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If you are one of the many writers around the world finding themselves at home with more time to write, you may be one of the many children’s book authors who are thinking about writing a new book for kids in celebration of Children’s Book Week (May 3-19).

Writing a book for children never grows old because there are SO many possibilities!  And nowadays, children’s books are more popular than ever, with more lucky parents spending more time at home with their children.

Let’s look at six things to keep in mind when writing and publishing children’s books:

1. Mind your length. As any preschool teacher or children’s librarian can confirm, reading with children is most enjoyable for both parties when the book in question contains just enough text to carry the story along without exhausting a child’s attention.
2. Pick a timely subject. Picture books are more likely to be picked up by parents, teachers, and librarians on the prowl if they tackle subjects which these adults want to prepare their children to face. Take advantage!  Talk about a perfect time to write about the “boogy monster” or “having cooties!”
3. Don’t dumb it down. You heard right—baby talk doesn’t carry as compelling of a story as a book which treats its younger audiences with a rich vocabulary and age-appropriate but sophisticated sentence structure.  Kids who are learning to read are much more accepting of new information than when they become kids who are reading to learn.
4. Voice morals carefully, and cleverly. Few will argue against picture books as prime tools for teaching sound decision-making skills, but most of these success stories find clever, quiet ways to do so without alienating readers by being too “preachy.”  Use subtle metaphors for larger issues (ahem, like boogy monsters and cooties, for example).
5. Think about those end materials! Many of today’s best picture books include a few pages at the end which include notes for adults on how to make best use of the book in teaching a skill or an idea to young readers. Hint: this is especially useful to parents grappling with becoming educators as a result of stay-home directives.
6. Humor them! Children have a keen sense of humor, and often embrace farce and comedy with both zeal and a squeal. While the story itself can’t always be humorous, more often than not, the illustrations can be.

At Outskirts Press, we are here to support you during every stage of the publishing process, whether you’re using our One-Click Publishing suite to publish your next children’s book, or if you need custom-drawn full-color illustrations. We offer a comprehensive list of services which we hope you’ll take advantage of as you work to translate your vision to the page! Your kids, grand kids (and even their friends and family) will thank you!

Announcing the Self Publishing News  premiere of the book video trailer for Water Wars  (published by Outskirts Press, June 2019), by Bruce J. Carter, Ph.D., and Douglas Winslow Cooper, Ph.D.

Water Scarcity Threatens the U.S. West

In this independently funded study, the authors address the future of the world’s supplies of clean water, exploring in depth the U.S.A.’s Colorado River Basin, where a variety of approaches have been used and proposed to manage provision and allocation of the Colorado River water. Increases in population and water usage, along with uncertainties associated with climate change, put the future availability of adequate water supplies in doubt. Rules and regulations are traditional approaches to handling common resource maintenance and usage. With no rules, the tendency to use the resource inefficiently and not to maintain it produces the free-rider problem sometimes called the “tragedy of the commons,” a phrase popularized by Garrett Hardin in 1968. An alternative to rule-setting and enforcement is to establish market rights to water supply, with the higher-value uses commanding higher prices and receiving more investment. The pros and cons of this approach are discussed in a chapter of this book. The book discusses the various policy options, describes the recent crisis in supplying Flint, Michigan, with safe, potable water, explains the water cycle, discusses cyber security issues, surveys the threat from waterborne illnesses, and calls attention to one of the most recent sophisticated mathematical approaches to predicting droughts and floods, the use of Bayes’s theorem.

Bruce J. Carter, Ph.D. (pictured left), an officer serving in the U.S. Army, is a graduate of the U.S. Army General Staff College. Carter received his B.B.A., from Savannah State University, his M.A. from Webster University, and his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University.

Douglas Winslow Cooper, Ph.D., a retired environmental physicist, earned his A.B. in physics at Cornell, his M.S. in physics at Penn State and his Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard. He published over 100 peer-reviewed technical articles. A former Harvard faculty member, he was elected Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Sciences in 1995.

Visit https://outskirtspress.com/waterwars for formats, editions, pricing, and availability.

Announcing the Self-Publishing News premier of the book video trailer for A More Perfect Union (published by Outskirts Press, 2020, by David Gottstein.

A More Perfect Union- Unifying Ideas for a Divided America

We are a divided country, but we don’t have to be. A More Perfect Union-Unifying Ideas for a Divided America is the essential guide for a polarized country. Author David Gottstein has identified the most pressing issues that Americans must address to prosper at home and abroad. More importantly, he offers common sense solutions that will unite Americans regardless of their politics. Imagine solutions that provide enough water and energy for generations, leaving a cleaner planet in return. Imagine a way to end unemployment and welfare as we know it. Gottstein shares a vision of America where success is based on how hard you work and not where you were born. If you are looking to be inspired by an America that can be, you have found the right book. Read it, share it, and add your voice to A More Perfect Union.

David Gottstein

David Gottstein is President of Dynamic Capital Management with a degree in Economics and Finance from the Wharton School. He has been a political activist working behind the scenes, in a bi-partisan role for more than 40 years. He was the founder of Backbone, a political action alliance of Republicans and Democrats, dedicated to finding common ground.

Visit https://outskirtspress.com/moreperfectunion for formats, editions, pricing, and availability.