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| Image by Margo Lipa from Pixabay |
Happy August!
It's hard to believe that summer is already waning here in the northern hemisphere and students and teachers will soon be returning to classrooms. Today, I'm closing out our latest TeachingAuthors series. At the end of this post, I also share one of my poems and a link to this week's Poetry Friday roundup.
I've enjoyed reading all my fellow TeachingAuthors' responses to the prompt: "Share a question you often get from your students or readers." I must admit, though, that the post that most resonated with me was April's, in which she talks about someone approaching her with an idea and asking her to write the book. I, too, have received that request many times, not only from my students, but also from strangers I've met at social functions and even via email from random people who found me online.
But there's another question I've heard far more frequently from those same sources: "How do you get a book published?" In fact, when I first started teaching classes in writing for children and teens over 25 years ago, the question was frequently worded as "How much does it cost to get a children's book published?" Back before self-publishing became prevalent, many people assumed you simply paid a book publisher like Scholastic or Random House to publish your book. These same people also typically assumed that if you were a writer and not an artist, you had to hire someone to illustrate your picture book before submitting to that publisher.
If the person asking the question was not a student in one of my classes, I simply directed them to the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) website. But over the years, the answer has gotten increasingly more complicated, and the SCBWI FAQ page isn't as helpful as it used to be. Thankfully, Jane Freidman has a great resource: "Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published," that covers publishing books for adults as well as for children. The post describes three publishing paths: traditional publishing, hiring a company to publish for you, and self-publishing, and she updates the information periodically.
How about you, Readers? Do you have any questions we haven't addressed in this series? If so, please let us know in the comments.
Now for the poem I promised. Earlier this summer, I had the honor of having two poems accepted for publication at The Dirigible Balloon, a UK-based online magazine that publishes poetry for children--my first time being featured there! Here's one of them, which you can also see on their site here:
On the Launchpad (An Etheree)
by Carmela A. Martino
Preparing for takeoff! I fuel up
on determination so I can
blast past expectations and climb
skyward, higher and higher—
beyond the stratosphere—
to where earthly fears
won’t weigh me down.
Here I go—
THREE, TWO,
ONE …
© 2025 Carmela A. Martino. All rights reserved.
As noted above, this poem is an Etheree. If you're not familiar with the form, you can learn about it on the Shadow Poetry site. And you can read my other poem, "Puppy Litter," on this page of The Dirigible Balloon.
Don't forget to visit this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Jane Whittingham for more terrific poetry.
Happy writing!
Carmela
This is an excellent discussion! Ann's book is a mandatory read, for sure. And I love your poem! Poems are the essence of magic-making.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am often asked about voice, another question I'm often asked but didn't write about, recognizing that my students write for the adult market with only a very few in YA : You write for children? When are you going to write a real book? Hmmm...
Yes, Bobbi. I thought of that question too. So annoying, especially since I HAVE published nonfiction for adults!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a hard question to answer succinctly because there are so many more variables involved when writing for younger and reluctant readers that those writing for adults tend to take for granted. The best strategy I came up with is to have them consider their 180,000-word novel, all the literary components that used to engineer that story, and think how they may duplicate that very process but not go above 500 words and without simply summarizing their story. That so far, and without exception, not one student in all the many years I’ve been teaching has been able to accomplish the task, reveals just how challenging it is to write stories for children.
DeleteA fabulous wrap up to this series. Yes, it's a complicated answer--and isn't that great? There is such diversity in publishing now...for kids, authors, readers. It's wonderful. Congrats on the published poems. That's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI have worked on books in different ways and haven’t figured it all out yet. Any way you look at it, you have to put the work into it. Thanks for sharing your etheree and congrats on having 2 poems published. Keep doing the good work!
ReplyDeleteAnn Paul’s book has long been on my writing desk, lovingly dog-eared! Congrats on your Dirigible publications, Carmela!
ReplyDeleteBobbi, what a great challenge!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. While I agree diversity is good, I wish it wasn't quite so complicated. :-)
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I don't know if there's any way to figure it all out. We just keep doing the work. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patricia. It's always fun getting published someplace new!
ReplyDelete