Kids' Nonfiction and Work-for-Hire ~ by Patricia Toht

On February 9, the world welcomed this book:

The Junior Ranger Activity Book
is available here and here.

It's a book of facts, games, puzzles and fun about the U.S. National Parks -- terrific for traveling families. And a GROGger is one of its authors!

Congratulations to...

Who better to co-write a book about the great outdoors than an author who is so at home there?

I had a chance to speak with Christy about her experiences writing the book:

Congratulations on the JUNIOR RANGER ACTIVITY BOOK, Christy!

Thanks, Patty. I was so pleased to see this book in print after months of working on various electronic and pdf versions of the manuscript. It's available online at the National Geographic website, as well as local booksellers and online sellers.

How did you come to write it? Do you have an agent who arranged it? Did you write a proposal to National Geographic Kids?

I wrote the book under contract with a book packager. There's no author credit given, but I felt fortunate to be part of the team.

How did it happen? I attended a Highlights Foundation nonfiction writing workshop in 2013, and there I learned about the option of working with a book packager. Basically, publishers contract with packagers to produce books they want -- mostly specific nonfiction titles. The packagers find the writers. Lionel Bender, founder of Bender Richardson White (a book packager), presented at the workshop. I was really impressed with his description of the work he does, and it sounded like an excellent option for getting my work published. I sent my resume to him (in England!), and nearly two years after the workshop, he asked if I would be interested in this project.

National Geographic Kids originated the concept for the book, and they asked Bender Richardson White to hire the writers.

So, NGK + BRW = a sweet writing job for CM!



Can you give our readers an insight into work-for-hire?

With work-for-hire, a writer is hired to perform a specific task for a set fee. With a book, the publisher sets the subject, length, word count, etc. Writers can work directly for the publisher or a packager, and contracts vary. My contract specified my hourly rate, deadlines, and deliverables for writing outlines, reports and text. In most arrangements, a writer is paid a fee upfront, rather than receiving royalties.

How did you go about researching the book?

Well, sad to say, I didn't get a travel budget! My research was through books and online sources. National Geographic also has a vast amount of information about national parks, and I utilized that.


What was your favorite part of working on the book?

I loved learning about the history of the parks, and so many odd animal facts! It was a great deal of fun seeing the book come to life as the photographs were collected and the text was incorporated into the books design. I also really enjoyed coming up with quiz questions, and the wrong answers for the multiple choice questions.

Christy's dog, Cheddar, is very supportive!

What draws you to writing about nonfiction?

I like all kinds of writing, but I particularly enjoy turning factual material into fun, interesting stories that appeal to kids. If even one child reads something I wrote and learns from it, how cool is that??

What advice do you have for aspiring authors of kids' nonfiction?

•  If you're interested in doing work-for-hire, check out the educational market. Laura Purdie Salas offers a very helpful book about this market, along with other resources. You can find all of her books for writers here.

• Regardless of what you want to write, I'll share the same advice I've heard more than once:

Know your market -- read, read, READ!

Hone your craft -- write, write, WRITE!

Find a critique group, preferably one with 

other writers in your genre -- revise, revise, REVISE!

Go to conferences -- network, network, NETWORK!

• Enhance your credentials as a subject matter expert through further education in your field, volunteer work, and publishing short pieces in your specialized area.

• Attend conferences that focus on nonfiction, like the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction Conference. For insights into the conference, see this GROG post.

• Check out other GROG posts about nonfiction and educational markets by Tina Cho, Sherri Jones River's interview of Miranda Paul, and an interview with Nancy I. Sanders.

Christy with Marc and Abby

Thank you for all of the terrific information, Christy. I can't wait for your Spring, 2017 rhyming picture book! And good luck with your middle grade nonfiction proposal that is making the rounds. 

For more about Christy Mihaly, check out her website here, 
*especially the section for Educational Publishers, where Christy presents her credentials for writing nonfiction.*

Writing a Mystery for the Highlights 2015 Fiction Contest by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Highlights for Children has their annual fiction contest every January. The 2015 theme is mystery writing. Here are the specifications. The submission deadline is January 31, 2015, so time is limited. 

We had a discussion among the Groggers about what makes a good mystery story for children. In 2012, I submitted a mystery short story to Children’s Writer Newsletter and it won 2^nd place! While I’d always loved reading mysteries as a kid, I’d never written one until this contest. It’s time to dust off the mystery writing skills again and try for a new story for 2015. 

Resources

There are many articles out there about mystery writing. Here are some with great tips on what makes a good mystery. 

Writing Mysteries for Children’s Magazines by Donna Freedman at underdown.org

This is a great article and perfect for this assignment. 

