Lots of questions about kid's book!

hildecharn · Sep 20, 2008

Hello everyone,
I recently wrote a 2,000 word story for kids. It's a pretty simple story concept, but there are some complex sentences with colons and parenthesis. I had the book self published for fun with photographs I took, but in print I would like the book to have illustrations. Anyway I have lots of questions! Here they are...

The first and foremost question on my mind is what genre would my book be, considering the word count, sentence structure, and content. I have been to the Renaissance Learning website and didn't find it very helpful. Thus I've come here for common sense advice.

Then I have a question about word count! When submitting a children's book like this, do I say the word count is 2,000 words or do I use the 250 words per page method?

Also, depending on what you think of the appropriate age group, should I break up my sentances so they'll be simpler or keep the (simple) complexity?

Also, in the story there are several hand written notes. I'm curious how to present this in the submission manuscript so that it is understood that is a note and separate from the narration.

And what about the query letter! How do I construct a query letter for a short children's book?

As you can see I am have many questions and would appreciate any advice that could point me in the right direction.
Thanks ahead of time and I look forward to hearing from you!

Beach Bunny · Sep 20, 2008

I'm not the best person to answer these questions, but I'll take a shot at it.

Here's a link to SCBWI, they have tons of helpful articles and stuff. http://www.scbwi.org/

There are several threads in this section, the writing novels, and the Roundtable forums that you will find helpful. Particularly the sticky threads on the top of each forum. It might be beneficial to take some time to browse through those.

It is my understanding that 2,000 words is probably too long for picture book (PB) and maybe too long for a chapter book. I think in both cases, it is better to keep your sentence structures simple. While I don't talk down to children, I do talk in simpler sentences to them. It's really hard to say whether you need to do that without seeing the story.

You say that you have already self-published the book with photographs. This might make it more difficult to sell it to a publisher, because it has already been published. Though, if you have sold a lot of copies, that might not be an issue.

Good luck.

MsJudy · Sep 21, 2008

Here's another website that will give you many of the answers you seek:

http://www.write4kids.com/

You can also go to your local public library and ask at the reference desk for a copy of the Children's Writers and Illustrators Marketplace. It's updated every year, and includes articles on things like formatting and submitting.

Once you've done your research, you may find you need to make changes to your text. 2000 words is an awkward, in-between kind of length, too long for picture book but not long enough for chapter book. When you have a better idea what you want to do with your story, consider posting it in the Share Your Work section of this site, and people will give you some ideas on what it might need.

longoverdue · Sep 21, 2008

hildecharn said:
Then I have a question about word count! When submitting a children's book like this, do I say the word count is 2,000 words or do I use the 250 words per page method?

As you can see I am have many questions and would appreciate any advice that could point me in the right direction.
Thanks ahead of time and I look forward to hearing from you!

Jennifer Laughran, a children's lit agent, recently answered this question. She said use the word count your computer gives you.

As for the rest of it.....this site will answer all your questions if you spent some time reading old threads, especially the Stickies, as someone already suggested. Good luck!!!!!

Jeffery E Doherty · Sep 22, 2008

I think most of your questions were answered but as for the query letter, keep it simple

Paragraph 1
Please find enclosed my (genre) story of ??? words entitled "Name of story" for your consideration.

Paragraph 2
Very brief outline of the story (Couple of sentences at most)

Paragraph 3
Publishing creds. if any (Otherwise leave it out)

Paragraph 4
Thank you for you time...

That is basically all you need.

Jeff

Lots of questions about kid's book!

hildecharn

Beach Bunny

The Provocative One

MsJudy

longoverdue

Jeffery E Doherty