Category: Self-Publishing

Querying Agents

Earlier this month I attended ThrillerFest in New York. Part of the conference covered the quest to find a literary agent.

All the agents stressed keeping the query short, clear, and to the point. One agent described the perfect query letter (now usually sent as an email) as having three parts and only three parts:

 

  1. The Hook
  2. The Book
  3. The Cook
 The Hook

The hook is the aspect of your story that grabs the reader. It’s often a single sentence.

Some writers use a what if statement/question. For Stephen King’s Carrie, it might go like this:

What if a bullied girl develops superpowers and seeks revenge?

The hook also can refer to familiar books or movies. For the blockbuster movie Alien, the hook was Jaws in space. For my Awakening series, I often say Rosemary’s Baby meets The Da Vinci Code.

The Book

The description of the book should be 1-2 paragraphs, so think about what would be on the inside flap or back cover of your book in the bookstore.

Three points main points are your protagonist, the protagonist’s actions, and the force(s), person, or people who oppose your protagonist.

Including the opposition is important because story is about conflict. The protagonist should be active because a passive main character makes for a dull book.

Including more about the main character matters because that’s what draws readers in. Even in genre and commercial novels, which typically are more plot-oriented than literary novels, readers become engaged only if they care about the character.

For an example, see the description of the first Ruth Galloway mystery by Elly Griffiths. The description covers the plot, which revolves around the finding of a child’s bones and a kidnapping, but it also tells us a lot about Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist who lives “happily alone” in a remote area.

Ruth is what drew me in and keeps me reading the books.

Look at online descriptions of books in your genre and use them as examples if they make you want to read on and especially if they prompt you to buy the book.

For more on how to describe your novel, you can check out Bryan Cohen’s How To Write A Sizzling Synopsis.

The Cook

Your query should include a sentence or two about you. List previous publications, if any, and other relevant experience. Obvious examples are if you’re writing a police procedural and you are a police officer or forensic pathologist or you’re a lawyer writing a legal thriller.

If you don’t have a long list of publications or specific experience, it’s worth mentioning any degree or technical experience that shows you can follow through on projects and have a background that will provide material for future books. Agents are not looking simply to represent a single book but for writers with a long career ahead of them.

Regarding previous publications, I heard conflicting advice at ThrillerFest on self published titles.

One agent said not to mention it and just to let it “come out” if the agent shows interest. (He claimed he wasn’t negative about self publishing. Uh, maybe you are?)

Another viewed it as fine to include though largely irrelevant.

A third found it encouraging that I’d published a four-book series because it showed an ability to produce work consistently.

I think the best advice is that if you have a series, it’s worth mentioning for that reason. If you’ve published books with at least forty or fifty reviews, you might list them as well, as it shows people are reading your work. On the other hand, if you’ve self published a book and it only has a couple reviews, that probably won’t add anything to your resume in the agent’s eyes.

In Closing

Your closing paragraph should state what you’re enclosing, if anything. For example, if that agent’s submission guidelines call for it, include sample pages. Also thank the agent for her or his time. (It always helps to be polite.)

Two final tips:

  1. Make sure you check the agent’s guidelines, which are usually available online. Some agents want sample pages to be copied into the email, others want an attachment in Word. While following the guidelines precisely won’t guarantee a positive response, violating them will probably get you screened out.
  2. Take a break after finishing your query. Come back in an hour–or better yet a day–and proofread your query before sending it.

In summary, write a short query that includes the hook, the book, and the cook. Be polite, proofread, and follow the agent’s guidelines.

Until Friday, good luck–

Best,

L.M. Lilly

P.S. For more on finding the right writer’s conference for you, check out last Sunday’s post Choosing A Writing Conference.

Beyond The Bookstore

Most of us grew up when the only way to get books into the hands of readers was through bookstores or libraries.

While ebooks existed in the early 2000s in the form of PDFs and other files, the first Kindle wasn’t sold until 2007.

Because of that, a lot of writers, whether self-published, not yet published, or published by traditional print publishers, tend to think of bookstores and book signings as the main way to publicize books and meet readers.

That’s why I’m recommending this article from Amazon Author Insights. It includes seven tips for in-person book events that you might not have considered:

Promote Your Book Outside The Bookstore by Ethan Gilsdorf

Until Sunday–

Best,

L.M. Lilly

P.S. If you’ve tried any of them, or you do so in the future, please post your experience in the comments or send me an email: [email protected]

Set A Single Goal (And Stop Managing Your Time)

Time management gives me the chills.

