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Is your goal to get a picture book published?
Yes? Awesome!
So I’m here to tell you, write a picture book.
Ha! That seems like DUH advice, doesn’t it?
But I don’t want you to waste your time, like I did, writing for magazines, trying to build publishing credits, if magazine writing isn’t your ultimate goal. Magazine writing is a completely different skill, and while credits are nice, they are not going to make or break you. Magazine credits prove you’re a professional and that you’ve been through the editing process, but they won’t convince anyone to buy your manuscript if it’s a sub-par story. You need to hone your picture book skills, and that only comes with writing dozens of picture books.
Agent Ammi-Joan Paquette takes clients based on their submission, first and foremost. “For me, the number one focus is on the writing: the voice, the story, the way the language sparkles and draws me in. If you’ve got that, I’ll follow you just about anywhere. All the writing credits, awards, and fancy degrees in the world—on their own—won’t make me take on an author. It’s about the writing, pure and simple.”
I received some misguided (but well-intended) advice when I began writing for children. I was told to place fiction in magazines in order to build my writing resume. So I gave it a shot. Then I found out how difficult it was to place stories. Not any less difficult than getting a book published! (I don’t know why I thought it would be.)
Your story must fit the theme of the magazine issue, which means you’re better off reviewing editorial calendars first, then writing to fill that need. Instead, I wrote what I wanted to write and then found it was only appropriate for a single issue, to be published in three years’ time! Magazines are often booked far in advance. Back in 2008, if I were to place that story, it would have been printed in 2011. Yikes!
Now that’s probably an extreme example, but it’s an important lesson I learned. I was veering off my intended path to publication.
A magazine story has to be more descriptive than the language in a picture book because there are far fewer illustrations to accompany the text. You’re often writing for a single spread with no page turns, and page turns are crucial to picture book pacing, humor and reader anticipation. So I was writing for a wildly different format and not for the goal I desired: to get a picture book published.
Some will argue that writing for credits is necessary prior to getting a book deal, but I say that is incorrect. As long as you have a professional-looking, easily found web presence and membership in a professional writing organization like SCBWI, that’s all you need in your bio to prove that you’re “serious”. The thing you need most of all? You know—a winning manuscript! I had zero children’s publishing credits prior to getting my agent and a book deal. I’m definitely not alone in this.
Children’s magazines are wonderful, but if they’re not your goal, don’t use your precious writing time in this manner. Want a picture book deal? Write picture books! (I say books, plural, because if an agent is interested in your manuscript, that agent will ask for more of your work.)
And I hope that’s not DUH advice!
Do you agree or disagree? Share your opinion in the comments!
Photo by Vicky Lorencen
Sometimes I get a niggling, squirmy idea that’s “too” something–too much for a picture book, too little for a novel, but it’s perfect for a children’s magazine article. Magazines–remember those? With so much focus on writing book-length manuscripts, it’s easy to gloss over magazines as a great option for your “too” topics (e.g., giant centipedes, yaks in Tibet, Burmese pythons, sculpting, pillow-making, door-decorating–yes, I’ve sold articles about all of those and more).
For the uninitiated, let me take a swing at answering some common questions . . .
What are the benefits of writing for children’s magazines?
Gaining publishing credits. Wouldn’t you love a title or two (or six) to tack onto your next query letter?
Learning to work with an editor. Without exception, all of the magazine editors I’ve encountered are warm, hardworking professionals who care about craft and not simply compiling enough “stuff” to stuff the next issue. There’s real value in building that relationship.
Seeing your name in print. Now, that’s sexy.
And here’s one you might not expect–you can incorporate tidbits from your research for a non-fiction article to bring authenticity and depth to a novel or picture book. When a character in my first novel needed to do a report for school, I had him do it on the giant centipede. I already had lots of info and it suited his character beautifully (even though centipedes are so creepy!) In my second novel, my main character meets an artist who teaches him how to sculpt–much of what I know about sculpting came from a non-fiction article I wrote for Highlights, which involved interviewing a sculptor.
How do you know what magazines want and how to submit to them?
The research process is very similar to determining which publishing house you’d like to approach with your book. Magazines include submission guidelines on their web sites and by perusing the magazine itself (either online, on the newsstand, in the library or by asking for a sample), you’ll get a good idea of the types of content the magazine would welcome. As with book publishers, be sure to follow submission guidelines exactly.
Is it easier to break into the magazine market compared to books?
Well, yes, relatively speaking. Just think about it number-wise. A small imprint may publish two or three books a year. Larger houses can do far more, but they also get an exponentially higher volume of submissions. This results in stiffer competition for every available spot. Now, consider a monthly children’s magazine. Imagine the metric ton of content the editor needs–articles, stories, puzzles, crafts, recipes, jokes and games–for a single issue. I’ve been a magazine editor in the past, for two different publications, and I remember how much pressure it was to create each issue, given the amount of excellent content needed. The greater the need, the better your chances of being able to sell your work.
What if I have professional quality photos to go with my article, can I send those?
Photos can be a selling point with a non-fiction article. Let the editor know photos are available upon request. For that Highlights article I mentioned earlier, I had photos of the artist and his work, which not only enhanced the article, but my payment as well.
Can I actually make money writing for magazines?
You’d have to be extraordinarily motivated to make a steady income via magazine submission sales. The real prize, from my perspective anyway, is in the publishing credit and the experience. Payments vary widely depending on the magazine’s circulation, the type of article and its word count, and any “extras” you’re able to provide, such as photographs. Once your submission has been accepted, you’ll receive a contract which will spell out your rights and the rate you can expect. One hint–if you have a choice, opt for a magazine that pays upon acceptance versus payment upon publication.
