Are you a children’s book author? Want to learn how to make extra money writing kid’s books? Find out some really great tips and tricks!
How to Make Money Writing Kid’s Books
As a writer, there are many ways you can earn money with your books. If you specialize in writing books for children, chances are you aren’t fully utilizing your skills to generate maximum income.
There are many opportunities for a kid’s book author that are unknown. If you love writing for kids, then why not make it profitable? We thought we would share some tips and tricks on making money selling kids books!
1. Selling Your Book the Right Way
As a writer, selling books is essentially the best way for you to earn money. You may know that already, but do you know whether or not you’re getting the best deal possible? For starters, you might want to get yourself a literary agent who will help you manage the business side of the work.
A literary agency will take 15–25% of any money made from deals they negotiate on your behalf. Despite the high price tag, a reliable representative is worth their weight in gold. You may make money off of your works in more ways than just advances and royalties. If your book is checked out of a library, you may be entitled to PLR (Public Lending Right) royalties. Nothing is required to join, and neither the company nor its representatives take any form of compensation other than the first membership fee.
Furthermore, if you are self-publishing, make sure that you are working with the best partners possible. For the best self-publishing services within a reasonable price range, consider self-publishing with palmetto publishing.
2. Short Stories Can Make You Extra Money
Another way to make extra money writing kid’s books is by putting your skills to use for writing short stories. Not only is it good for you as a writer, since you will have a place to experiment with new genres and writing styles, but it can also earn you extra cash. You never know; your short story book may just get many kids to start reading!
Many children’s publications, online and on paper, feature short stories (usually up to 1200 words). Buying past magazine issues can help you learn more about the kinds of stories they publish. Magazines for kids can be found in stores with stacked rows of primary colors. See if they accept contributions by checking out the magazines’ editorial guidelines. Taking the initiative to get in touch with the editor is encouraged.
One other option is to publish a book including a selection of your short stories. Conventional publishing houses almost never engage in projects like this unless the author is already extremely famous. But self-publishing, either on the internet or as printed books, is a fantastic method for spreading the word about the stories you’ve written. Most readers like anthologies that have a central topic or are connected in some way. This increases your audience and your sales.
3. Write Factual Books
If you are looking for ways to make extra money writing kid’s books, then one of the best ways is to write pieces that are factual and realistic. Despite the fact that most people focus on children’s fiction, there is actually a sizable market for professionally produced nonfiction and academic tomes (books that contain fictional and factual content).
To be a good writer, you need to be passionate about your subject (or enjoy learning about it thoroughly) and do so in a way that is entertaining and informative. Only, then can you provide the audience with what they truly want from you.
What makes the deal even better is that when submitting a nonfiction book to a publisher, you don’t always need to have the whole thing written. Sample chapters, detailed chapter breakdowns, and pitches are all standard practices when selling a book. The submission guidelines of different publishers can be found on their respective websites.
4. Magazine Features
Apart from learning to save money and being cost-effective, what else can you do to earn more money as a writer of kid’s books? If you have spare time to work on other smaller projects, then you should definitely consider writing features in childrens magazines.
If you enjoy writing nonfiction but find the prospect of penning a book too overwhelming or time-consuming, consider penning articles for kid-friendly magazines instead. Opportunities for nonfiction pieces are available in print and online publications on a wide range of subjects and topics. Costs for additional features can vary.
Some magazines pay per word, and there are others that pay a set sum for each article. Some people will pay more to have professional photos taken to go along with the content. The magazine’s website is the best place to learn about their rates and policies. Additionally, a further perk of penning pieces for periodicals is that, after a set period of time, you are free to submit the very same content to another journal. Because of this, a single item might serve as a source of revenue in multiple contexts.
You should always examine the specific requirements of the journals you’re interested in publishing in, as some of them may require that your work has never been published elsewhere. Some people may insist that a six-month waiting period must pass between the article’s initial publication and any subsequent reprints.
Adapting an article for another site may need some extra work, but if you’re an expert in your field, you shouldn’t have much trouble making the necessary adjustments.
5. PlayWriting Can Earn You Extra Money
As a writer, books aren’t the only thing that you can use your brilliant mind to write. Plays for schools are also a great opportunity for earning money. Since you already specialize in writing books for children, it should be no big deal for you to pen a short play for schools for children to perform in and enjoy.
The holiday season is a great time for schools to present musical plays to children. They frequently hire a famous firm that specializes in providing plays fit for students. You need to submit your work to these companies.
Sometimes they accept finished projects that haven’t been used in the past. Other times, they want you to give them a summary of your project or will ask you to submit your script, inspect it thoroughly and let you know if it is accepted.
Organizations’ methods of accepting payments may differ. Many times, published authors still need to receive advance payments. Instead of a salary, authors get paid a percentage of what their books sell. How much you receive will depend on how crucial their role in the project really is. For instance, you could offer the play’s script, but you’d get paid more if you also provided the songs.
Schools in the area should be contacted to determine whether they are interested in buying a play written by a local author. Do your research to see who requires and is willing to pay well for your scripts.
6. Try Some Poetry
If you want to know how to make extra money writing kid’s books, then you should remember that as a writer, you can write many more things than just storybooks. Poetry, for instance, is another market where your content can bring in more money.
You can submit your work to publishing companies and pile up your own writings and create a collection to sell to schools or at public events. Schools and libraries will feel especially eager to buy new pieces of kid’s poetry on days that call for some sort of event, e.g, The national day of poetry. These pieces of poetry can also be published online and physically in magazines.
7. Festivals, Workshops & Competitions
Want to make more money as a writer of kid’s books? Then you should consider partaking in workshops and festivals. Additionally, there are also competitions for writers that you can compete in for a grand reward!
In a workshop, you can offer several things that could help you increase your finances. First, writing events for children and adults alike will garner a lot of attention to you, and if you have a big part in organizing such a workshop, you will earn a lot if the event runs well. You can also offer lessons for those who partake in your workshop.
Festivals like book fairs are held all over the world. Sometimes writers accompany their own book stalls and sign books for their fans. This increases your popularity and can also help you increase your sales. Even a meet and greet session during these festivals is sure to push your career in the right direction.
And lastly, competitions are held among writers for pieces that have yet to be published. These competitions bring in a lot of attention to you and put your name out in public for a long time. If you win the competition or finish at the top, your career is about to hit its prime!
Remember, it’s not a one-time shot, so don’t be too hard on yourself! You must allow yourself the time and perseverance to figure it out and hunt down opportunities to increase your income for writing kid’s books.
We hope this article helped you with how to make extra money as a writer of kid’s books, and we wish you good luck in your future endeavors.