When I’d been a lawyer for about three years, the large law firm where I worked sent an email about a time management seminar. A slow week for me was working 55 hours, and I was writing a novel on the side.

I saw the email and literally thought, “I don’t have time.”

Plus, the description reminded me of something I read once about stress management seminars. Most people attend not to lessen stress but to learn to take on more of it. This seminar sounded like a way for my firm to teach me to cram more into my schedule.

No thanks.

But can you cram in less and get more done?

The best way I’ve found to do that is to set a single overarching goal for the year.

The Single Goal

Choosing one major goal for the year creates time.

Most articles and advice about goals stresses ensuring that by a certain time or after certain steps, you’ll achieve something measurable. As an example, simply stating that my goal is writing a novel, particularly if I tell other people and add a time frame (such as “within a year”), makes it more likely I’ll do it.

But that’s only part of the benefit. An overarching goal helps you make the best use of the limited time you have and, more important, causes you to spend less time on tasks that won’t get you where you want to be and don’t add to your enjoyment of life.

Without goals, we can check things off To Do lists all day and feel like we’re accomplishing a lot without achieving what we truly want in life.

How Making One Decision Creates Time

No one schedules time to stare at a blank screen or an overflowing To Do list feeling overwhelmed. It just happens, and it not only takes up time, it undermines us. We feel less able to get things done and less sure we’ll reach our goals.

That in turn takes more time as we mentally reevaluate whether we set the right goal, whether we have time for this whole writing thing anyway, and whether we’d be happier focusing on something else.

Choosing a single main goal for the year eliminates those countless minutes (which eventually add up to hours).

Let’s say your overarching goal for the year is to finish one novel. That doesn’t mean you can’t write anything else. But your time split for writing will be 80/20 or 90/10 in favor of the novel. Not a short story or article or blog post. You do those things if you feel good about your progress on your novel for the week or month, but the novel comes first.

In other words, if you only have 20 minutes, you know what you’re working on.

Or let’s say you have books published and your main goal is to increase your earnings. You’ll still need to write, but you will need to devote significant time to business pursuits. You’ll probably do a 50/50 split between writing and business.

That’s where I am this year. My overarching goal is to earn $50,000 in gross income from royalties by the end of the year, which is a significant increase for me. (I wrote it on this index card to remind me.) To pursue this, I’m splitting my time equally between writing and business.

Breaking It Down

You’ll still need to know what to do with each small segment of time, especially if you have many other responsibilities and are likely to have only short bursts of time to write.

The single goal gives you the framework. Once you set it, break it down.

For the novel example, if you’re starting from zero, depending on your own writing process the pieces might be:

  • Characters
  • Plot/Outline
  • Scenes
  • Organizing Scenes Into Chapters
  • Revisions Of Plot
  • Revisions Of Dialogue
  • Copyediting

Now if you have 15 minutes, you can start on the next task on the list. In 15 minutes, you can write a few paragraphs or sketch out bullet points about a character (try my free Character Creation Tip Sheet for some questions to ask yourself). You can figure out one major plot point. If you’re standing in line for groceries, you can imagine a single scene in your mind so that when you get the next 15 minutes you can start writing it.

For me, if I have 15 minutes, I might watch a section of the Ads For Authors course I’m taking or listen to 15 minutes of a marketing podcast or research the latest book promotion sites by running a quick Google search.

Focus

The single goal also ensures you focus on what matters. If you’re like me and you like goal setting and lists (I love lists), you’ll probably set other goals for the year or month, and that’s good. You can see the top of my monthly goal sheet in the photo below the index card.

Your single major goal will help you decide if those other goals make sense. It also will aid you in knowing which to omit if you’ve taken on too much and which to push toward regardless.

On a task level, the single goal keeps you on track. If I’m tempted to check my KDP Dashboard (which shows book sales updated periodically) for the third time in a day, I look at my index card and ask myself if doing so will help me increase my royalties to $50,000.

The answer, all but perhaps once a week to see how different promotional efforts or ads worked, is No. Same for randomly checking Twitter.

All of the above isn’t to say that you can’t have any time where you are relaxing and not being productive in a work sense, where you’re spending time with your family or friends or reading a book. We all need that or what’s the point of life?

The single goal helps you focus and use all your time well, including short bursts of it, giving you more free blocks of time for other parts of life.

Rather than time being an unruly employee to manage or an enemy to overcome, it becomes your ally.