Isn’t writing for magazines going to take away from my “real” writing?
Never, ever, ever make the mistake of thinking, it’s “just” a magazine article. It is real writing. Always send your most sparkling work. If needed, do thorough research and document your sources carefully. Your professionalism is a reflection of your ability, true, but your best writing also honors your reader who deserves your finest. Also, keep in mind, it’s not uncommon for magazine articles to be re-printed at some point. So, avoid viewing articles as “throw away” pieces that are only around a month or two. And thanks to the Internet, they can live indefinitely.
If you have other magazine-writing related questions, send me a message via my Contact Page. I’ll be glad to help if I can.
So, that’s what I do with my “too” ideas. I enjoy doing it, and I bet you will too.
In a magazine, one can get – from cover to cover – 15 to 20 different ideas about life and how to live it. ~ Maya Angelou
I decided - last week - to feature magazines on KBWT and then, I saw this cute little clip on Facebook and that led me to my friend's Instagram account which reminded me that my LinkedIn page could use some oomph so I went on YouTube and discovered the Easter videos I uploaded and then I got a.... never mind.
So here a week - and a day- later are some links to kids' magazines that offer parents/educators information, some games and info on how to subscribe.
Let's start with that staple of pediatrician's offices, Highlights.
https://www.highlights.com/Highlights offers THREE magazines,
Hello! is for babies through 2 year olds and it's so cute!
High Five! is for children up to age 6.The
Highlights that we all know and love claims to be for children between the ages of 6 and 12. The magazine does offer stories and articles and different reading difficulties. Personally, I think children tire of just about everything except the hidden pictures - NO ONE gets tired of the Hidden Pictures, EVER - by the time they are 10. No matter. This is a solid, well designed, advertisement free, magazine for the whole family.
Next up is MY favorite family of Kids Magazines from Cricket Magazine.
The link below leads you to descriptions of all their magazines from the adorably durable Babybug (ages 0 to 3) through Cicada, a literary magazine for teens. Besides award-winning literary magazines for all ages, Cricket offers FIVE non-fiction magazines for kids - magazines that encourage learning through well-written and well illustrated articles about the world; science, history, math, cultures, geography - AWESOME!
http://www.cricketmag.com/kids_home.asp Kiki Magazine is geared to girls between the ages of 10 and 14. There are no advertisements in Kiki and the articles center around fashion, finance and entrepreneurship. Yeah! Heady stuff! But the magazine is colorful and age appropriate and no one needs to worry about an advice column that discusses "uncertain" topics.
Here's another magazine that targets the same demographic as Kiki -
New Moon Magazine for GirlsThis looks amazing! I have never seen this magazine in person but the website is cool. Take a look, all you girls between the ages of 8 and 14. There is something in here for you. And it says that the editors and a lot of the authors are girls themselves.
Which brings us to....
Stone Soup Magazine Since 1973, Stone Soup magazine has been entirely written and illustrated by kids! Whoa! And they publish books by kids, too.
BOYS! Once boys hit 11 or 12, there is a dearth of magazines geared to their interests.
SI for Kids - mirrors the adult Sports Illustrated, without the swim suits and with kid-friendly advertisement.
Boys Life - the official magazine of the Boy Scouts offers a lot of great articles about the outdoors, sports, technology and the values of the Boy Scouts. It was a long time ago, but I LOVED reading my brother's copy of Boys Life.
MORE! There are dozens of magazines for children and teens - science magazines, sports magazines, classroom magazines that cater to teachers. A lot of non-fiction magazines offer children's versions, such as
National Geographic Kids and
National Geographic Little Kids.And don't forget
Ranger Rick and Ranger Rick Jr (formerly Your Big Backyard) and
Humpty Dumpty and
Boys Quest and Hopscotch... I could go on and on but it took me over a week to get THIS post up. I'll stop now.
If you write for young children, as in the preschool to first grade range, you know that this is often more difficult than writing for adults. Writers who have never attempted this can't believe it when I say how hard it is. "How can that be? There are hardly any words. The stories are so simple."
I challenge anyone to try it, and you will see. The reason why it looks so easy is because the authors who write for our favorite little people are just good at it. They have it down to a science and can find creative, new ways to introduce the big, wide world to three-year-olds while not boring them or talking over their heads. Trust me, it's not easy to do.
Besides picture books, which are also very difficult (and I'm not even going to get into how a writer can work on a picture book manuscript for a year or more!), what markets exist for 3 to 6 year olds?
Ladybug is a popular one and
Highlights for Children also has some stories geared toward this younger audience. Besides these two well-known magazines, you can also get your fiction (and possibly nonfiction) for the young child published in
Turtle,
Humpty Dumpty, Appleseeds, Knowonder, and
Guardian Angel Kids to name a few
. These are all paying markets with clear guidelines on what the editors want to see and don't want to see.
If you want to write for this audience, where do you start? I always recommend finding back issues at the library or online archives and reading as many stories as you can from that magazine. This is the best way to take the ideas you have and craft them into a format that works for the magazine--today. Most of us remember
Highlights for Children from our pediatrician and dentist's waiting rooms, but it's different today--kids are different today, and so make sure to check out recent issues and stories. Study the stories: how long are they? What are the topics? Are they written in first person or third? How many characters? How much dialogue compared to narration? It's my experience that once you are familiar with the market, it will be easier for you to write your idea for this audience.
Next, go online and READ THE GUIDELINES. Some editors and publications go to great extremes to write down what they want and what they don't. Don't ignore these. For example,
Knowonder wants stories in third-person limited, so you don't send them the first person story you just wrote last night. Either change the point of view or write a new story for this market.
