What a Ghostwriter Can Do For Your Children’s Book

By Evan Bailyn

It’s Not As Easy As It Sounds

People refer to writing children’s books as if it were the easiest thing in the world. In fact, authors for children often hear the question, “When are you going to graduate to writing adult books?” If they only knew.

Writing for children is exponentially more difficult than writing for adults. You are an adult. It’s not difficult to put yourself in the mindset and use language that an adult understands and build plots around events that are relevant to a grown up’s life. To write for children, you must use a fraction of your vocabulary, know what to explain and what is common knowledge, use situations and characters and language that is appropriate for children while being interesting and engaging at the same time. It’s a tightrope walk and you don’t have to go it alone.

Hire a Ghostwriter

Choose a ghostwriter for your children’s book project, and all the semantics of your fabulous children’s book idea will fall away. Your ghostwriter will have experience with the level of education that a child of your chosen audience is working with. She will be more than competent at creating engaging dialogue and compelling characters that drive your ideas forward to your books’ conclusion.

In the hands of a ghostwriter, your children’s book idea will grow and flourish into a manuscript that you can be proud of. Any holes in the story, your ghostwriter will mend. Any confusion on plot points, your ghostwriter will untangle. Get together all your notes, ideas, and scribbled pieces of dialogue and character studies and ship them out to your ghostwriter. Give her 30-90 days, and she’ll return a manuscript to you that you would have written if you had the time.

Communication is Key

The success of your relationship with a ghostwriter depends upon your communication. You must be absolutely clear about what you definitely want included in your manuscript and just as clear on what literary decisions you feel comfortable allowing the ghostwriter to make on her.

Choose An Audience

The communication begins with you deciding what age group you are writing for. The children’s book market is usually broken up into:

• 0 – 2 years old – These guys tend to gnaw on their books more than read them. The pictures are a larger factor for success than words and are generally the work of illustrators.
• 2 – 5 years old – Preschoolers might be learning their letters but it’s their vocabulary that’s growing while their parents and caregivers read aloud to them. They have limited attention spans and pictures are still a large part of the reading process, but more focus is on the story. These books are usually projects taken on by both writers and illustrators.
• 5 – 8 years old – Pictures are still apart of books for grade schoolers, but a much smaller part, generally no more than a graphic on every few pages. These children are reading for themselves, so age appropriate language is essential at this stage.
• 8 – 12 years old – These are the ‘Tweeners’: not really children anymore but not quite teenagers either. Plot is crucial for this group because you don’t want to talk down to them or shoot over their heads.
• 12 and up – This is grouped into a section all its own, YA or Young Adult. Plot and characters must be things they can relate to. There is less exploring in these books and more internal stories for the angst of the teenage years.

When you choose the audience target and hand over your notes and ideas, you and your ghostwriter will flesh out a strong children’s book manuscript that you will be more than pleased to hand over to a lucky publisher.

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For a more in-depth explanation of the ghostwriting process, click here.

For pricing details, click here.

To inquire about our ghostwriting service, call
1-800-WRITE90 (1-800-974-8390) or e-mail ghostwriter@pegr.com.

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