And who doesn’t need more allies?

Until next week—

Best,

L.M. Lilly

More On Kobo

Last Sunday, I wrote about why you might want to publish your book on Kobo, an ebook platform that’s very popular outside the U.S. (and is a favorite of independent bookstores in the U.S.).

I covered the major reasons I like selling my Awakening series on Kobo. In this podcast, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations Mark Lefebvre (who jokes his other name is “Mark from Kobo”) gives details on how Kobo works, talks about Kobo’s subscription service, and shares general marketing advice:

 

Mark also writes articles and blog posts on writing and publishing. In THE SMARTER ARTIST SUMMIT: A CONFERENCE FOR SMARTER INTROVERTS he talks about the 2017 Smarter Artist Summit and includes tips from many of the attendees.

Until Sunday, when I’ll talk about why managing your time is a bad idea.

Best,

L.M. Lilly

Publishing Your Book On Kobo

There are many platforms on which you can self publish your novel as an ebook. I publish on Amazon (for Kindle), Kobo, iBooks. GooglePlay, and Nook.

Whenever I tell people that, though, the next question, at least in the U.S., usually is “What is Kobo?”

Kobo eReaders and Reach

With apologies to Kobo (as no one likes to name the competition), I sometimes tell non-writing friends in the U.S. that it’s Kindle in Canada. But that’s not quite true.

Kobo sells books all over the world. After publishing on Kobo, I sold books in countries I was unfamiliar with before that, such as Wallis & Futuna.

The map to the right shows the countries where Kobo ebooks in my Awakening series have been bought.

Books for Kobo can be read on Kobo ereaders or on Kobo apps, which are listed on Kobo’s website.

The Pluses of Kobo

There are lots of reasons to love Kobo.

Books Books Books: Unlike Amazon, Kobo sells only books and ereaders. No one goes to Kobo to buy a HEPA air filter or a ceiling fan or a pair of sneakers. If someone is on Kobo’s website, it’s to buy books. I suspect that influences the next two pluses.

Kobo readers review more books. On Amazon, roughly .01% of readers who bought The Awakening reviewed it. If I count not only sales but the tens of thousands of free downloads, the ratio is crazy low.

On Kobo, in contrast, over 40% of those who bought The Awakening reviewed it.

I also get a higher read through rate on Kobo. I particularly notice this with The Awakening (Book 1) being free. Everything I’ve read and my own experience says that on Kindle, many many free books are downloaded and never read. Based on the read through rate, Kobo readers appear far more likely to read a free book and, if they like it, to buy the next book.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, the read through rate is the percentage of people who buy Book 2 in a series after reading Book 1. While you can’t tell exactly who bought, you can see the numbers. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say over the last three months you sold 100 of Book 1 and 50 of Book 2. That would be a read through rate of 50%.

Royalties: As of this writing, for books above $9.99, the royalties are more favorable to authors on Kobo. Most platforms pay a lower royalty (usually around 30%) for books under $2.99 and 65% or 70% on books above $2.99, but drop the royalty rate if the sale price exceeds $9.99.

Kobo doesn’t do that. The percentage remains the same for all books at $2.99 and up.

This is very helpful for box sets. If you have a 7-book series you’re selling as a bundle or box set for $12.99, your royalty would still be 70% on Kobo rather than dropping to a lower percentage.

Promotion: Kobo allows you to offer your ebook free. While it seems counterintuitive, if you have a series, providing your first book free can be a good way to draw readers in, resulting in higher earnings overall. (I’ve had my best three sales months ever this year after switching The Awakening to free.) And even if the earnings are the same, you’ve expanded your reader base.

Amazon will only list your ebook free to price match other platforms. Occasionally this happens automatically, but often you need to request it, and the response always includes a reminder that Amazon is not obligated to let you offer the book free.

Kobo also has on its dashboard options for promotions, including some priced as low as $5. I don’t see huge sales spikes on the days of these promotions, but they help sales for a long time, sometimes for a month or more.

Technology: Kobo’s technology is easy to use. Once you create an account, which is free, you are walked through five simple steps to upload your book. Kobo accepts epub files—the same sort of file accepted by all platforms I’ve used except Amazon. (Amazon requires a mobi file.)

Kobo sales data is easy to see and read. The dashboard, which is where you see your sales information, shows your dollars earned and books sold for the current month and for all time. You can use drop down menus to filter by book.