Stories for this age group are usually under 1000-words and tend to average about 500 words. You don't have a long time to establish a setting, characters, problem, and solution. This is why writing for this age group is so hard. It's like poetry and picture books--every single word counts--you don't have any space to waste on "pretty writing."
Have you ever seen a preschooler enjoy a story or book? Their smile lights up their whole face. They will read it again and again and ask to have it read to them a million times. They carry it around, read it to their dog or cat, and fall asleep with the book or magazine in bed. This is why people write for this age of child. It's an important job, and don't let anyone tell you it's easy--because we know it's not.
Margo is teaching a short fiction class for children's and YA writers online, starting on April 11. To view the syllabus and sign up, please go to this link: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/classroom/MargoDill_WritingChildrenTeensShortFiction.php
The March issue GUARDIAN ANGEL KIDS magazine is available free online. This month it features stories, articles, and crafts on nutrition. The online magazine is in a flipbook format, so it's fun and easy to take a peek inside.
For a yummy, nutritious treat you can make yourself, try this recipe for Southwest BLT Rollups. You'll enjoy making them as much as eating them.
Most of the adults who sign up for my writing classes have the same goal: to get a book published by a traditional publisher. They're usually shocked to learn what a long, slow process book publication typically is, whether they're working on a picture book or a novel. To help cope with the wait, I recommend they work on building a portfolio of writing credits they can mention in their cover/query letters. On Monday, Esther shared links to information on how to get published in Highlights magazine. Highlights is a well-respected magazine that's been around for years, and an impressive credit to include in your writing portfolio. Unfortunately, that means they receive a huge volume of submissions, making them a tough market to break into. I like to remind my students that there are other children's magazines, many of them more open to material than Highlights or the Cricket Magazine Group, which publishes high-quality magazines for toddlers to teens.
One of my favorite lesser-known children's magazines is
Pockets, published by
The Upper Room, for 6 to 12-year-olds. Like
Highlights,
Pockets runs
an annual fiction contest. They also accept a variety of material, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, puzzles, and activities. Although
Pockets is a Christian magazine, not all content is explicitly religious. I recall studying a sample issue years ago that happened to include a story that had won their fiction contest. It was a wonderful story about a girl learning to accept her new stepfather. I don't believe it mentioned God at all.
As it says
on the Pockets website:
"Each issue is built around a specific theme with material that can be used by children in a variety of ways. Submissions should support the purpose of the magazine to help children grow in their faith, though all submissions do not need to be overtly religious."
The magazine's
monthly themes are listed on their website, along with a submission deadline for each issue. To paraphrase something I heard Richard Peck say years ago, "A deadline is a writer's friend." When I first learned of
Pockets and their theme/deadline list, I submitted some theme-related puzzles. To my delight, they were accepted! That success led me to try my hand at writing a short story specifically for an issue focusing on "prejudice." They accepted that piece, and "The Cupcake Man" became my first published children's story.
Pockets also published my first children's poem. (Is it any wonder why I'm so fond of this magazine?)
Of course, the key to success when writing for
Pockets or any other magazine is to study several issues so that you can draft a submission that fits with the magazine's overall feel. You should be able to check out copies of well-known magazines like
Highlights and
Cricket at your public library. For smaller magazines like
Pockets, you can usually request a sample copy from the publisher. Instructions for doing so are often listed in the "Magazines" section of the annual
Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest Books). You may be surprised by the number and range of magazines you'll find listed there. If you're a member of SCBWI, you can also download the latest
SCBWI Magazine Market Guide, which also includes general tips on writing for magazines.
Besides magazines, another good market for building your writing portfolio is the
Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. Their upcoming titles are listed
on their website along with their submission deadlines. (Remember: Deadlines are our friends!) When Chicken Soup put out a call for the book
Teens Talk High School: 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens, I submitted a poem in two voices called "Questions," which they accepted. My Writing Buddy, Leanne Pankuch, recently had her
second Chicken Soup story published in Hooked on Hockey. Again, to place a story in a Chicken Soup book, it's important to study past issues, and also to carefully
read their guidelines. While Chicken Soup stories are nonfiction, they must read like well-crafted fiction--with a beginning, middle, and end; action; dialogue; conflict, a theme, etc.
By the way, all the markets I've discussed today pay for your writing. While it's not exactly a "
pot of gold," receiving payment for our work is affirming. And it has given many of my former students the confidence to say "I am a published author," even as they wait for their first book contract.
Don't forget: there's less than a week left to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of JoAnn Early Macken's,
Write a Poem Step by Step. See
JoAnn's guest post for details.
Happy writing!
Carmela
Thanks
to more years on task than I’d ever imagined, I’m personally acquainted with
the proverbial carrot that swings beneath our writers’ noses whilst we bravely and
anxiously navigate our Writer’s Journeys.
Its
name?
Publication.
We
travel here, there and everywhere, despite unrewarded efforts, creatively
visualizing our stories when printed
and bound, covered and blurbed – in other words, published.
But
you know what?
If
we stop for a second and look around at our Children’s Book World, a multitude
of publishing rainbows are there for our viewing before we reach our wished-for,
worked-for destination.
Each
offers its very own pot o’gold, an opportunity to achieve publication and thus
experience pride, satisfaction, affirmation and sometimes even $$$.
There’s
a treasure trove of opportunity awaiting us writers, besides the one we first set out to capture.
For
instance, what about writing fiction for children’s magazines?
Or
what about writing nonfiction articles for educational publishers?
Even
better, what about writing nonfiction children’s magazine articles?!
