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I've been mulling over this question myself, of why there tends to be less participation in this section of the forum and I think there are multiple reasons:
1. There isn't a large children's book author contingent here.
2. Questions unique to children's books here (as opposed to more general publishing questions) are also unique to a specific kind of children's book, which makes the numbers of responders even smaller. There is such a wide variety of kinds of children's books that require unique knowledge and understanding of them. A picture book writer might not have advice for a MG writer and vice versa. Chapter books are not the same as MG books and have their own technique. And board books are a beast all their own. Further this grouping also not only has writers but also illustrators in it, and those who write might not have any words of wisdom for an artist and again, vice versa. As such while we all can be supportive in spirit for each other, there aren't as many universal tips we can offer each other unique to our particular marketing category that can't be found in the general "AW Roundtable" and agent and editor sub sections.
3. Of all the categories, self publishing children's books is one of the hardest because children's books rely on the support of librarians and teachers, and librarians and teachers really only tend to get their materials from the trade publishers. So this means we can't really even discuss much about self publishing here, and those who do have questions about it won't find many people with experience to help them out.
So yeah, these are some of my theories. Though I do regularly check here in case there are any MG related questions as I do feel I have learned a lot about the subject and like to help whenever I can. It's just . . . trickier. . . being a children's book author. BUt we still rock. And we're still there for each other. Let's maybe resolve not be afraid in the coming year to speak up when we need help or just a pep talk. I'm always lurking around at least, happy to chat .
1. There isn't a large children's book author contingent here.
2. Questions unique to children's books here (as opposed to more general publishing questions) are also unique to a specific kind of children's book, which makes the numbers of responders even smaller. There is such a wide variety of kinds of children's books that require unique knowledge and understanding of them. A picture book writer might not have advice for a MG writer and vice versa. Chapter books are not the same as MG books and have their own technique. And board books are a beast all their own. Further this grouping also not only has writers but also illustrators in it, and those who write might not have any words of wisdom for an artist and again, vice versa. As such while we all can be supportive in spirit for each other, there aren't as many universal tips we can offer each other unique to our particular marketing category that can't be found in the general "AW Roundtable" and agent and editor sub sections.
3. Of all the categories, self publishing children's books is one of the hardest because children's books rely on the support of librarians and teachers, and librarians and teachers really only tend to get their materials from the trade publishers. So this means we can't really even discuss much about self publishing here, and those who do have questions about it won't find many people with experience to help them out.
So yeah, these are some of my theories. Though I do regularly check here in case there are any MG related questions as I do feel I have learned a lot about the subject and like to help whenever I can. It's just . . . trickier. . . being a children's book author. BUt we still rock. And we're still there for each other. Let's maybe resolve not be afraid in the coming year to speak up when we need help or just a pep talk. I'm always lurking around at least, happy to chat .