Things I Wish in Publishing, Part 2

What I Wish Kidlit Authors Knew And Would Do

Last week’s post was my wish list for the publishing side of the industry. Here’s what I wish pre-published authors knew and would act on….other than the obvious: write the best story you can write, have it vetted, revise it, and understand the writing technical side of things before you send your work out.

I already wrote a post about the need for a website if you hope to be published, so no need to repeat that information, except to say I am always surprised when a student who desires to be published doesn’t yet have one. Seriously, you don’t need anything fancy, but you do need something, and it’s not hard to DIY for a start. If you are actively writing and revising and hoping to submit soon, go get a website done (see below for one easy way to do this).

In addition to a website…

Understand the Publishing Landscape

There is a lot of information that can really help writers navigate the industry. There’s a handful of newsletters that contain really valuable information about how things work, what things work, and what’s on the horizon. Here are the ones I recommend that you check out and follow:

Jane Friedman: She is an industry guru with multiple newsletters both free and paid.

Writer Unboxed: For both craft and publishing guidance from multiple writers.

PW Children’s Bookshelf: Find a dedicated free newsletter here that is filled with announcements about what’s selling. (See the “free newsletter” box at the upper right.)

There are a number of excellent Substacks on writing and the industry - see my recommendations list, or search for writing and publishing.

Understand Social Media

Social media is not essential. But you need to know what to do with it because it’s here (at the moment, anyway.)

None of the social media sites is a reliable or easy advertising platform for authors and none will help you sell books. What social media will do is connect you to the wider community of writers, readers, teachers, librarians, and parents. That connection may in fact help to promote and sell books, and also to give you a sense of the kidlit community, but only if you engage with others on whatever platform.

Social media is also useful for discovering when editors or agents are open for submission as they’ve learned to make those announcements on sites. It used to be that Twitter was the place to watch; now I suggest Bluesky.

Community and engagement will indeed help you as an author, whether you are pre-published or on your way.

And that leads me to…

Support Yourself by Creating Community

The thing we all need right now is community, and the kidlit community is a huge bright star. You can find like minds at organizations like these:

SCBWI: If you aspire to be a children’s book author, you really must join SCBWI.

Authors Guild: Not only do they have valuable information, they also support authors by helping build websites (see above), legal questions, and more.

One thing that is really helpful to writers everywhere is book reviews on Amazon. When you’ve finished reading something you like, head over there and give it a review. It doesn’t need to be fancy or detailed – it doesn’t even need to be 5 stars. Reviews do help sell books and we all need to support one another. Do that for an author today - they will return the favor when you’re ready.

Keep Writing

This is just a starter pack. Keep learning, keep connecting. Really, the world does need your books. It took me a lot of years and a lot of rejections, but I kept writing because I love what I do. Invest in yourself by learning the ropes.

You will get there.