Thanks
to Melissa Abramovitz’s Thumbs-Up guide, coincidentally (and appropriately) titled
A Treasure Trove of Opportunity: How to
Write & Sell Articles for Children’s Magazines (E & E Publishing,
2012), we can now put our writing skills, interests and talents to work mining other paths to publication.
There is indeed a market for nonfiction children's magazine articles.
Highlights
senior editor Debra Hess shared with Melissa, “While
we publish roughly the same amount of fiction and nonfiction in Highlights, we receive substantially
more fiction submissions than nonfiction submissions. As a result, nonfiction has a higher chance
of being purchased. We are always
looking for new nonfiction writers.”
Melissa knows all about writing – for all age
groups, from preschoolers through adults.
Her publishing credits include educational books on health topics, as
well as science, nature and history, fiction, poetry and five rhyming picture
books. But she especially knows all
about writing nonfiction magazine articles.
In this one-of-a-kind resource based on her
twenty-five years of experience and extensive body of work, as well as
interviews with other nonfiction magazine writers and editors, she generously
shares insights she’s gleaned, proven tricks of the trade and the tools she
uses to move from generating ideas to researching to structuring, on to creating
whole pieces, formatting and revising, on to querying likely publishers,
considering contracts and marketing your work.
Concrete learner that I am, I was especially
taken with Melissa’s “Show, don’t tell” examples when making a point. She shares her own published articles as well
as those of others. She offers the
nitty-gritty details - of referencing
references, photo inclusions, author rights, and nailing a story’s audience,
just to name a few.
Her listing of “salable structures” sparked all
sorts of ideas: How-to articles,
puzzles, quizzes, sidebars, nonfiction verse, personal experience articles, slice-of-life
or inspirational articles, profiles and as-told-to articles.
Appendix A: Grammar Gateway even offers tips on
sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and unbreakable rules – good for any
writer, no matter the format, genre, audience and publishing segment.
Consider this post, consider Melissa Abramovitz's book but one knock at your Writer’s
Door.
(And we all know how many times Opportunity
knocks.)
Happy Mining!
Esther Hershenhorn
 |
| by wharman www.flickr.com |
I remember fondly sitting at the dentist's office with my mom and flipping through the latest Highlights for Children magazine. I loved the Hidden Pictures and the comic strip stories. I loved the poems and arts and crafts. I also remember getting my Jack and Jill magazines in the mail and sending in my own poems and drawings. These were some exciting days as a child.
When I decided to write for children, I wanted to publish a book, of course. But all the advice I read and heard at writing conferences was that while I was working on my book, I needed to build a publishing history. I needed to submit to magazines. This was one way I could work on my craft and learn the business at the same time.
So, I started on fiction stories, as most writers do. I thought back to those doctor's office waiting rooms and reading stories with my mom and dad. I remembered using my Jack and Jill magazines to play school, and reading with great expression the stories out loud to my stuffed animals.
This nostalgia got me rejection after rejection--and only one acceptance to a small, independent magazine because I placed in their fiction contest.
What I soon learned was that I needed a critique group. I needed to try my hand at nonfiction, too. I needed to learn about fillers and editors and query letters and more. So, through my correspondence classes at the Institute of Children's Literature and the wonderful members of my critique group (as well as all the conferences they dragged me to), I soon realized there was no place for nostalgia if I wanted a career as a writer. I needed to put away those memories of Highlights and Jack and Jill and face reality.
I see this SO OFTEN with new writers and/or people who have been trying to get a children's book published for years. They want to write a book like they remember from their childhood. They don't want to hear about e-zines or Walter, the Farting Dog or picture book apps. They don't want to hear that nonfiction sells easier than fiction, and that magazine editors are dying for boy stories with humor. They don't want to hear that they have to go study the market and figure out how it is always changing.
As the saying goes, "This is not your grandma's" publishing business any more. If you find yourself receiving rejection after rejection on your picture book or middle grade novel manuscript, take some time t
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| by raramaurina www.flickr.com |
A very common mistake writers make in their first drafts is to head hop, or change point of view, between the characters in a scene. This is usually not done on purpose. Here’s an example:
Eleanor wondered what could possibly be in Harold’s box. “That’s a really small container. I thought you were bringing all your old office supplies.”
“I am,” Harold said, laughing to himself. Eleanor was such a busybody. He would teach her to mind her own business.
“So, this is some kind of joke, then?” She asked, knowing Harold didn’t have a very good sense of humor.
In this scene, we are clearly in the minds of both characters. The scene has more than one point of view.
So, isn’t this omniscient point of view then? Can’t the narrator know what both characters are thinking? Some may argue yes. But omniscient point of view isn’t used much today; and when used properly, it has to sound all knowing—the narrator has to know everything about everyone. That’s not happening in this short scene. There’s definitely head-hopping going on.
Why does it matter?
Readers want to connect with the main character in a story. One of the best ways for writers to accomplish this connection is to reveal his or her thoughts and feelings—not just action and dialogue. Most readers love character-driven novels, so writers should strive to create a character that readers want to follow through an entire novel. Filter the story through this character’s eyes, so readers experience life like him or her.
How do you fix head-hopping?
To fix the above scene, pick a point of view character and filter everything through that character’s eyes and mind. Pretend to be that character. You know you can’t read another person’s mind. You can only recognize body language, tone of voice, and dialogue. Your characters are the same way. So, try this:
Eleanor wondered what could possibly be in the box Harold carried. “That’s a really small container. I thought you were bringing all your old office supplies.”
“I am.” Harold smirked and shook the box.
