The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books, 3rd Edition - Softcover

Underdown, Harold D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592577504 ISBN 13: 9781592577507

Publisher: Alpha, 2008

Synopsis

“Honest and precise… everything about writing for children there is to know.”
—Jane Yolen, author

Here is the comprehensive guide to writing, publishing, and selling for the ever-expanding and always exciting children’s market—now in a new and updated third edition.

• Includes new chapters on self-publishing and on "how to choose a how-to", plus revision and updates throughout
• Offers practical advice on getting started--and on dealing with out-of-print books
• Covers picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, middle-grade and young novels, and common formats and genres
• Reveals what happens inside a children's publishing company, and provides guidance in working with an editor
• Sample cover and query letters, manuscript format, glossary, and recommended resources in an extensive appendix
• Plus information on agents, contracts, copyright, marketing, and more

About this title

About the Author

Harold Underdown is an experienced children’s book editor and former editorial director for Charlesbridge Publishing. He served as VP, editorial, for iPicturebooks and has served as editor for children’s divisions at Orchard and Macmillan. He is a frequent speaker at writer’s conferences, training new writers on the ins and outs of the children’s book market, and maintains The Purple Crayon (www.underdown.org), a website on children’s publishing. Currently, he is an editorial consultant in New York.

Reviews

As this revised edition states, “Children’s publishing is a big business, with many kinds of publishers, many kinds of books, and right ways and wrong ways to do even such a simple thing as write a cover letter.” Children’s book editor Underdown covers all the bases of breaking into the industry, from tips on maximizing the creative process to manuscript-submission pointers to ideas for promoting a published book. Background on the history and current state of children’s publishing includes information on new trends and new imprints launched up to 2007. Featured throughout are real-life anecdotes from published authors and illustrators and recommended Web resources. Back matter includes a glossary, bibliography, sample cover letters, and an index. Whether a “complete idiot” or an experienced writer or illustrator, children’s-publishing hopefuls will find this a comprehensive, balanced resource. --Laura Tillotson

Edition details

• Publisher: Alpha
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1592577504
• ISBN 13: 9781592577507
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 384