A children's book can be a delight to develop, and publishing a children's book is easy (provided you don't want to make a lot of money at it) thanks to self-publishing enterprises and print-on-demand services. However, some people think that writing a kids' book is a snap because it contains simple language and has a brief length. Nothing could be further from the truth. It requires work to turn a neat idea into a complete story, and like any other project, there will be bumps along the way. If you're committed to the idea, writing a kids' book can be extremely fulfilling, but it does take effort.
Instructions
1. Research the various children's age groups and get an idea for what appeals to them. Young adults of 11 or 12 may respond to very sophisticated writing, while younger children enjoy simpler stories with more cheerful themes. Very young children focus more on the sounds of the words than the story, and respond to books that contain a lot of repeated phrases and phonetic emphasis. Read up on children's education, talk to teachers and child psychologists, and volunteer at a preschool or a day care center where you can see your intended audience interacting.
2. Come up with a story idea that matches the sensibilities of your chosen age group. Older children may like a story with a lot of action and excitement, while younger children will need a simple storyline and very few scares. The story should contain a dilemma which needs to be resolved: for younger kids, it should be non-life threatening, like a character getting caught in the rain or remembering to help out a friend. Older kids can handle a little more intensity, but it should still remain positive and upbeat overall. The characters in the story should be approachable and identifiable to kids: kids themselves, anthropomorphic animals or adults who are either foolish or who don't fit in to the established order. The characters should struggle against the dilemma before finally hitting upon a solution and implementing it.
3. Talk to an artist about drawing pictures for your story. While a young adult novel can be nothing but text, books for younger kids always have pictures--preferably color pictures--to illustrate the action. An artist will likely ask for a fee, but if she is sufficiently excited about the project, may be willing to do it for much less than the normal rate.
4. Sit down with the artist and work out the basic structure of the piece. You should know what parts of the action will go on which page, and what points will be best for the artists' illustrations. That will allow you to write the story without having to shift things around midway through to fit a given structure.
5. Write the story down in its entirety, then edit and polish it until you are happy with the structure. Be sure to note how much text will go on each page. Generally speaking, the text should be completely finished before the artist starts his work, though in some cases, you may be working together in tandem and in other cases the pictures will be done first. If the pictures are done, make sure you write the story so that it matches them exactly. Words can be rewritten very easily, but pictures must basically be redrawn from scratch if changes are needed.
6. Contact a publisher or a self-publishing enterprise to see about getting your kids' book into print.