Author Support: Kobo sends a monthly newsletter with tips for writers. Kobo also has a podcast for authors and very helpful support via email.

Downsides of Kobo (But Not Really)

The only downside of Kobo that I can think of is not intrinsic to Kobo. It’s that Amazon offers many incentives to authors to sell their ebooks exclusively for Kindle. As this is a post about Kobo, I won’t go into those pluses here.

The concern with being exclusive to Amazon is that it’s putting all your eggs in one basket. If you’re working a day job you’re happy with or have another career you enjoy and don’t want to leave, that may be fine.

If you’re striving to earn your living by writing, that’s a tougher call. On the one hand, some authors earn monthly royalties I only dream of through being exclusive to Amazon.

On the other, should Amazon change their incentives or get rid of certain programs completely, those authors could see their earnings drop precipitously. They’d adapt I’m sure, but it would be a challenge. To me, it would be like being a freelancer with only one client. It’s not necessarily a bad idea, but it’s important to be aware of the risk.

I have my series wide–i.e., I published it on various platforms–and have other ebooks exclusive to Kindle. To give you an idea of earnings per platform, for this year, here’s how my royalties break down into percentages:

1.5% CreateSpace (paperbacks)

3% GooglePlay

6.5% Kobo

7% Audible (audio books)

10.5% Barnes & Noble (Nook)

11.5% Apple (iBooks)

60% Amazon (Kindle)

Keep in mind that your breakdown might be completely different. For me, obviously Amazon is the largest part of what my books earn. (It’s actually 68.5, as CreateSpace and Audible are Amazon-related companies). But I would definitely miss the rest. And should Amazon suddenly change things up, I haven’t cut into all my income.

Questions about Kobo or going wide? Please post them in the comments.

Until Friday—

Best,

L.M. Lilly

P.S. After writing this post, I came across more great information on Kobo straight from the Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations, Mark Lefebvre. See Friday’s appropriately-titled recommendation More On Kobo if you want to know more.

Top Sales Categories, Most Common Prices, Box Sets, And Other Useful Indie Sales Data

This Friday I recommend checking out Smashwords survey results for 2017 regarding sales by independent (self-published) authors. Smashwords is the world’s largest distributor of ebooks by indie authors.

The slides below summarize and show graphs of the survey results. Slides 29-30 show Top Categories for fiction sales on Smashwords (the top three are Romance, Erotica, and Fantasy) and non-fiction (top three are Self-Improvement; Health, Wellness and Medicine; and Business and Economics).

The slides also cover the most common prices ($2.99, but Free for Book 1 in a series), facts about box sets, the value of pre-orders, and the word counts of best selling books.

There was a little bit here that gave me pause, as a pie chart on Slide 32 shows of the Top 200 Best Selling Smashwords titles, 73% were Romance, which I don’t write, and only 1% mystery, and I just finished a first draft of Book 1 in a new mystery series.

But it’s important to look at more than one of the slides, and to look at the big picture. Despite the 1%, Mystery and Detective is No. 3 on the list of pre-order books capturing an outsize share of the market (Slide 78). Looks like I’ll be doing a pre-order of The Worried Man.

Until Sunday, when I’ll write about Kobo, an ebook publishing platform that can help you reach readers all over the world.

Best,

L.M. Lilly

 

 

Book Launch Tips

While I don’t write in either genre, I recently started listening to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing podcast. The three hosts combined have a good mix of experience, as they’ve self-published, won awards, and had books traditionally published.

This particular episode grew from a snafu. The hosts planned an interview with Nate Hoffelder (of The Digital Reader blog) about recent publishing news. Some tech issues cut that short and made it hard to hear. So the hosts added a first segment where two of them  talked about their recent book launches.

SFFMP 137: Launching Books That Aren’t “to Market,” Agency Pricing, and Are Ebook Sales Down?

I loved that because they covered the challenges of marketing books that don’t fit perfectly in the more typical genres and sub-genres.

Other topics in this episode included:

  • ebook pricing
  • payments to authors for pages read of books in Kindle Unlimited
  • KU scams
  • ebook subscription services
  • the pluses and minuses of paperback and audiobook publishing

The Nate Hoffelder segment is a bit hard to decipher in spots. Also, I found his cockatiel chiming in a little distracting, despite myself being the proud owner of a very cute bird, parakeet Joss Whedon, shown here admiring himself–I mean, inspecting the chair leg in my office.

