How To Write For Children And Win Over Parents
The obvious skill of being able to communicate in a language
that the age group you are targeting, is an evident one.
Choosing a topic that the child relates to is all important. In
many cases it is also deemed to be imperative to include
graphics - again, depending on the child's age; BUT all children
of all ages like to see illustrations.
You need to understand what the children want from reading and
what their parent's want. Keeping the children happy and
enjoying the story while enticing their imagination and
appealing to their creative spirit is essential. But what is it
that will make the parents purchase the book? Parents are also
looking for books that will give some educational benefit to the
child. It is obvious that new words and ideas are educational in
themselves, but parents often want something more constructive -
they want a way to measure the success of the book, to the
educational value to their children.
Activities included within the text of the book can certainly
give your book a uniqueness that will appeal to both kids and
parents. Having a glossary of words that may be new or unusual
will ensure that children and parents alike fully understand the
text and kids will not be constantly asking what a certain word
means.
Including quizzes, crossword puzzles, writing and
drawing/colouring exercises - all add value to the story - for
both the children and the parents. Years ago it was very popular
to receive a large book full of stories and activities for a
Christmas gift. These Annuals were always popular because they
gave the child a series of activities to accompany the reading
of the stories.
Currently, books are creeping onto the markets that have more
activities than stories. But if you can combine the gift of
story telling with suitable fun activities, you will appeal to
both the kids and their parents and give your writing a better
chance of being successful.
With the Internet you can produce e-books with full colour
graphics and not be hindered by the production costs. This, of
course, means that your books can be cheaper than what is
available in the retail outlets.
As to how to promote and market your book so that it can make
sales - that is a more complicated task. But it is generally
agreed on by Internet Marketers that one of the best ways is to
write articles and have them published, to establish your
credibility as a children's author. Include in that article a
reference box at the end of the article to include a link to
your website (or email) where you can offer the book for sale.
The good news is that you already have a head start over others,
because you can write and producing an article would be 'no big
deal'. Just make sure that you target the right type of e-zine
or newsletter or the correct category in web sites such as this
one, to submit your article to - you need to target the customer
who has children e.g. Mums.
If you decide to approach your own church or school - consider
adding an affiliate programme, whereby the organisation gets a
commission (around 50%) in return for promoting your book for
you e.g. via a testimonial. Don't be mean about giving
commissions - once you have written your book there is virtually
no further cost for you, so you can afford to give a good
commission. This is a great way for you to show your community
spirit and to further add to your credibility as a caring
children's author. The parents will appreciate your generosity
while the children love your book!