It is a challenging task to write a fascinating children’s book, whether you’re a new writer or have published dozens of books. In this blog, you will find eleven actionable tips that will help you overcome your obstacles as a children’s author and achieve your publishing goals – keep reading!
1. Understand the Publishing Process
Struggling with publishing issues will only make things tiring for you. Once you’re done with your final draft but can’t find a stable publishing route, you will end up feeling bad about all the progress you went through.
This is why you should know about publishing before you even get down to writing. It’s better to know how to self publish a children’s book if you are not ready to choose the traditional publishing route. Compare your publishing options so you can save time and effort and avoid problems.
2. Know Your Target Audience
Different age groups of kids have different reading preferences. As a children’s author, you need to be careful about your readers so you can craft better stories using striking words and examples that keep your readers hooked in your book.
This is why you should be careful about picking your target audience and using the right expression as a writer.
For example, if you are going to write about kindergarten kids, you will have to adopt a different strategy compared to when writing for young adults. Invest your time in exploring your audience so you don’t face difficulty when writing.
3. Develop Relatable Characters
Your book will not be convincing for kids if you don’t have strong characters in your book. Instead of pushing your content from your own point of view, you have to understand that kids will only be interested in your work if you keep them engaged with strong characters.
The presence of memorable characters will encourage kids to feel attached to the book. Besides that, such characters will also help kids understand the message you are trying to convey.
When developing characters, make sure you keep in mind how kids think and interact with the world around them. Focusing on these elements will allow you to craft stories that stay with kids during their entire life.
4. Keep the Story Balanced
As a children’s author, it’s difficult to keep your book from being entirely fun or educating. It’s important to combine two different themes in your book so kids don’t feel bored when reading your book but also get something important to learn.
Striking this balance of creativity and education will not be difficult if you craft an amazing story. Make sure you see things you discuss in your book from different angles so you make your work intriguing yet informative.
5. Don’t Suppress Your Creativity
It’s not wise to stop yourself from expressing your creative ideas as a writer. To ensure that your work stands out from the work of other children’s authors, you have to let your creativity shine through your work.
Doing so will ensure that you can get recognition as a writer and can win the hearts of your readers. Engage in creative pursuits like painting so you can boost your creativity and feel confident about expressing it in your work.
6. Develop a Writing Routine
It won’t be easy for you to achieve the writing goals you set for yourself as a children’s author if you are not focused on finishing your writing goals in a certain time. Instead of having a scattered routine, you should focus on dividing your time into good intervals.
Doing so will ensure that you can get the most out of your daily routine without compromising on creativity and your writing goals.
Contrary to what many writers think, it’s not difficult to develop and fine-tune a writing goal. Start by identifying when you feel like writing and choose that time for a persistent writing routine. Make sure you can stick with the routine so you can achieve your writing goals in a short time.
7. Read Good Children’s Books
As a children’s writer, you should not feel bad about getting inspiration from other writers. Understanding the thought patterns of other writers will only make it easier to make your writing intriguing for kids.
You don’t have to spend all your time reading famous children’s books. If you have a tight daily schedule, you can consider setting aside some time for reading books without compromising on other important tasks.
8. Expand Your Vocabulary
The usage of difficult-to-understand words in your book will make things boring for young readers. To ensure that kids stay engaged in your book from start to end, you should consider using simple words in your book.
Doing so will make your book more digestible and persuasive for your readers. You can start by exploring an online thesaurus to add more words to your vocabulary over a span of time. Besides that, you can also consider noting down the words/phrases/idioms used by famous children’s authors.
9. Sharpen Your Writing Skills
You won’t find it easy to achieve the writing goals you set for yourself if you don’t trust your skills as a writer. This is why you need to be confident about your writing and develop strong writing skills so you can achieve your writing goals faster.
Consider joining an online writing class so you can learn from a good mentor how you can use better words and expressions as a children’s author.
10. Connect With Fellow Writers
The best way you can overcome your challenges as a children’s author is by getting advice from fellow writers. Getting the chance of a deep conversation with fellow writers will help you with everything from understanding the psyche of young readers to cruising through publishing problems.
11. Use Your Writer’s Voice
As a children’s author, it’s not your only goal to mimic the writing style of famous writers to make your work successful. If you want to get recognition from critics and readers alike, you will have to use your own writing style.
Make sure you implement your unique writer’s voice so you can stand out from other writers and achieve the writing goals you set for yourself.