Childrens book | Imamother

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Childrens book

Forum -> Parenting our children

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amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:19 am

I'm in the middle of writing a book for young children.

here are my questions:
-what are the pros vs cons of using a publisher vs self publishing?
- will judiaca/book stores sell it if I self publish?
- do I have to pass it through a rav to make sure its hashkafically ok?
-rhyming or regular storyline?

- what else should I keep in mind?

mushkamothers

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:26 am

No rhyming please I beg you, we're the ones paying for the book not the kid.

If you're not already on soferet you should join and ask those q.

amother

Ballota

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:36 am

amother OP wrote:

Published children's book author here, though only mainstream publishing.

If you self- publish, you're guaranteed that the book will be get out into the world, but you'll have to pay for printing, publicity and, depending on how you do it, you may also have to pay for shipping.

If you self- publish, you'll have a much harder time getting stores to take your book. It's not impossible, but it's hard.

Whether you show it to a rav before submitting is up to you. Frum publishers have certain guidelines that you'll have to meet in order for them to take your book.

Rhyming is hard to get right. Any prose is better than a clunky rhyme.

My advice -
First, check out the competition. What books are like yours? How is yours different? Publishers are looking for new and different, not the same old stuff.

Second, don't expect any real money from this.

But most importantly - write the book, polish it until it's absolutely perfect, and send it to every publisher you can think of. Rejection is par for the course in this industry, so don't be discouraged. If this book doesn't sell, maybe the next one will.

Good luck!

amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:40 am

ok ok rhyming is out

next question is how I deal with publishers. I send to all of them? how much will I actually make when using a publisher?

is there one publisher that is better than others for little kids/fiction? I want control over my story, I really don't want to sell it to the publisher.

what exactly do I send to the publisher?

amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:41 am

also, in search of an outstanding illustrator. I mean outstanding.

scruffy

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:45 am

amother OP wrote:

also, in search of an outstanding illustrator. I mean outstanding.

Illustrators I love

Rikki Benenfeld

Dena Ackerman

Tova Leff

amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 11:47 am

Quote:

If you self- publish, you're guaranteed that the book will be get out into the world, but you'll have to pay for printing, publicity and, depending on how you do it, you may also have to pay for shipping. a

how am I guaranteed that the book will get out into the world? I thought it would be easier with a publisher?

amother

Hawthorn

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 12:00 pm

One of our favorite books is the Aleph Beis Trip on the Aleph Beis Ship. It's rhyming, and it's great. Some rhyming books are really good.

mushkamothers

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 12:46 pm

amother Hawthorn wrote:

One of our favorite books is the Aleph Beis Trip on the Aleph Beis Ship. It's rhyming, and it's great. Some rhyming books are really good.

It's by hachai. Hachai has quality control over their literature. I literally only buy hachai books. Have you read other Jewish kids books? They're painful.

hodeez

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 1:09 pm

Why the hate on rhyming books?

amother

Skyblue

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 1:17 pm

The biggest problem I've seen with Judaica rhyming books is that in the great focus of getting the book to rhyme, vocabulary words that are not age appropriate for the targeted age of the book (based on the content/storyline).

So if you do rhyme, make sure you are actually conveying something with each sentence and not repeating the same thought in two different ways or adding extra unnecessary words, and all the words are age appropriate for your audience.

In general, books that teach a lesson by saying it straight out seem to be less appealing to kids, rather then a relatable story without preaching.

Also the pictures make a huge difference to kids that are too young to read on their own.

mommyla

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 1:56 pm

hodeez wrote:

Why the hate on rhyming books?

Because many of them are terrible.
Forced awkward rhymes (“Good morning we did say!”)
Inconsistent rhythm
Inconsistent rhyme patterns (switching from AABB to ABAB and back)
Near rhymes (I have one that attempts to pass off “van” and “on” as a rhyme)
Very specific accent necessary (PSA: outside of Jewish NY “care” and “dear” do not rhyme)

There are very few Jewish rhyming books that pull it off. Yossi and Laibel is a notable exception.

amother

Magnolia

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 1:58 pm

hodeez wrote:

Why the hate on rhyming books?

