How To Publish My Kids Writing

Is it possible for kids to publish books?

Possible, yes, with the help of an adult for all the legal stuff. Kids can sign legal contracts if they are under 18.Is it likely a kid will publish a book? Not very. It has happened, of course, but the liklihood an inexperienced child will sell a manuscript to a publisher is even tinier than an inexperienced adult. You can self-publish of course but then you have to promote it yourself and you probably wont sell many.Instead of focusing on selling, just focus on the writing. You are young. Practice, take creative writing classes, write stories, let people read them, accept honest critiques without getting mad or depressed, rewrite based on the critiques, read a lot of books/sites on how to write, get more critiques, re-write again. Try sites like:www.watpad.comwww.writing.comwww.nanowrimo.orgLet your writing improve and mature, learn to accept rejections as even the greatest writers got dozens of rejections first, and keep submitting pieces until someday one might be accepted. Most of all write for yourself. If you are writing for fame, fortune or popularity youll be perpetually disappointed. Those who are famous enough to write full time and have gotten rich doing it are rare stories compared to the number of authors out there.

Can you make a living from writing kids’ picture books as a self publisher?

Yes, and some people do. However, the successful writers tend to be those with mainstream publishers, where the companies have editors, copyeditors, proof readers, sales teams, marketing teams, publicity teams, designers, artists and many others. They get on with all their jobs so that the author can get on with the next book.Some years ago there was a Booker Prize winner called Timothy Mo. He was a brilliant writer who was enormously talented, but he had a real gripe about the money that was sucked up by the publishers, and he vowed he would go independent, publishing all his own works. I don’t know what has happened to him. Having to write, then sell, advertise, publicise and market all his books means he’s hardly any time to write any more.If you want to be successful as a novelist or children’s writer, you can of course do it all yourself. However be aware that the average income from self-published books (ebooks mainly), last time I checked, was about $5,000 a year. It is hard work trying to push your own works without a team behind you!Good luck, whichever way you decide to go.

My daughter is looking to get a book of her poems published. What would be her best course of action?

Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience getting a child's poetry published. Looking around online, I was able to find the following links for: 1. children's poetry journals, which you could contact to see how to get a child's poetry published. Magazine for Kids Poetry, Fiction, IllustrationStone Soup the Leading Publisher of Writing by KidsYoung Authors Guide2. a link showing how to compile your children's poetry for display at home, school, or perhaps in a public library. Your local library and/or school may have special exhibits for children's art, poetry, and/or fiction that your child could take part in. This might be perhaps the most important step to take because getting your child into a community of other child writers/artists will help her passion to grow. So, I would definitely contact my local library and English teachers in the area. Poetry Journals {Poetry for Children}3. it perhaps goes without saying, but having your child display her poetry in the home and having family read-ins or even just seeing her parents and siblings enjoying her poetry quietly to themselves will probably bring her a lot of joy, as well. :o) Best wishes to your budding writer!