Children's Nonfiction

One of the most OUTSTANDING resources on writing nonfiction books for kids is the Nonfiction list on Yahoogroups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NFforKids/
There are many children's nonfiction writers there with book publication credits -- some with a dozen or more. You can learn about all the major nonfiction children's book publishers and the ins and outs of submitting.

gran

Good for you. The archives for that group will answer every question you asked here -- plus, you'll get the bonus of hearing up-to-the minute news of new submission calls and the like.

gran

Hi Wordlady!

Another way to break in, since you seem to have a lot of ideas for children's nonfiction, is with articles for magazines. Find out word count and age group. When you query editors of publishing houses, it's not necessary but it helps if you have an article or two already published in a children's magazine.

Also, for the book, have a query letter and a synopsis ready. A few chapters completed, also. The 2005 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market is a great place to find publishers, what they're looking for, and what to send them.

Good luck!

I'm working on my fourth middle school nonfiction book. My experience may not be typical, but for what it is worth, I was referred to a nonfiction publisher (Scholastic) by an editor that I had worked for on a middle school encyclopedia. One day I got an e-mail asking if I was interested in doing a book. I was smart enough to say yes . They asked me for a writing resume and a sample and we were off. The only guidance I got from them was the title, a description of the series (it was new, so there were no previous books to look at) the book length, mss deadline, and a house style guide. I submitted the first chapter (at my request) just to make sure I was on track. After the first book was done, I proposed several other titles for the series, and have done 2 more. Next I sent a published copy of one one of the Scholastic books to another children's non-fiction publisher and asked about doing something similar. They sent me 4 topics to choose from. I had to write a book outline and first chapter and before getting a contract for that publisher. Once you get your foot in the door, there seems to be a steady stream of work available. Terms usually are an advance in 3 parts - one when you sign the contract, one when the mss is deemed publishable, and one when it is ready to go to print. The advance won't make you rich, but it is very satisfying to get the royalty statments and see that someone is actually buying the book.