“So, this is some kind of joke, then?” She asked, knowing Harold didn’t have a very good sense of humor.
H
A call is out from APPLESEEDS magazine for ghost stories written by kids. Below are the details for submitting your own spooky story. One of my first published short stories was a ghost story written for a local newspaper contest. What fun it was to see my words in the newspaper for everyone to read.
So here is your chance. Scare the socks off some eager readers with your spook-tacular story!
BOO! AppleSeeds is looking for ghost stories from its readers! The October issue is all about ghosts and other spooky things, and readers probably have some great ideas for a story of their own. Have your child send us their ghost story (along with illustrations to go with it) by Nov. 15, 2011. Handwritten stories are okay, but make sure that we can read them. The winner will receive a copy of Robert San Souci's Dare to Be Scared. Send them to AppleSeeds Ghost Stories Contest, 30 Grove St., Peterborough, NH 03458.
September has flown by and the leaves are beginning to change already to wonderful golds and oranges and reds. The fall wind wooshes past, blowing in a new season.
This is the perfect time for fun writing adventures. Try an simple alphabetic poem. Print the alphabet on your paper, one letter on each line. Now think of something "fallish" for each letter.
A is for acorns.
B is for birds flying north.
C is for colors--red, gold, and orange.
D is for daylight becoming less and less.
So you get the idea. If you can't make it through all the alphabet, that's okay. Do as many letters as you can. Or if you're working in a group, assign different letters to different people--or work as teams.
Next week is October already. This month is Children's Magazine Month. Magazines are jam-packed with stories and activities and cool art work. Go see what magazines your school or public library have. Usually you can check out old issues. Or find online children's magazines like Guardian Angel Kids, Highlights Kids, or Literature For Kids, where I'll have a new story--SPIDER IN DISGUISE--in the October issue.
Why not try to write your own story with a fall setting? Perhaps you can write a mystery, or a silly story, or an adventure. Take a piece of paper and start brainstorming ideas. Put your main character in the middle of the paper. Now draw 3 circles above and write 3 possible problems for your main character. Down below write 3 different settings. On each side, write in possible minor characters. Then pick out your favorite problem, setting, and characters. Mix them up and see what happens!
knowonder! is an online magazine that has been in existence since 2009. Our goal is to provide a quality story daily for children ages 3 to 10.
Jane Johnson is the editor of the magazine, and she had this to say: As the editor at this magnificent children’s magazine, I have the pleasure of working with founder Phillip Chipping as we search through submissions looking for creative stories that will encourage imagination and wonder in children. I’ve always loved reading and telling stories to my own children. As a special education teacher I get to read with amazing kids every day. I love it when a story engages them, holds their attention, provokes conversation. My original bachelor’s degree is in English literature. I love to read; some of my favorite characters include Stanley Yelnats, Silas Marner, a little known Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione, Mr. Bennet, and many other men and all of the women created by Jane Austen.
WOW: Jane, welcome to The Muffin. knowonder! provides a FREE story daily to read aloud or with children ages 3 to 10. How do parents access this story? Are there illustrations with it?
Jane: Stories can easily be accessed at knowonder.com; or if parents join our e-mail list on the “join us” tab, we’ll e-mail the stories to them each day. I hope they’ll have a look around our site. They will find more worthy reading under the “For You by You” tab, and artwork and stories from children under the “By Kids for Kids” section.
Our stories will include one illustration. We’re glad to use illustrations submitted by the author if they are well done like the Tucker the Turtle illustration on day two of September’s issue. We even link to other works by the artist.
WOW: What type of stories are on knowonder!? Are they all different genres?
Jane: Absolutely! We will consider sci-fi, fantasy, realistic fiction, and any other original work of fiction. We are looking for really fun stories with lots of action, humor, suspense, and other elements of quality fiction. We want our writers to create imaginative works of art; stories with plenty of description, imagery, simile, metaphor, alliteration, and my personal favorite-- onomatopoeia. We want to give parents plenty of wonderful words and sensational sentences that flow together smoothly as they read them aloud, plenty of opportunity to really get into the characters in the story and have fun with their children while reading with expression. We will only occasionally print non-fiction. We’ve had a few submissions that treat a non-fiction topic cleverly disguised as fiction, and we are seriously considering including them.
By:
jrpoulter,
on 4/23/2011
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A great source of ongoing opportunities is Hope Clark’s weekly/fortnightly newsletter: “FFW Small Markets”
The opportunities below, come from her newsletter for 15th April.
HOPSCOTCH MAGAZINE
http://funforkidzmagazines.com/hs_guidelines
—
HOPSCOTCH looks for articles, fiction, nonfiction, and
poetry that deal with timeless topics, such as pets,
nature, hobbies, science, games, sports, careers, simple
cooking, and anything else likely to interest a young girl.
We leave dating, romance, human sexuality, cosmetics, fashion,
and the like to other publications. Each issue revolves
around a theme. HOPSCOTCH is a magazine created for girls
from 6 to 13 years, with girls 8, 9, and 10 the specific
target age. Ideally prefers articles around 500 words.
We will pay a minimum of 5 cents a word for both fiction
and nonfiction, with additional payment given if the piece
is accompanied by appropriate photos or art. We will pay a
minimum of $10 per poem or puzzle, with variable rates
offered for games, crafts, cartoons, and the like.
=====
FUN FOR KIDZ
http://funforkidzmagazines.com/ffk_guidelines
—
Fun For Kidz is a magazine created for boys and girls from
6 to 13 years, with youngsters 8, 9, and 10 the specific
target age. The magazine is designed as an activity
publication to be enjoyed by both boys and girls on the
alternate months of Hopscotch and Boys’ Quest magazines.
