If you’re interested in becoming a children’s book author, here are some places to research:
- SCBWI is the perfect place to start with local chapter meetings, guidance, critique groups, classes, conferences, and many learning opportunities, including a manual upon membership.
- There’s a reason you will hear this advice many times: read as many newish (three years or newer) books in your genre…you not only see what is selling, you will begin to understand what *you* think makes a great book, study these mentor texts, and, when your manuscript is polished as much as it possibly can be, you’ll have plenty of comps to choose from for your query letter (if you decide on traditional publishing)
- 12×12 consists of webinars and an online community for further engagement
- Of course, I need to mention joining Picture Book Power Hour FREE 1-hour 1x/month for focused writing exercises
- Twitter is where many of us found our author-people-friends and grew a little stronger and tougher together through pitch events, follow hashtags like #kidlit and #writingcommunity
- QueryTracker – by far the best $25/year I spent while querying…sure, you can keep your own spreadsheet, but the amount of time it saves researching who to send to, entering your submissions, seeing agent response time, agent request rate, and detailed insight from the reports once you have a “full” out is next level worth it
- Author pages with great advice: Judy Blume Josh Funk Pat Zietlow Miller