Because bad rhyme is so painful. If you don't understand meter, please don't write rhyme.

Especially for younger children's books, it's us parents who have to read them.

amother

Junglegreen

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 2:28 pm

Please include new concepts, vocabulary, and new ideas in your book.
That's why I love non Jewish books like curious George. It taught my kids what the word curious, getting a job, getting a medal. In Jewish books Half the stories happen in the playroom or the kitchen with hashkofa and mitzvahs built into it. Books for all ages can have a storyline with a problem that was solved in a not so conventional way. And teach my kids new ideas that they don't learn in the places they always frequent like house,park grocery and pediatrician office. We teach the kids real life examples in those places. There are a few stories that happened to kids on a farm but it would also be nice to include other places as well. A book that happened in the city, city bus a book that happened in a nursing home, therapy center, parking lot, chol Hamoed outing. Focus on a good story problem,sometime after Mimi and Simi good story lines got lost.

amother

Ballota

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 2:40 pm

Send the book to any and all publishers who want what you're selling. A good way to know where to submit is by seeing who publishes the books most like yours. You also want to make sure that your book is new and original in some way. You want to show that it fills an unmet need.

Generally, it's the publisher and not the author who chooses an illustrator.

The default is that the author has copyright to a work. The publishers may negotiate to own it, but you can put in a clause releasing you from that if the book goes out of print, for example. When you get to the stage of having a contract, ask a lawyer to look it over for you.

The publishing industry is very secretive about money. I don't know if anyone who's gotten an advance of over $3k on a picture book. And plenty of authors get even less. With a picture book, the author and illustrator usually split the royalties evenly.

Hope this helps.

amother

Sage

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 3:41 pm

hodeez wrote:

Why the hate on rhyming books?

Some have no meter and as long as the last word in each sentence rhyme it is "ok".
Some move words out of order so it doesn't make sense but this way it rhymes.

And some only work for specific accents!!! Not all of us speak "NY ese"! Or are from Brooklyn! So it sounds absolute awful and doesn't end up rhyming...

amother

Pink

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 3:43 pm

Bad rhyming is really bad.
But there are some good rhyming books, and those are really good!
Kids love them, they're often easier to read than long drawn out stories...
If you can do it well, go for it!

PinkFridge

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 4:06 pm

mushkamothers wrote:

No rhyming please I beg you, we're the ones paying for the book not the kid.

If you're not already on soferet you should join and ask those q.

Not necessarily. We NEED rhyming books that do it right.

amother

Snowdrop

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 4:28 pm

amother Sage wrote:

Ok but this is true of secular books too. We have a book my kids love, that rhymes "mirror" and "there." I always have to remember to pronounce it as "meer" when I read that book.

amother

DarkGreen

Wed, Jun 07 2023, 7:52 pm

I'm assuming since you asked about having a rav review your book that you are targeting the frum community, so I'll answer some of your questions with that in mind:

1. You mentioned wanting to keep control, does that mean if a publisher is interested your won't make changes they want? If so, than you need to seriously consider self-publishing. If you are willing to make changes but only up to a point, you will also need to be willing to walk away if you and the publisher cannot come to agreement, in which case you may forfeit your advance if you got one - though I don't think the frum publishers offer advances, but I can't be certain.

2. In terms of money, if you are doing this to make money, you might want to try something else. This does not pay well at all. For instance, mainstream publishers pay authors 10% of the sale price - so assume your book sells for $14.99 - and you sell 10,000 copies (totally hypothetical by the way, many books don't sell anywhere near this, especially in the frum market) you come away with $1,500. Now divide that out by how many hours you have spent working on the book ...

3. Unless you are self-publishing you don't need an illustrator. And if you do self-publish make sure you set aside a significant amount of money for illustrations. I don't have a dollar figure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's several hundred or even a thousand dollars upfront for a really good illustrator, not someone off of a generic online site - again this is assuming you are self-publishing and hiring the illustrator on your own.

4. To increase your chance of success, make sure you have your book edited or critiqued by other writers. Join a writer's group, do not rely on what your friends and family tell you.

And I'll echo what others have said, skip the rhyming. It's extremely challenging to do right.

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