We are looking for lively writing that involves an activity
that is both wholesome and unusual. We are looking for articles
around 500 words as well as puzzles, poems, cooking, carpentry
projects, jokes, riddles, crafts, and other activities that
complement the theme. Articles that are accompanied by good
photos are far more likely to be accepted than those that need
illustrations. We pay a minimum of five cents a word for both
fiction and nonfiction, with additional payment given if the
piece is accompanied by appropriate photos or art. We pay a
minimum of $10 per poem or puzzle, with variable rates offered
for games, carpentry projects, etc.
=====
CAT FANCY
http://www.catchannel.com/magazines/catfancy/writers_guidelines.aspx
—
CAT FANCY, the most widely read consumer magazine dedicated to
the love of cats. Length: 100-1,000 words. Query first.
Several columns to include profiles of people who champion cats
and rescue stories. 500 words for columns.
=====
YOUR CAT MAGAZINE
http://www.bournepublishinggroup.com/mag_yourcat.html
http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Contact-us/Your-Cat-contacts/
—
The magazine for caring cat owners, covering health and behaviour
issues, general care advice, breed information, and other practical
issues. Your Cat is also about the emotional pleasures of owning a
cat, with plenty of fantastic photographs of cats, readers’
letters and true cat tales.
=====
COLUMBIA KIDS
http://columbia.washingtonhistory.org/kids/fall2009/guidelines.aspx
—
COLUMBIAKids is a free online magazine that features
exciting, interesting, and informative articles and
stories based in Pacific Northwest history. Our target
readers are children up to age 14 who live in the states
of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, but we also
welcome subscribers from all over the world. Features
are 800-1,200
By:
Emma Walton Hamilton,
on 4/11/2011
Blog:
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We’re discussing getting published this month at the Children’s Book Hub, so I’ll be devoting a few posts here to that topic.
Here’s a familiar Catch 22: Agents don’t seem interested until you’ve been published, and you can’t seem to get published without an agent. How to break the cycle? Expand your definition of ‘getting published.’ One way to do so is to include children’s magazines.
Consider submitting your work to one or more of the many popular children’s magazines, such as Highlights, High Five, Ask, Cricket, Ladybug, Muse, National Geographic Kids, or American Girl, to name but a few. Being published in a children’s magazine is an important credit for a bio or resume – and most magazines pay for published work, sometimes very nicely.
Writing for children’s magazines can also provide nice opportunities to write outside your usual genre or comfort zone. Many magazines for young readers publish short stories, but an even greater number focus on non-fiction articles that cover a range of topics, and some even publish poetry for young readers. If you choose to try your hand at article writing, remember that when writing non-fiction for children that it should still read like a good story, with all the same elements that draw the reader in: a degree of tension or suspense that compels the reader to want to know more, evocative language or imagery that incorporates the senses, emotional resonance.
The annual publication “Magazine Markets for Children’s Writers” details all the magazines in print, along with their submission guidelines and contact info. You can order a copy directly from Amazon.
One caveat: if you’re interested in writing for children’s magazines, be sure to read a number of them first. You will get a much better sense of the marketplace and what the style and approach of each magazine may be from the magazine itself than from encapsulated submission guidelines. And you may be surprised by the content of some magazines for young people today… it’s a different world for children now than it was when we ourselves may have been reading Highlights!
Hi all,
Today I was happy to find out that Stories for Children Magazine will be reopening its doors in April 2011. Submissions are now open!
This is the press release:
The exciting growth and changes continue to occur at Stories for Children Magazine and we are pleased to announce its reopening! This award-winning Ezine shut down for a short hiatus as their Founder, Owner and Editor-in-Chief VS Grenier gave birth to a wonderful baby girl.
"Being a mother takes a lot out of you, but now that my little girl is old enough to play in my office and my other kids are back in school . . . it's time to reopen Stories for Children Magazine," states
VS Grenier. "I've really missed working with our great list of authors and illustrators. In addition, I am looking forward to working with the new SFC Team. We have a few of our old team members back, but we've added a lot of new faces as well."
Stories for Children Magazine's first issue is planned for April 2011. They are open to submissions and are looking for fiction, nonfiction, poems, crafts, activities, puzzles and youth submissions to fill their April, May and Summer 2011 issues. You can find their guidelines at http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org under the contributors section.
Even though the relaunch issue is not until April 2011, you can still visit this fun, family friendly Ezine each month. "We'll be posting book reviews, crafts, coloring pages and more for FREE each
month," states Grenier.
Stories for Children Magazine placed in the Top Ten for Best Magazine in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2008. So come take an adventure in the World of Ink with Stories for Children Magazine – http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org
All the best,
VS Grenier
http://vsgrenier.com
http://www.guardian-angel-kids.com is the link if you would like to click on over and see what the new magazine is all about. It’s new to the scene but is destined for success.
Getting one’s foot in the door with regards to a writing career just might start with building “writing credits” by submitting stories and articles to magazines for publishing consideration. Magazine editors are always looking for top-rate articles and stories.
Wondering what type of articles to send. Well, be sure to check out the individual magazine’s submission guidelines before sending in your submission. Read current and back issues to see the style of stories published in it. The more you know about the magazine you’ve selected, the better chance you have at a possible publication.
My most recent acceptance came from the same editor, Jennifer Reed (former Wee Ones Editor now Editor at Guardian Angel Kids), that gave me my very first acceptance in 2006. Jennifer know her stuff and is a pleasure to work with.