Interview with Kristi Holl on Writing Mysteries  Institute of Children’s Literature

Kristi even has an e-book on writing mysteries, if you have the time before the end of January to read it or you want to study the genre further. 

Writing Mysteries with Joan Lowery Nixon at Scholastic—While this website is put together for young writers, it’s full of great information about the basics of mystery writing. Pay particular attention to her “Writing Tips” on page 2. 

Mysteries in the Classroom at Carol Hurst’s website—These are not short story examples, but there are several other children’s book mysteries that will help you study the genre of mystery. 

MysteryNet

There are also a bunch of mystery genre examples and games at this site aimed at kids. 

Fiction Teachers: Mysteries
Another one aimed at kids, but it covers the basics of mystery writing. 

Get to Work

Mysteries have so many components and with a word count of 750 words or less, the components have to be written tightly (and depending on the type of mystery you are writing, all of these elements may not be present). 

I have created a mystery story planning sheet. This should get your brainstorming (click here to download the printable).

Timeline

It’s already January 5, and the deadline is January 31. You will want to leave at least a week at the end of the month for revisions and if you can get a quick second set of eyes on it, that would be good too. 

Map out your time to allow yourself time to brainstorm, draft, and let it rest, reread, and revise. I recommend actually mapping it out on a calendar for the month of January. Many times we miss deadlines because we fail to plan. 

Best of Luck

Send out your very best work! Good luck on your submission. 

Writing for Kids’ Magazines, Part 1: Ruminations and Fulminations -- by Christy Mihaly

Welcome to today's GROG post, where our Thursday theme is submissions.

Have you considered submitting work to children’s magazines? Maybe there's some little gem in your files that just doesn't fly as a book; maybe you'd like to try something new. After several years of writing for magazines, I'm developing some book ideas, but plan to keep on submitting to magazines too.  Here's why:

Three Great Aspects of Writing for Kids’ Magazines:

1.  Possible Publication.  You CAN hear back from an editor within a week – with an acceptance. This has happened to me. (Not often, but just enough to keep things interesting.) That "YES!" means that kids – lots of kids – will actually read something you've written. And isn't that why we write?

2.  Excellent Experience.  Like book publishers, magazine editors want great hooks, intriguing ideas, kid-friendly approaches, drama, and beautiful language. Writing for this market means practicing your craft and polishing your skills. I write primarily nonfiction, so it also means researching markets and topics, identifying unique, kid-friendly subjects, conducting interviews, and crafting queries and/or cover letters. Once your piece is accepted, you get to work with an editor and publishing staff, to make your work the best it can be.

3.  Renewed Inspiration.  Are you getting sick of that YA novel you’ve been writing for three years? Bored with your endless research project? You can complete a short magazine submission in a manageably short time. Doing so always reminds me how much I love to write. And often, I come up with book ideas while working on an article. Why not try a short story, poem, puzzle, or joke – kids’ magazines are looking for all of these.

By Tim Pierce (originally posted to Flickr as lost) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sound good?  Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out:

Three Not-So-Great Aspects of Writing for Kids’ Magazines:

1.  (Lack of) Money.  Some magazines pay on acceptance.  Some don't pay at all. One magazine sent my (tiny) check more than a year after the article was published. You won't get rich.

2.  Rejections. You’ll get rejections. Some magazines don’t respond; many send form letters. My favorite is, “We love this article but can’t use it, because we've just taken a similar article.” Arggh. I try to think of all the rejections as good practice for when I'm ready to send out those book manuscripts.

Here’s my rule: if a magazine rejects a submission without identifying something wrong with it, I resubmit to another appropriate magazine, ASAP. (Obviously, if an editor said something needed fixing, I'd fix it.) And keep writing and submitting. I've had magazine acceptances in response to queries (more on queries in Part 2); and on the first, second, and third try. As with any good manuscript, the secret is to find the right home for it.

3.  Slow responses and far-off publication dates. I usually follow up on a magazine submission if I haven’t heard back after four months. I’m no longer surprised if the magazine then asks me to re-send it, because they've lost it! "Highlights" can take eight months or longer to respond (though they'll send out a prompt postcard asking you to “bear” with them – with a cute bear illustration). And even a quick acceptance won’t mean immediate publication. I sold an article in 2013 that’s scheduled for publication in 2017.

Bottom Line: Why am I still writing for kids' magazines despite these frustrations? Because I want to be a children's author. I love writing, and I want kids to read what I write. And, of course, having those submissions pending makes my daily trip to the post office much more exciting!

Stay tuned for Part 2:  Some Nuts and Bolts of Submitting to Magazines