Hey guys i'm Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur and today i'm going to show you how to write a best-selling children's book now you could probably just sit down and start putting things together but like any good book there's really a lot of steps that are in between that i think you should know about this can include things like understanding your market as well as the lexicon of grammar and even the writing style that you should use more so there's some really important factors that authors should think about before they get started and finally there are some
really important steps to finding that perfect illustrator that matches your story and brings your book alive but before i get into those critical steps if you'd like to learn more about book marketing and self-publishing be sure to hit that subscribe button as well as the little bell icon to the right so you get notified when my next video comes out with that let's go ahead and jump in step one decide on the age range and then understand your market in writing a children's book it's really important that you understand the age range that your book
is for as a matter of fact when you go to publish it on amazon amazon's going to make you choose that age range so before you start writing your book the best thing you can do is look at amazon's age ranges which we'll have listed right here and then from there choose the best one now once you've done that a recommendation that i have is go ahead on amazon find that age range and start looking at the books that are listed under there i would also recommend purchasing a couple so that you can start to
look at the words they use the sentence structure the style and start to find the right fit for you but the key is is that when you do write your children's book that it fits this age range in the grammatical structure in the storyline and those sorts of components so choose your age range do the research on books that are in that age range and then make sure your writing style fits it step two choose a writing style and stick to it depending on the age group that you selected in step one you may want
to choose a writing style and stick to it some of these are past tense present sense rhyming first person third person and others so be sure to check that out books at rhyme are normally geared towards the younger ages since it can simplify your story and make it more catchy and shorter the little blue truck and lama lama are great examples of books that use a style past or present tense styles are good for keeping kids actively engaged in the story by having them experience things as they happen rather than being removed from something that
happened in the past however if you are telling a story that is based on true events you might want to tell it in past tense because it is a finite event the macy books are a great present tense example and first or third person writing styles are great when you're trying to relate directly to the main character who should be the central focus on every page when choosing your writing styles you don't have to worry about picking the right or wrong approach because there isn't one it is simply a question of style and once you
have decided upon your style just make sure to stick with it throughout the entire book so when choosing your writing style it's really not about one being the correct choice and one being the wrong choice it's really about just making sure you understand the decision you made and how it affects your readers and then sticking to that throughout the book step 3 including important children's book elements in this step i kind of like to think of this like the icing on the cake this is about taking those extra steps to make your book even better
and a lot of that comes from just understanding what children in your age group really draw to and how to incorporate that for instance one is creating unforgettable characters the best type of characters have strong personalities make bold moves and go after their dreams against all odds children tend to fall in love with these characters and aspire to be them another is a suspenseful action or hook with most other genres it is common to start a story off with an action or shocking event however doing this is one very effective way to draw in younger
readers right away also including consistent action throughout your story will keep them reading until the end and possibly on to the next book or of a series another component is realistic dialogue depending on what your target audience range is your dialogue should change to basically represent this writing in simplified words for younger ages is more important for them to stay engaged and be able to relate to next is storyline elements making sure that your story has a storyline that is consistent and also makes sense is important for any kid's book throwing in a few obstacles
or challenges is good as long as it helps or guides the story along also something to note younger children like happy endings with a solution to a given problem so depending on your age range you will want to make sure that your storyline suits what they will enjoy and lastly is to have the instant recall factor having your book's character remain in the minds of your readers long after they have read your book is considered a major success so really think about giving them something really important as neil gaiman likes to say in his master
class he likes to make sure every character has a funny hat as in each character has something that the reader can remember even as they go pages later so think about giving your character a funny hat step 4 naming your book coming up with the right title is important for any book but i'd say it's even more important for writing a children's book why because children can really latch on to a title more so than adults it's not like they are able to read the book descriptions they have the full understanding of the history of
the author none of that matters what it comes down to is the book cover and the title and whether or not they remember it so make sure that you take the time to really come up with something that's unique maybe even a little funny or something that your age could grasp do not try to do something so artistic that your age group misses the point and it's therefore a title they won't remember and if you'd like to learn more about titling as well as access to some book title generators be sure to click the link
below this video so that you can go to my article that will go in detail on creating that bestseller title step five decide on an editor now i know what you're thinking you probably might not need an editor for your 200 word book but i would say that if you do not get an editor then make sure you have a process of two to three independent people who will read your book looking for grammatical errors or spelling errors there's nothing worse than coming out with your awesome children's book and you miss something it will just
cause your reviews as well as your sales to plummet so if you skip getting an editor make sure you have a process to verify because it's one of those things where in children's book we just think it's so easy that we're more likely to miss on those so keep that in mind step six decide on your book's orientation now before going and finding an illustrator you need to figure out if you want to do something that's more horizontal or vertical and exactly what kind of book structure you're going to have now there's no right or
wrong answer here but here are some of the rules of thumbs when it comes to choosing your book's orientation vertical is usually used for character-based books horizontal which is used to illustrate a journey-like story and square which is generally used for instructional or board books step 7 create a book dummy or storyboard a book dummy or storyboard is basically you trying to draw out what you think each scene or page should be this gives your illustrator understanding of what they should create as the story goes along to do this you could use anything like pen
and paper photoshop or whatever the point is you just want to make sure you have something to be able to present to your illustrator so they know what they're about to get involved in and exactly what kind of scenes and things they should create all right and finally step 8 hiring an illustrator the illustrator is one of the most important parts to this because they're going to turn your story and ideas into reality great artwork can take an okay story and take it to the next level so when looking for your illustrator make sure you
find the right one now there are a lot of opportunities and markets out there to use some of those are upwork guru fiverr and freelancer personally when i'm looking for illustrators i like to go to fiverr and i like to type in cartoon or illustration or children's book into the search bar and then i like to start looking at some of the projects they've done really important here is to look for the style that you want okay look at their character drawings look at their backgrounds and ask yourself is that fit exactly what you're looking
for and now when you choose that fiverr artist you'll be able to make sure that they can create the kind of art that you want also there are two other marketplaces that i really like one is deviantart and the other is children's illustrator deviantart is a place where really top-notch artists go to showcase some of their works i would only go here though if you're really looking for a high priced illustrator but some mind-blowing illustrators are there as well and children's illustrator is basically deviant art but for children's illustration so you can check those two
out if you want to look for something more specific or a little bit higher price all right guys so there you have it the eight easy steps to developing a best-selling children's book you should be able to understand your market know exactly how to develop the storyline find the right illustrator and be able to have a great plan as you put it all together so with that i'm Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur signing off cheers