If you’re short on time, you may be tempted to skip that second segment. If you can fit it in while dealing with dishes or laundry or jogging, though, it’s worth it.

Until Sunday, when I’ll share my experiences using Scrivener to write non-fiction–

Best,

L.M. Lilly

The Beauty Of Book Fairs

A lot of authors question whether in-person book events are worth doing.

For the last few  years, I’ve brought my books to one of the largest outdoor Illinois book fairs, the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. I’ve also sold books at several indoor events during that time.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Getting People To Your Table

At previous events I stacked my books on the table with a couple propped up for visibility, along with a poster for the first book in my Awakening series.

When people stopped to browse, I’d ask them what they liked to read and tell them about the premise of the series. I often felt awkward and salesy because, as a reader, I usually want to browse in peace.

This year a friend suggested I have a spinner where people could win prizes, as everyone likes to play games and win things. I was skeptical, but the night before the fest, I went to Target, bought a cheap game of Twister, and modified the spinner.

The four prizes were candy (Jolly Rancher), a free audible download code, a free signed paperback, and a free e-book.

To play, people needed to sign up for my email list.

It worked out great. People stopped to check out the spinner. When I explained the prizes, they asked what the books were about. That made it easy to tell them the premise of my series and the other books.

If they weren’t interested, they didn’t sign up. If they were, they did. Either way, it felt like a relaxed, natural conversation.

Paperback winners all chose the first book in the series. While that’s a loss to me in the moment, I got an email sign up for each and the potential of three more book sales, as it’s a four-book series.

The exercise also helped me learn about people’s reading habits. In previous years, I had a drawing for a free audible code and most people said, “What’s Audible?” This year, that was a big reason people wanted to spin, and the three people who won the codes were really happy.

Sales 

New Readers

If your primary goal is sales from new readers, you’re probably better off skipping book fairs and spending your time and marketing dollars online.

I say that because unless you’re already a well-known author, most sales you’ll make at live events will be from people that you draw there through your mailing list, social media, or other publicity. Attendees have a limited budget to spend and a ton of books to choose from. If they don’t already know you, it’s hard to get them to part with those dollars.

Also, it’s hard to compete with the pricing at many fairs. Several large tents at the Printers Row Fest, for instance, sell all their books for $3 each.

[Further–and slightly more encouraging–thoughts on making connections with new readers are included in the 2018 article Sitting, Not Pitching, and Relaxing: Lessons Learned at This Year’s Book Fair.)

Current Fans & Friends

So why work to drive people who already know about you to an in person event?

For one thing, it’s a reason to contact readers and fans and post on social media without just saying “Buy my book.” A fair is fun, it’s exciting, and it’s a chance for them to meet you in person if they haven’t before.

Also, an event can nudge acquaintances or friends who have been meaning for a while to buy one of your books to take the leap. Finally, for some people, seeing you at a book fair with paperback books that they can touch and handle legitimizes or validates your work in a way that seeing an e-book or audio book online does not.

What Sells

In e-book and audiobook format, my best sellers are my series books, especially now that it’s complete. So I brought only a few each of my standalone horror novel and nonfiction books. To my surprise, the non-fiction and standalone sold quickly, while I only sold one series book, and it was to someone who specifically came to buy it.

My guess on why the standalone sold better is that if someone doesn’t know your work already, buying the first book in a series seems like more of a risk or investment. Also, my standalone novel had a tie in to the neighborhood, and I made that part of my pitch: “Gothic Horror In The South Loop.” Plus some people who came already had the Awakening series, and they wanted to buy something new.

One of my non-fiction books also had a tie-in. It’s Super Simple Story Structure, and I was under the Chicago Writers Association tent. Quite a few writers stopped to ask about the association and then looked at the book. That made it an easy sell.

Time, Location, And Exposure

One reason to lug books to a book fair and spend all or part of your day is that even if you don’t sell much, people who might not otherwise come across your books become familiar with them.

Exposure at a book fair or other live event can be particularly helpful if you mainly sell e-books or audiobooks. In person, you get in front of people who may only read in print.

But to get exposure people need to see you, and that’s not always easy.

The worst placement I ever had was on an upper floor in an indoor book fair. The main room was on the ground floor of a large building. While lectures and discussion groups took place on the upper floor, there were no signs directing people there. If you attended and didn’t look at the program, you’d think the only book tables were the ones on the first floor.

