Writing for Children Publishing Resources

Organizations

  • Children’s Book Council
    The CBC sponsors Children’s Book Week and Children’s Poetry Week. They have an online listing of member publishers and how to contact them.
  • Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators
    The SCBWI is the professional organization for those writing and illustrating for kids. Look for the link to regional chapters to see what is happening in your area.

Publications

  • Children's Writers and Illustrators Market 2008Children’s Writers and Illustrator’s Market –current year
    This annual market guide lists publishers, names of editors, contact information, needs, etc. for book and magazine publishers. The book is published in late fall, so be sure to get the updated version.
  • Literary Marketplace–current year.
    The LMP is a telephone directory of all phases of publishing. This expensive book is often available as a reference book at libraries, or through interlibrary loan.
  • Horn Book Magazine
    The Horn Book Magazine offers articles about children’s literature, including full-text of acceptance speeches for major awards such as the Newbery and Caldecott. Articles cover a wide variety of topics and reviews of major new books is a good way to keep up to date on this rapidly changing field.

Classes

  • Online classes
    Anastasia Suen
    Children’s book author, Anastasia Suen has several online classes and I’ve heard good thing about them.
  • Summer workshops
    Check Shaw Guides for summer workshops in your area.

Interesting Websites

Libraries

Library Cards are Gold!

  • Picturebooks. If you want to write picturebooks, read 100 picturebooks that have been published within the last 5 years. Really. 100. Or 200. I try to take a month and do this once a year, at least. You need to know what current books are like.
  • Novels, Easy Readers, Nonfiction. If you want to write a novel or easy reader or non-fiction, try to read as many as you can. Try to read at least the award winning books from last year. Current books–not classics–will tell you a lot about today’s market.
  • This website provides links to many of the award winning children’s book lists

There are many more resources available–this is just a starting point.

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