Query Letters to Editors of Nonfiction Books for Children

JENNIFER ROVA

The nonfiction children's market is one of the easier markets to crack because editors of magazines and books are searching for good writers of children's NF genre versus the over crowded children's fiction genre. There is a scarcity of nonfiction children's books while more emphasis is being put on nonfiction reading by educators and parents. Teenagers, especially boys, have a disturbing dearth of appealing NF books. There are a very few NF magazine articles or magazines dedicated to educational NF topics other than dating, makeup or prom dresses. There is also a high interest in "low vocabulary," beginning readers materials in the nonfiction category. "Low vocabulary" is another term for books with lots of pictures that explain a nonfiction idea to preschool or emerging readers. Editors can pair you with an illustrator but it is much better if you can illustrate your own words via drawings or camera shots. It is one less person with whom they have to deal.  Being able to draw or provide camera photos of your writing also gives your more validity which makes it easier to sell your ideas.

Books or articles discussing ethnic diversity, trending activities (dirt biking, snow boarding, soccer, and photography), biographies and science are in special demand. If you can take a nonfiction topic in a new direction, provide a different twist on teaching an idea or use humor to challenge learning, you will have winners. Children like quirky facts about things and respond well to this type of learning.

Publishers want to know if you can write to a targeted age audience, if you can stay in the required word count and if you can make the information engaging and fun. Redundancy, wordiness, inaccuracies, and insufficient or outdated facts are verboten. You must include all information to document the facts and books used in your research in a bibliography included in your book. Go to www.easybib.com to learn the correct bibliographic format for this. Do not use a creative nonfiction format to tell the information, e.g., "Brian Bear's Tips for Fire Safety," or  "Buzy Brianna Bee's Path to Her Hive." Follow submission guidelines precisely; each publishers has its own guidelines and they vary from house to house. Many houses publish books in a series ("How this Works..." or "Science Explained"). There are several web sites that show vocabulary words that are appropriate for specific age groups. Study those and use your thesaurus to find exactly the right words to help  a specific age group learn about your topic of interest.
                                     
In your one page query letter, state the title of your article or book and for what ages you wrote it. Give a two to three sentence synopsis. Summarize your approach and why you are qualified to write for them. If applicable, site figures showing the lack of resources on this subject. If you have not written nonfiction, start writing now and get published even if it is adult nonfiction. State you will send writing samples if desired. If you have not written for children, write a sample story following the publisher's guidelines and send it if asked. Give a short bio of your writing experiences, prizes won, blog site(s), and books and articles published. Thank them for their time and include your name, phone numbers, email address and post office addresses. If you used humor in the book or article, try to include humor in the query letter. Never call an editor to give a pitch. Attend conferences mentioned in the Oct. 9, 2013 post or others nearby.

Nonfiction for children of all ages is an increasingly in-demand field of writing. If you have an interest in nonfiction and think you have skills necessary to write appropriately on a subject that appeals to children, try it out and see what happens. This is a niche waiting to be filled.

Children's Nonfiction--Lucrative and Fun Writing

Jennifer Rova

Wouldn’t it be fun to be responsible for the smile on this boy's face? Editors are clamoring for authors who can write nonfiction books and magazines articles for children of all ages.  Fifty percent of elementary and seventy percent of high school reading will be nonfiction according to Common Core State Standards.* School and public libraries shelves are sparsely furnished with up-to-date nonfiction books. You can help fill the gap.

There are numerous reasons to write children's NF:
---topic choices are unlimited with biographies a constant need. What are you interested in? Probably some children are interested in that same subject and would benefit from reading your book on the topic.
---the field is not crowded thus your chances of being paid are higher.
---teachers are looking for good NF books to use in the classroom.
---you can research and write on one topic but gear and market it differently for different age groups.
---you have a hand in interpreting the world for young readers and sparking ideas for further interests    and jobs through your books.
---you are helping to raise a smarter generation.
---it is fun to share you knowledge or for you to learn something new, share it and get paid.
---parents are looking for books and magazines to teach their children.
---you are fostering life-long literacy skills.
---early readers and emerging readers need to read NF as well as fiction.

Numerous sources are available to scout out what is current and what subjects needs expanding.
1. Visit school and public libraries and book stores. Read NF books. Doing so gives you invaluable information on how to write for different ages, the vocabulary used and what topics are absent.

2. Ask your children, grandchildren or neighbors' kids what they would like to learn.

3. Go to amazon.com, click on books, advanced search, specify readers' age and specify publication dates, e.g., 2008-2012 to see what has been written and look for missing topics.

4. Query librarians on what topics are most often asked for and for which there are no books.

5. Read children’s magazines to see what hot topics have articles. Are there any books to match these topics? (See list of children's magazines below.)

6. Buy A to Zoo a reference book that lists picture books by subject title and author and Children’s Writer's and Illustrator's Market book by Writer's Digest. The latter lists most of the publishing houses that produce children's books and magazines.

7. Attend one of these conference
*** Second Annual 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference, June 20-22, 2014 in New Platz, NY on SUNY campus. http://childrensnonfictionconference.com
 ***Broward, Florida 27th annual Conference on Children's Literature in April  2014 www.broward.org
***22nd Annual Hubbs Children's Literature Conference, Feb. 22, 2014 at the Keffer Library on the Minneapolis, MN campus of University of St. Thomas. http//libguides.stthomas.edu/Hubbs 2014

7. Look for and attend a state library association's annual convention to smooze with librarians and book publishers. Companies often have lots of free, helpful information.

Go here http://www.world-newspapers.com/children.html for an annotated list of children's magazines.

*Mission state for Common Core Standards organization
"The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy."
www.corestandards.org

Look for Friday's post, October 11, 2013 for some pointers on writing children's 
nonfiction literature and how to query editors who publish nonfiction
 children’s literature.