There are hundreds of freelance opportunities out there, from Sunday-school papers to glitzy, high-tech skateboard 'zines, that publish children’s writing. Magazines for children include fiction and nonfiction, and so much more: puzzles, poetry, how-to’s, stories that rhyme, stories that read like journals, or that take children to imaginary places in amazing ways. Dozens of Sunday School take-home papers for very young children through young adult offer opportunities for nonfiction, short stories, profiles, poetry, crafts, puzzles, and cartoons. Many purchase only one-time rights, giving writers the opportunity to resell it to a non-competing denomination. 

Study the magazines. Ask friends if their children take magazine subscriptions and if you can borrow them when they are done. Spend time studying them to find out what they buy and how they approach their readers. Bookstores sometimes sell them as well. Many libraries have a variety of issues of children’s magazines, often including back issues. There are in-flight magazines that use short fiction for kids, reviews of children’s products and books, or articles for parents to understand, help, or entertain their children. 

You have to write in a language that kids can understand. You also need fabulous ideas that will grab the attention of youngsters who are increasingly distracted by CD-ROM, cable television, and other competing media.

The annual Children’s Writers&Illustrators Market from Writer’s Digest Books, as well as the annual Children’s Magazine Market guide from the Institute of Children’s Literature, and the Christian Writers Market Guide all include lots of opportunities. The markets are there. 

Couldn’t publish your children’s book? Not to worry. Authors have had stories published in magazines and then been contacted by editors who wanted them to flesh out the story into a book.  You can find a publisher, just be willing to keep looking for one. Don’t give up.

Posted on May 01, 2009, Preethi Burkholder, Editor and Founder, Gifted Hands Writing

 

                                                   
                                                    

                                                                                  

                                             

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