Are you thinking of writing a children’s book? Then you’ll want to read five tips for writing a fantastic children’s book!
Writing anything is no breeze, but writing a children’s book presents its own unique challenges. Writing a children’s book requires telling a story, captivating an audience, illustration skills, and a very dedicated plan of attack. Novels are geared to appeal to a broad group of people. The more people you appeal to, the more you sell. However, children’s books are aimed at very specific topics and age groups.
Once your book is ready, then you’ll need to speak to an expert in children’s book layout.
They’ll make sure that everything not only looks great, but your ebook or paperback book is perfect. They can make uploading to sites like Amazon, Ingramspark, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, etc. a breeze. If you have been toying with the idea of a children’s book, then the following five tips for writing a children’s book are just what you need.
Here are Our Five Tips for Writing a Children’s Book!
- Find A Balance Between Children You Know And Your Own Childhood – You need to gain the perspective of both your own childhood and that of other children. It’s going to take a little bit of balance and patience. Try to remember how things impacted you as a child and the emotions that you felt. Anger, hurt, disappointment, disbelief, happiness, and excitement. When you write for children, you don’t have to dumb down the language or try to simplify everything. Children will see straight through your story.
- Spend Some Time Doing Your Research – Take a few hours, days, or weeks to check out the current book market and see what books are already out there. Learn what books are available, which ones are selling, and what makes them so special. Try to understand what they did to hit their age demographics and what parts of the story appeal to that age group. Don’t forget your pictures or illustrations. Children are very visual, and they respond well to details and consistency. If your main characters wear a certain style of clothing, then try to keep it consistent throughout the book. Writing a children’s book is anything but easy!
- Understand Your Audience – If you’re writing a children’s book for five-year-olds, then learn what five-year-old children enjoy, but don’t forget who’s buying and reading the books. Your book needs to be not only appeal to five-year-olds but also to parents, siblings, relatives, and teachers. Children are looking for a child or animal as the main character, someone they can imagine themselves as. However, adults buying books for children are looking for a story that teaches a lesson, amazing illustrations, or a book with clever and funny text. They need to be able to imagine themselves reading the book to their children.
- Remember, Writing A Children’s Book Is Just Like Show And Tell – You almost want your children’s book to be able to tell the story without any words. The average children’s book is only 32 pages long. In those 32 pages, you need to be able to start a story, finish a story, and tell the story. You need to use every advantage you have when getting the message of your story across. The plot, character development, writing, morals, and jokes must all be crammed into 32 pages. Your illustrations and pictures play a massive part in telling your story. If art and illustrations aren’t your forte, then there are some fantastic artists available to help bring your story to life.
- Remember, Keep Writing – If you have multiple stories started but don’t seem to finish any, then try to finish the ones you have started before moving on. Even if it’s finished and bad, at least you have a foundation to go back and build on. You never know when a bad story is going to be turned into a great one!
5 Tips for Writing a Children’s Book – Conclusion
There you go! 5 tips for writing a children’s book that any aspiring author can take advantage of.
Writing a children’s book is far from easy, but it isn’t impossible either. Don’t give up, and if you’re struggling with children’s book layout, writing, or illustrations, then the team at Indie Publishing Group will be more than happy to step in and help you out. Don’t hesitate to contact them with any formatting, illustrating, publishing, writing, or editing questions.
At Indie Publishing Group, we’re proud to assist Canadian and North American authors in self-publishing their work. If you are in the process of writing a book and need any assistance with paperback or ebook formatting, cover design, professional editing, or uploading to self-publishing sites such as Amazon KDP and Ingram Spark, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us.
Our experienced and professional self-publishing team is standing by to assist you with your self-publishing dreams.
