.” This is when they reference a joke from earlier in their set to finish out their routine.
You can use this in children’s books by referencing something in the first 5 or 6 pages of the book. For instance, if the main character was so focused on a purple lollipop that they wandered away and got lost, then after she was found the final page of the book might say: “and from then on she only licked red lollipops!”
Now you may say: why are we figuring out the title after we do all the writing? Good question.
The truth is that many writers don’t know the essence of their story until after they write the book. So you can have a temporary title, but just know that you’ll probably revise it after you finish.
And revising is fine! Everybody revises. Don’t be afraid to change your title multiple times until you hit the exact right one.
Also, the title is the number one marketing tool of your book. Most readers decide whether or not to pick up your book from the title alone. That means choosing a title might be the most important thing you do (although it’s probably a tie with choosing an illustrator).
Use Similar First Letters (Alliteration). Say your book is about Amy’s adventure finding a whole meadow full of poppies, and how she befriended a mouse there.
Don’t Title: “Amy’s Adventure with Poppies.”
Do Title: “The Mouse in the Meadow.”
Don’t Use a Descriptive Title. Many people just describe the contents of their book in the title, but I would warn against this. For instance, there’s a book about a boy who is searching through a vast library to find a special book about eternal life. What would you title this book?
Don’t: “The Vast Library.” (Boring)
Don’t: “The Library Hunt.” (This is better. “Hunt” is a good word, and the combo with library is intriguing.)
Do: “How to Live Forever.” (This is the actual title, and it’s great. This is the name of the book the boy is searching for, and it lets the reader know there will be some deep topics discussed.)
Use an Action Title. You want energy in your title. A lackluster title will spoil your book’s chances for sure. That means you want fun active verbs inside your title rather than passive ones.
Don’t: “Johnny’s Wonderful Day.”
Do: “Captain Johnny Defeats Dr. Doom.” (Captain Johnny makes it more playful, we have the active verb of “defeat” and Dr. Doom uses alliteration.)
Use the Technique of Mystery. Does your title tell the reader everything they want to know about the topic or does it provoke their curiosity? Your goal is to give enough information that the parent says, “Huh, that sounds fun.”
Don’t: “The Bird in the Window.”
Do: “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (What places?)
Do: “Olivia Saves the Circus.” (How? We want to know.)
Do: “How to Catch an Elephant.” (Tell me more!)
Google “Children’s Book [Your Title]”.You want to see if the title is already taken (or if there is a title that is too close). Now say your perfect title is already used. Can you still use that title? Well, yes. People can’t copyright titles. But you’ll have a hard time distinguishing your book from that book, so it’s not always the best idea.
Test Your Title with Children and Adults. It’s important to see how children react to your title. Are they excited? Do they seem bored? But remember that children aren’t the ones buying books — parents are. So make sure to bounce it off some adults as well and get their reaction.
Most unpublished picture books are far too wordy.
In fact, if you talk to publishers and agents, they will say that children’s books being too long is one of the main things that makes them reject a book.
Here is a revision technique that will fix that problem. Make every single word, every single phrase, every single sentence “Walk the Plank.”
In other words, you highlight it and hover over the delete button (this is the “walking the plank” moment) and ask yourself: if I cut this, will the story no longer make sense?
If the story will still make sense, then PUSH that phrase/sentence off the plank and delete it.
If the story will not make sense, then that word or phrase or sentence gets a reprieve (at least in this round of editing!).
In general, the shorter your children’s book, the better chance that publishers/agents will like it and the better chance you’ll have of pleasing children and parents (not to mention shorter books are cheaper to illustrate — and illustration is expensive!).
Once you’ve written your book, you really need to get an expert’s opinion to help you improve it. An editor will be the best investment in your book. After all, I know you love what you’ve written, but there are so many tricks and techniques to writing that can improve the experience of the reader.
There are two different types of children’s book editors.
First, there are developmental editors (also called content editors). These editors help you improve the story concept, the plot, the characters, the pacing, the dialogue, and whatever else needs to be improved. They look at the big picture and help you revise your book (this is what I do!).
After you use a developmental editor, then you would need a copy editor. This is the editor who fixes all the formatting, grammar, spelling, verb tenses, style, and all the other small details. They make your book look professional.
Sometimes you’ll find an editor who can do both, but you can’t do both at the same time — you have to make all the big picture revisions before you start tinkering with all the small details.
Here is a handy checklist when looking for an editor.
Your editor should be someone who has been in the industry for a while.
Your editor should have examples of published children’s books that they’ve edited.
Your editor should have testimonials from satisfied writers.
Your editor should be a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators).
The cost of editors vary widely, but if you’re not paying at least $400 – $600, you’re probably getting an amateur without a lot of experience in the industry. And you don’t want a beginner messing around with your book.
If you’d like to hire me as an editor, check out my children’s book editing page.
This is the most important step of the post-writing process.
An illustrator will be the most expensive step of publishing a children’s book, but also the most essential for a successful book. The more you spend on this step, the better your book will look. I mentioned the SCBWI illustrator gallery above, but I also wanted to recommend Fiverr as an inexpensive place to hire an illustrator.
If neither of those work out, check out the website Children’s Illustrators or for another option, Illustration X.
When you’re considering an illustrator, this is what you should ask for:
To see examples of previous work (do you like their style?)
To see a copy of the contract (do they keep the rights or do you?)
How long it will take (look at the graphic below for average times)
Whether they also do layout, type, and book design (otherwise you need to hire a book designer afterwards)
Make sure you’re really in love with the illustrator’s style, and that it matches your vision for what you want the book to look like.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
You can’t just throw words up on an illustration and expect them to look good. It’s essential to have a happy marriage between text and image. You want to think about:
The font. This is incredibly important. I see a lot of self-published children’s books that selected the wrong font, and it’s glaringly obvious. You need an illustrator to help you choose exactly the right font to match the illustrations.
