Writing Children's Books For Dummies. Peter Economy

       A plethora of illustrations: Including styles such as fine art, cartoon-like, pencil and ink, and more.

       Cover all sorts of topics: From history, to memoir, to fiction, to biography, to nonfiction and anthologized works.

       Relatively few words: Graphic novels have plenty of words, but nothing near the word count of a novel that doesn’t have pictures.

       Aspects of style: Bold, italic, underline, a lot of exclamation points, and a ton of question marks often dramatize the text. You often see word balloons and sound effects.

       What formats sell: “It’s not so much the format but the author. Straight board books by Sandra Boynton sell continually, lift-the-flap board books by Karen Katz, as do classic board books reprinted from best-selling picture books, such as Eric Carle’s Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (Little Simon).”

       The best formats for new writers: “Again, the manuscript dictates a format, though we have certain formats that we consistently publish — mostly holiday or seasonal titles, like Sparkle N Twinkle or Sparkle N Shimmer series. They are holiday-based and have glitter and/or sequins on each spread.”

       What formats constantly need new ideas: “The buzzwords these days are new and innovative. Everybody wants something different. So it can’t just be a flap book, it must be a flap book with touch-and-feel, or sound, or pop-ups and foil, glitter, acetate — and it has to be able to be produced really inexpensively, too!”

       The most common pitfalls for new writers and in what formats: “Everybody thinks they can write for children. It’s easy, right? But most people are writing as an adult to a child rather than for — or with — a child. Kids want the text to be on their level. It doesn’t mean it has to be childish — just child-appealing and childlike.”

       What grabs your attention: “New and innovative! The key to a successful format for the youngest reader is how it is integral to the text and art. If you have flaps in a book but there’s no incentive to lift them — and once you do, you don’t care — then that is a bad use of the flap as a technique to further the story and enhance the reading experience. I’m looking for truly interactive books, where a child can spin a wheel to find an answer or press a button, or something pops up to stimulate understanding.“I’m looking for the perfect integration of an interactive element and lively text. Say you have animals and it’s counting — and the animals are night creatures, rather than on the farm (I’m sick of farm animal books). Or you’re doing a book on colors, but it’s in outer space. There are zillions of books about colors, shapes, counting, and opposites, but something out of the ordinary sparks my interest!”

       What leads to rejection: “Tell me you read it to your students, grandkids, or even your very own children and they loved it. Of course they did! Would any kid say they didn’t? Poor spelling doesn’t help either, nor do farm animals.”

       Developing new formats: “We get ideas for new formats from brainstorming in-house or from packagers. I usually will come up with a format and see if I have a manuscript that fits or I get a manuscript and try and come up with a format that will make it stand out on the bookstore shelves. It’s very much a collaborative process — taking a little bit of what’s been done and tweaking it to make it new and innovative.”