writing for kids & teens
Every children’s writer should belong to the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).
Every children’s writer should attend an SCBWI conference. They are all great.
Every children’s writer should read voraciously.
Every children’s writer should practice writing constantly. Kids & teens are the pickiest and most discerning readers of them all.
You should pick up a copy of the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. It not only has all the essential market advice that you’ll need but it also contains great articles, insightful interviews and a fun section that shares about “first sales” – something every aspiring writer should read!
You should know – up front – that you don’t need to BE an illustrator, nor do you need to FIND an illustrator for your picture book manuscript. In fact – doing either of those things will work against you (see more in my Picture Books Article – link below)
More Information:
I did an 8-part series with some great interviews and information at the My Book Therapy blog. Here are the articles and their direct links:
An Overview of Writing for Kids and Teens
The Picture Book
Middle Grade Novels
An Interview with Nancy Rue!
A Marketing Perspective on Children’s Publishing from Tommy Nelson
YA Editor Advice: Jessica Barnes, Waterbrook
YA Editor Advice: Natalie Hanemann, Thomas Nelson
Children’s Editor Advice: MacKenzie Howard, Thomas Nelson
Helpful Websites
The Purple Crayon
Verla Kay
For Christian Writers, writing for children and teens:
Writing for kids and teens in CBA is a pretty niche group. Other than writing curriculum (which can provide work), there are only a handful of publishers who do much of anything with kid’s stuff – and even they have very limited slots, usually filled with authors they already work with. That being said – your best bet is to attend a Christian Writing Conference that has specific tracks on writing for children. These conferences have typically had tracks and workshops dedicated to writing for children:
Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference – this is held Palm Sunday weekend each year.
Florida Christian Writer’s Conference
Write 2 Ignite