The size of the font. This is important as well. It should be consistent across the whole book and should pair well with the size of objects in the illustration.
The placement of the words. If you put the words in the wrong place on the image, you basically ruin the entire illustration. It needs to be carefully balanced and follow good composition guidelines like the rule of thirds. Ideally, the words should enhance the illustration rather than detract from it.
Page breaks. What words should go on which pages? This is something you need to discuss with your illustrator before they begin. They need to have a say in this — don’t just tell them how you want the pages to be broken up. For instance, they might have the idea to have a two-page spread without any words at all, or to separate a single sentence across several pages, or to have one page with a few sentences on it and the next page with just a short phrase for emphasis. This is the number one mistake I see beginning writers/illustrators make: they have the same amount of text on every single page (usually a single sentence).
So either hire the illustrator to do book design, or hire a book designer. But just don’t choose the fonts and placements and font size on your own — get a book designer to help you.
If you want to learn more about how to work with an illustrator, check out my post, “12 Tips on Working with a Children’s Book Illustrator.”
Q: Should I copyright my book?
There are differing opinions on this, but in general I would say NO. You don’t have to worry about someone stealing your book. If you go the traditional publishing route, the publisher will copyright it for you. If you go the self-publishing route, you already own the material the instant you wrote it, so getting copyright only gives you added protection.
If you need more advice on this, read my post, “Should You Copyright Your Children’s Book.”
Now if you’re going to chew your nails down to the nub worrying about this, then set your mind at ease. If you live in America, go to the U.S. Copyright Office website and you can register for under a hundred bucks. I walk you through the steps on how to do this in my children’s book course.
Q: Do I need illustrations before sending my book to editors, publishers, and agents?
This is a hard and fast NO.
Editors want to work with the language alone, so unless your book requires the illustrations to make sense, you don’t want to send the illustrations. Even then, you can easily put the illustration explanation in brackets [like so].
Publishers always always always hire their own illustrators, so save yourself the money and submit the text alone. This is because choosing an illustrator is a marketing decision (that they need to make, not you) and because a good illustrator can cost $20,000. You probably don’t have that kind of money lying around.
Now what if you’re the illustrator? Well, then you DO want to send the illustrations. But if you get a rejection, it could either be because of the story or because of your illustrations, and sometimes you won’t know what the weak link is.
In general, though, agents are looking to represent illustrator/writers much more often than they’re looking to represent writers alone. That’s because children’s book illustrators earn A LOT more money than children’s book writers (sorry, that’s just the way it is).
Q: Should I ask for a non-disclosure agreement? (NDA)
If you want to you can, but you have a better chance of a bear eating you than someone stealing your book.
Plus, if they steal it, you can easily sue them and take all the profits and more, so there isn’t much motivation for someone to steal your book.
The truth is that writers worry about this far more often than it actually happens. My advice would be to put all your energy toward creating the best children’s book you can create, and if you have a great book, the agent/publisher/editor will want to work with you, not steal from you.
Q: Will you be my literary agent?
No, I’m an editor, and the role of an editor and literary agent are very different. An editor’s job is to help you make your children’s book the best it can be. The role of a literary agent is to play matchmaker and find a publisher who wants your book.
However, if you sign up for my children’s book email list (via a pop-up on this page or at the bottom) I will send you a list of children’s book agents. Also, here’s another list of agents.
Q: Will you help me find a publisher?
That’s mainly the role of a literary agent, but I do have a list on Bookfox of 30 publishers who will accept submissions without a literary agent.
And if you hire me for editing, sometimes I’ll be able to recommend a few publishers where your book might be a fit, but it’s not like a handshake deal. Publishers get a large number of submissions and they have to take on the books they know they can sell.
Q: How many submissions will an agent or publisher get in a year?
A beginning agent might get 2,000 – 3,000 submissions in a year, while an established agent might receive 3,000 – 8,000 submissions.
Publishers who accept submissions get anywhere from between 2,000 submissions to 15,000 submissions, although almost all publishers who start getting too many submissions stop accepting submissions (because it costs too much to hire people to wade through all those submissions).
I don’t mean to discourage you, but just help you make an informed decision about whether you should self-publish or seek a traditional publisher. It’s really tough to land an agent or a publisher, and it can take a lot of time and work.
What’s wonderful about self-publishing is that within a week you can be holding your book in your hands.
Q: Should I self publish or seek a traditional publisher?
So for self-publishing, there’s lots of upsides: there’s no wait time, and you get complete control of the project (such as cover art and illustration), and there’s not that much of a cost if you do it all yourself.
But … you have to do all the marketing yourself, and you don’t have anyone to guide you through the process, and you don’t have the reputation of being published by a traditional publisher. You should do self-publishing if you’re a real go-getter and you think you can get the word out there about your book.
For traditional publishing, there are also many upsides: you would get an advance (money is nice!), they would handle all the proofreading, ISBN, illustrations, cover art, etc, and they would give you some guidance with how to do the marketing and promotion.
But … it can be very, very hard to get an acceptance from an agent or from a publisher. Sometimes you have to send the story out for a year or two, submitting to a hundred outlets or more. Go this route if you have a lot of patience and you want the book to reach a wider audience.
Read my post on “How to Self Publish a Board Book” if you want more info on that.
Did you want more advice on how to write a children’s book?
So let’s review the 12 main points:
Please leave a comment below if this material was helpful and if you have any other questions.
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