7 Keys to Writing a Children's Book that Sells Like
Hotcakes
BY CATERINA CHRISTAKOS
There are seven fundamental reasons that
some books succeed and others collect dust on the author’s bookshelf.
These seven keys to success as an author are simple, obvious even, and
yet in the midst of our writing many of us forget them.
We get so focused on the idea
of the book that we forget the mechanics. Here is the strategy
that award winning authors use:
1. Create a hero that your
audience can relate to.
Examine your target market
honestly. Who will be reading your book? Just because you
think that your main character is funny, charming and
brilliant doesn’t mean that they will or even that that is
what they care about.
2. Write for your audience,
not your high school English professor.
There has already been a
Shakespeare. Most genres do not require you to write like him.
You will just turn your audience off if you write at a level
beyond their comprehension.
3. Give your reader a
problem that he or she can empathize with.
Ex. Are you writing for
teenage girls? Then something to do with the pains of
adolescent romance, or lack thereof, might be a good start.
4. Provide a nemesis that
makes sense.
The antagonist in your story
should appear to be everything that your main character is
not. Then go back in and give him or her some good qualities
as well.
People are not good or evil.
Your characters should have the same character traits, as the
rest of humanity.
Ex. A thief with a conscience
or who hates everyone except his little sister, who he has
taken care of since their mom died.
Give all your characters
depth.
5. Provide obstacles for
your main characters.
Both your hero and antagonist
need to have a few bumps in the road. Life isn’t smooth. Let
them both screw up and figure their way out of their messes.
6. Your hero, at the very
least, must learn a lesson about himself or herself.
Is he braver than he thought
he was? Is her nerdiness actually an asset?
Your characters should have
some type of self-realization. It can be subtle. You do not
have to go into a five chapter monologue on it, just give the
readers some clues that he or she has changed.
7. Begin and end your story
with a bang.
Grab your reader’s attention
in the beginning and have them hoping for a sequel in the end.
The rest, no matter how much work you put into it, will
probably be skimmed until they hit the next seat gripping
scene. Your job is to make that skim time as short as
possible.
Caterina Christakos is the
author of
How to Write a Children's Book in 30 Days or Less.
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