Customer Reviews

A Basic Guide to Writing, Selling, and Promoting Children's Books : Plus Information about Self-publishing

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this book to be well organized and filled with useable and practical ideas and information. The specific content was extremely helpful to me as an author. I also plan to use this with my middle school students to assist them with their own creative writing. The chapter entitled "How Do I Grab and Keep a Reader's Interest?" is an excellent starting point for all budding writers. Even though I have had two of my own books published, I learned a great deal of new information, especially about self-publishing, from reading this book. I think this book would be a wonderful read for anyone, young or old, who might be considering venturing into the world of writing. Nice Job!

The 5 star rating and excellent price caught my attention. This was the first book I purchased on the subject of writing children's books. It's nice and thin, for easy portability, but lacks the punch I've seen in several other titles. There is some good information inside, however. I especially like the way the author points out a child's viewpoint and offers clear explanations for adults. While good instruction on writing a story and getting it publishes is here, I yearned for a little more completeness. It felt as though this was a primer on the subject instead of a true encyclopedia. I found the organization of the material to be chaotic, but it's a good beginning book.

You can't beat the price, however, and if you're looking to dip your toes in the water, this is a good place to start.

I found Betsy Lee to be an enjoyable upbeat author. I was able to feel her love for writing in this concise little book titled,"A Basic Guide To Writing, Selling, and Promoting Children's Books:Plus Information about Self-publishing." It was very informative, positive and encouraging. Betsy's book was everything her title suggested. It was easy reading. I was able to read it along with by daily challenges. I later sat down with her book and my highlighter. I then proceeded to take many notes. Her book is now my bible and she's an author I will be looking forward to.

Be aware that when the author uses 'basic' in the title she really means it. It is informative enough to bring the truly clueless out of the depths of darkness but those who seek to actually write children's book-- especially fiction-- would do better to look elsewhere.

This is a fair book, if your expectations are not too high. It's a lot like going to an evening talk at your library by a local children's author (which is quite possibly how this booklet started out). You learn some basics, lose some false concepts, get a view of the territory, benefit from tips drawn from the author's personal experience, receive some handouts from more authoritative sources (about a fifth of the book is reprinted from membership materials of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), and get pointed to additional resources.

In other words, it's enough to get a feel for whether you want to explore the field more seriously, for which you'll need other, more complete guides.

If you're buying this book because "self-publishing" is in the title, though, you'd better know that only two pages are devoted to that, and the discussion is fairly general. But then, the low production values of this self-published booklet wouldn't lead you to expect more.

I was interested to read the book because it used to have a better sales rank, a higher customer rating, and many more reviews. Those other reviews (all anonymous, and all five-star, I believe) have now been removed. It would be interesting to learn why.

Anyway, Betsy has a pleasant and friendly enough voice to spend an hour with, if you want to get your feet wet in the big lake of children's writing.

This really is a 'guide' and not a book. It's packed full of information that you will want to refer to over and over again. It gets to the point quickly and provides invaluable tools for anyone just getting started. This is a must have! Good things really do come in small packages!!!

This little book is the only guide I've found about self-publishing children's books. (It also provides great info for traditional publishing, too.) Children's books are written, sold and promoted much differently than other genres. This book might be small, but there's a lot of meat here--it covers the important aspects of publishing children's books, and its suggestions will help writers along the road to success.

I teach writing and publishing workshops, and this book is a great low-cost addition to offer my students. The author has done a lot of work to supply vital information, including addresses needed in the writing and publishing industry, and to condense the enormous, almost overwhelming amounts of information out there down to the distilled basics. An historical famous author is noted to have said in a long-winded letter to a friend, "I would have written a shorter letter but I didn't have enough time." As a professional writer, I use this book to rescan and stay on top of the basics, where longer books (of which, of course, are also useful in different ways) would not suffice. From the writing "theme" to getting my work copyrighted, it can be easy to get lost in the depths of one or two basics and forget the others. It's a great jump-off point that keeps me organized and on track.

This book is wonderful in its simplicity. It is written in a Q&A format which covers all you need to know to get started. Plus if you do not find it useful you are only out a ...[few]...bucks!

Ms. Lee has put together a book that is full of information to help an aspiring author write, market, promote, and sell a children's book. It is an overviewof hot-to get your book published.
She takes you through the process step-by-step so you can make the choice which path to take to publication, from traditional to self-publishing. Ms. Lee includes chapters on how to format your manuscript, how to make a good first impression for publishers and how to grab and keep a readers interest.
The end of the book features two appendixes that focus on Writer's Organizations and Magazines as well as a list of books that will be helpful to writing and publishing your book.
A small book that has all you need to help you along the path to publishing your children's book. Ms. Lee has done a superb job.