Here is an excerpt of my article from Guardian Angel Kids:
The Ragbrai Race
By Peg Finley 
It’s a warm July day. It’s Ragbrai (pronounced Rag Bray) and means Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Across Iowa. You might ask what is Ragbrai? It is the longest and largest bicycle ride in the state of Iowa with 8500 week-long riders and 1500 daily riders which is when most families participate.
Ragbrai started in 1973 as a challenge issued by Don Kaul, a Washington columnist, to his friend John Karras. John Karras then wrote an article encouraging others to join them. Originally, 300 riders began the ride. At the end, 115 riders completed the tour. The event is an annual ride. Riders come from all over the United States and the world. According to tradition, bicyclers dip their back tires in the Missouri River at the start of the ride and their front tires in the Mississippi River at the ride’s end.
Ragbrai’s average distance is 472 miles. Riders, even kids, bike an average of 68 miles per day. Along the route, eight host communities are picked to be, using one as the starting point and one as the end point. The other six are overnight stopping points.
Bikes of all kinds and bicyclers of all ages, from ten months to 83 years, make the seven day trip with the help of their friends, family and other bicyclers. Tents are pitched and suppers cooked over the grill. Kids sit on the ground listening to music.
Months in advance preparation begin. Local residents offer spots for cyclists to pitch a tent or park their buses. Results from pies baking contest welcome the cyclist. Spaghetti dinners are prepared. Kids’ bike safety courses are offered as well as races are offered.
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Hi all,
I'm trilled to announce that my publisher, Guardian Angel Publishing, has just launched a new, interactive magazine for kids:
GUARDIAN ANGEL KIDSClick on the link to see the first issue and to learn about their submission guidelines! They're a paying market!
As I already mentioned, I'm participating in a blog chain for the next few days... If you have the time, please check out the next blog in the chain:
Terri Forehand. She has a great review of Nancy Sander's latest book,
America's Black Founders.
I am delighted to welcome Rebecca Newman to this blog today. Rebecca is on tour to celebrate the release of the Spring edition of Alphabet Soup magazine. This edition also marks one year of publishing for Rebecca and Alphabet Soup.I thought it might be useful to take a look inside what happens to put together a children's magazine, so asked Rebecca to give us the inside story. Over to you,
The March issue of Stories for Children Magazine is already out!
This online magazine offers children ages 3-12 great stories and poems.
Don't miss your chance to read this issue with your child.
The magazine comes out the first Monday of each month and subscription is free.
As you create stories for children, here are a few simple points or “rules” to keep in mind.
True, some of these “rules” can be broken.
But you know what they say - “You have to know the rules and be able to follow them before you can start breaking them.”
Here they are:
1) When writing for children, be sure your main character - the viewpoint character - is a child or teen.
Many times, grandparents decide to write stories for children, but then they create a story where a grandparent is the main character.
Kids may love a story that features a grandparent. But children identify with the main, viewpoint character. It’s hard for them to identify with an older person when they are a child and haven’t had all the life experiences of an older adult, so make that viewpoint character a child.
2) Be sure to give your main character a problem, right at the start of the story. Many beginning writers love their characters so much that they just hate to give these characters a problem or conflict.
But, hey, guess what?
Without a conflict, you don’t have a story. So be sure the main child in the story has an age-appropriate problem, right from the get-go.
3) In stories for young children, stick to a single point of view. This means you should tell everything from the main character’s viewpoint.
You can’t tell us what the dog is thinking, or how Grandma feels. You can “show” these things, but you can’t tell them. You can only “tell” what the main character is thinking or feeling.
4) Make sure your viewpoint character solves, or resolves, the story problem himself. Too many times, beginning children’s writers have a parent, or other well-meaning adult, rush in to save the day.
But editors look for children’s story that feature a child protagonist who solves his own problem - or at least resolves it without a lot of help from adults - so give adults only minor roles in your stories for children.
5) Try to create an unexpected “twist” for the end of your story.
This should be something completely logical, but unexpected.
Read several short stories in children’s magazines and look for the “twist” in each of them until you begin to get the hang of this for your own stories for children.
6) The main character should grow or change somehow as a result of solving or resolving his own problem.
This doesn’t have to be a BIG change, but the reader should see some difference in the main character now that he has gone through a struggle to solve or resolve the overall story problem.
If you keep these simple points in mind as you create stories for children, you’ll be WAY ahead of much of the competition.
Happy writing!
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By: Writing for Children,
on 1/7/2008
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If you’ve decided to make 2008 the year you finally become a published children’s author yourself, you’ll want to join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club to get the help you need to do that.
Here’s what you’ll receive as a member of the club:
1. Every month you will be invited to attend a LIVE teleclass with a successful children’s book author and/or illustrator, then you will receive a CD of this recorded event.
You’ll get the “inside scoop” on what it takes to become published in today’s markets.
2. Every Monday morning you’ll also receive an email with a short writing assignment designed to improve your skills in some area of children’s writing.
You can choose whether or not you complete this assignment and turn it in for review.
3. Every week you can submit a children’s manuscript for review. Then, every Wednesday night you can attend a manuscript critique telesession, where you’ll receive constructive comments and suggestions about your manuscript from at least one published children’s book writer.
Your writing career will really start to take off after just a few months in our club.
And, you’ll receive all this help - each and every month - for only $27.00 per month.
But wait, there’s more.
Don’t just take my word for it.
If you’d like a FREE trial membership for the month of January, email [email protected] and put the words, “free trial membership” in the subject area.
Try membership in the CWCC first to see how you like it, without paying a cent. Note: This offer applies to new members only.
But you’d better hurry.
This special offer will only be available today, January 7th. It expires at midnight tonight.
