Writing for Children – Resources
Hello, writer friends! Here are some of my favorite writing craft resources for picture books. I’ll
be updating this list regularly, so if you’d like to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my
newsletter. Happy writing!
Great Resources to Kickstart Your Writing Journey
How to Write a Children’s Book and Submit It to Publishers (Jerry Jenkins)
Write or Illustrate a Children’s Book: 8 Articles to Help You Get Started (Highlights Foundation)
(Book) Writing & Selling Children’s Books in the Christian Market (by Cyle Young and Michelle
Medlock Adams—and many more authors!)
Writing Children’s Books that Rhyme
Query Letters for Picture Books
To pitch your book to agents and publishers you will need to submit a query letter. Agents and publishers get thousands of query letters every month. Your query needs to grab their attention immediately (in a good way) and give them all the pertinent information about you and your work. Here are some good links with information about how to write a great query letter:
Formatting Your Story for Submission
When writing children’s picture books you need to keep in mind that your words will need illustrations for each page of the book. If you’ve written a high concept book that may be difficult. Also, the pages will need to be divided separately into spreads to make a total of 28 or 32 pages. If your word count is too long or if your content is too vague, it will make it difficult to produce.
Writing Dialogue for Children’s Books
Opportunities to Submit KidLit Articles
Starlight Magazine (Jean Matthew Hall)