At Printers Row, which is an outdoor festival, there really are no bad locations, but some are better than others. Single tables stand along the sidewalks on either side of the street. They seem to get fewer browsers, maybe partly because they’re directly in the sun.

I typically buy half a table for a few hours under the Chicago Writers Association tent. That tent is one of many set up in the center of the main street at the fair. (This photo shows the afternoon before the book fair.)

I like that placement because more people seem to explore the tents at the center of the street. And there’s shade.

Also, when you’re in a row of four or five authors, that’s more books to look at and more authors to talk to. The wide variety makes people more comfortable approaching the tables even if they’re not sure they’ll be interested in what’s on display.

While you often won’t know in advance where you’ll be placed, you can investigate. Usually there are online maps from previous years. Compare them to the prior year’s program to help figure out what the main attractions are and how close or far away you’ll likely be. It also helps to talk to others who have been at the fair in previous years (readers or authors).

Time of day also matters. Printers Row is a two-day book fair, and I had the best results the morning of the first day. Attendees are more excited about being there early in the fair. They’re not on overload yet from too many books and people. Also, they’re still enthusiastic even if the weather is too hot/too cold/too windy. (Chicago weather is rarely “just right.”)

Costs

The cost for in person events varies widely. An individual table at large fairs can run thousands of dollars. On the other hand, I’ve paid less than $50 for half a table or a spot under a larger organization’s tent. Both paperback book release parties I organized myself were at coffee bars where I paid nothing for the space.

Your time is also valuable. There is travel and set up time, as well as however many hours you won’t be writing, handling other aspects of your writing business, or using your time some other way.

Finally, packing the books for travel and the handling they get at the book fairs means at least of few of the ones  you take back home won’t be shiny and new anymore.

The Verdict

I’ve found book fairs fairly close to home and reasonably priced (below $100) worth doing.

They’re great for connecting with people you’ve met online but not yet in person, or who’ve bought e-books and want to meet you and buy in print. You can also gain email sign ups and may sell a few books to brand new readers.

There’s also the plus of new people seeing your books at the fair and later buying when exposed to your books again.

To make the most of a book fair, it helps to figure out a fun way to draw people to your table, to find out as much as you can about placement and time slots in advance, and to figure out a pitch with a local or event tie-in.

Questions? Experiences of your own to share? Please post in the comments.

Until Friday—

Best,

L.M. Lilly

 

 

Publishing Paperbacks: CreateSpace And Ingram Spark

If you are publishing your book yourself in print format, you’ll need to decide what publishing company to use.

This article by Karen Myers on the Alliance of Independent Authors website explains why some authors use two companies–CreateSpace for books sold on Amazon and Ingram Spark for other distribution outlets, such as Barnes and Noble.

Right now, paperback editions of my Awakening supernatural thriller series are published only through CreateSpace, but I’m thinking of adding Ingram Spark, as it appears from Myers’ article that bookstores will be more likely to carry the books. Note that you need to use your own ISBN (the number that identifies your book) with Ingram Spark, so you will spend a little more.

Until Sunday, when I’ll share some tips on book fairs.

Best,

L.M. Lilly

Children’s Books: To Self–Publish Or Not To Self-Publish?

Recently a friend asked me to review a children’s book she’d written and advise her whether to seek an agent or traditional publisher or to publish it herself. I don’t write children’s fiction myself, so I researched. I’m passing on what I learned for those of you who write for children or plan to do so.

To start with, I did try some children’s writing right after I graduated from college. For years I belonged to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It remains a wonderful resource. The SCBWI hosts local and national events, has regional chapters, and offers information and articles through its website.

 

This 2016 article from Writer’s Digest lists agents looking for children’s books with directions on submitting. It’s a year old, so you’ll want to check each of agent’s website to see if the directions are still accurate, but it’s a great way to get started if you’d like to find an agent.

Here is an article on writing query letters to agents or editors regarding children’s books. (The article provides a good overview on queries for any writer.)

Finally, if you think you might want to get an illustrator, or if you’ve illustrated your own book, this article on self-publishing children’s books from Huffington Post provides useful information.

Until Sunday, when I’ll be writing about point of view as inspired by real life events between the current president of the United States and the former FBI director—

Best,

L.M. Lilly

P.S. If you’re in the Chicago area tomorrow (6/10/17), check out the Printers Row Lit Fest. You can find me and my books under the Chicago Writers Association tent on Dearborn Street just north of Polk Street in Chicago. There are tons of writers, books, and events, including many for children, throughout Saturday and on Sunday as well.