Make 2008 the year you finally DO something to create the writing career you’ve always dreamed of!
See you in print!
Suzanne Lieurance
Founder, Director
National Writing for Children Center
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If you’re a regular reader of Fandangle Magazine then you already know about all the wonderful stories, articles, poems, puzzles, crafts and much more that make up every issue as well as the virtual library, free educational games and great resources for families, teachers and writers. But does your best friend know? Your sisters and brothers? Your child’s teacher or librarian? Your child’s babysitter or daycare provider? Your co-workers?
The Let’s Start a Wildfire! is a campaign to help everyone you know find out about Fandangle.
What’s in it for you?
Prizes of course! The top three people who help get the Fandangle Wildfire started will win one of the following prizes:
First Prize: $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com and their choice of any of our Cafe Press products.
Second Prize: $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com and their choice of any of our Cafe Press products.
Third Prize: $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com.
You can find the rules and more information at http://www.fandanglemagazine.com/wildfire. Be sure to tell all your friends and family about it!
Nancy A. Cavanaugh
Editor, Fandangle Magazine
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One of the distinguishing features of the Donnell Central Children's Room is its outstanding collection of children's literary magazines dating back decades upon centuries. And one such title you might find, if you so desired, might be the St. Nicholas Magazine.
Now you could travel to New York, come to my workplace, and view such works firsthand. Or you could simply look at this fella's scanned in Flickr page of tons of fabulous pictures like the one above. And (sing it together with me now) in the public do-maaaaaaaain!
Thanks to Drawn for the link.
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I agree with this advice! I’ve written nonfiction for children’s magazines for years, and I recently discovered that writing nonfiction picture books demands a very different way of framing ideas and stories.
Right on target, Tara!
great advice which I’d say also applies to illustrators
Hi, Tara. Great post, as always! I totally agree that magazine stories and PBs require a different set of skills, although through critique groups I have found that some writers who think they are writing PB manuscripts may actually be writing magazine stories. I wonder if, in these cases, it is good to pursue magazine work. Although I don’t write magazine stories, I have had success placing poems, and since my PB manuscripts are often in rhyme, I have found this to be helpful. As I plug along trying to get a PB published, it is rewarding to see my poems come out from time to time :)
I was given this same advice, Tara, and I always believed it was a different market, but I think a lot of the writers I met early on (only a few who hadn’t published yet, including myself at the time I first met them) had this mindset. I think writers who have multi-faceted skillsets can thrive by incorporating another way to earn income from their short form writing while honing their craft for book-length projects on the side.
My friend, Kelly Hashway, is a prime example of this, she used to write for magazines, but (to echo your points above, Tara) ALSO wrote actual book-length projects when she could, but she says those early sales for magazines gave her some income and showing she can write things she loves and sell it, regardless of the market, it’s HARD WON in the beginning, and the sense of accomplishment is the same, even if the experience isn’t as all-purpose and straightforward.
Many authors, like Nancy I. Sanders (i.e. Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career) often says the best thing about writing for magazines is having a “training ground” with working with deadlines and editors, and that sometimes, editors from magazines may move to publishers or become agents and will personally contact authors they worked with from their magazine days and work out book deals, or offer the opportunity to submit them directly , and deals can come from that which benefit all parties involved.
I have mixed feelings about that myself, for much of what you outlined, and I focus on novels for this reason, though I’m SLOWLY making ground in someday writing picture books, but novels will always be my first love.
THat said, you’re right that if you want to write something specific, you need to write it. But I think a lot of writers start with short fiction, magazine-oriented or not because they don’t have the patience or skill to tackle a novel, a book-length nonfiction book, or they want to see the beginning to end of a story a little sooner so far as raw drafting is concerned.
But I can understand why people may still want to write for magazine markets, because yes it can take a LONG TIME to see your work in print, but short of the magazine folding, you at least know you can SELL
SInce I’m primarily a novelist, and most programs, especially when I first started a decade ago we’re geared to short stories, whether or not they were specifically for magazines, but many courses were geared to short fiction or poetry, neither are my strengths.
I think part of the problem is that people put ALL short form writing on a pedestal as the crown jewels of literature. Sometimes I feel people talk about novels like they’re the unwanted stepkids and I can’t stand that.
I love that while novelists aim for concise, tightly written stories, I appreciate that novels have FAR MORE leeway than short stories on average, every word STILL MATTERS, but the margin is more forgiving, and some of us writers LOVE and prefer the long form, it’s where we learned to love reading as entertainment.
Great advice and something to think about. Thanks
Tara, you have a knack for writing very timely posts, at least in my world. I’m slated to attend the 8/12 SCBWI ‘writing for magazines’ webinar: https://brazosvalley.scbwi.org/events/webinar-get-published-in-childrens-magazines-with-author-chris-eboch/, but now I won’t allow myself to be sidetracked. Thanks again! :0)
This is such a great post, Tara, because you have made clear the differences between a magazine story and a PB ms. There’s nothing wrong with either one, but be aware of the different skills required for each–and make sure that your PB is not really a magazine story.
I was given the exact same advice and spent a year trying to master the art of writing fiction for magazines when deep down I really wanted to write PBs. But I was told the pub credits would help. In the end, I landed my agent just as you said, with solid PBs and SCBWI membership. Still no magazine credits to my name! Great post, Tara!
YES, YES, YES! Okay now I sound like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. But I do think there is a great deal of confusion about this. Every type of writing is its own craft with its own rules. Saying that writing magazine articles is training for writing picture books dismisses the craft that goes into magazine writing. It’s like saying writing children’s books is the warm-up for writing adult books.