7 Keys to Writing a Children’s Book that Sells Like Hotcakes
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 highschool 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
