In her most recent Muffin post, Ready for November, Jodi M. Webb wrote about the many types of nonfiction books that you might consider reading this month. If you are one of those writers who read through the list and thought, “Oh, I love memoir! I have two histories in my TBR pile and a biography . . .” Maybe just maybe you should consider writing nonfiction for young readers.
In my own writing for the school library market, I have touched on every type of writing Jodi listed except humor. I’m not telling you this to brag. I want you to know about the vast range of books this field covers.
The first thing that Jodi discussed was history. My earliest titles for this market included The Bombing of Pearl Harbor and Trench Warfare. I’ve even been lucky enough to get to write about archaeology starting with my very first book, The Ancient Maya, and then more recently adding The Formative Period.
Although my passion is history, I’ve also written biographies (Ariana Grande and Emmanuel Macron), hobbies (Hobbies if You Like Nature), travel (Gettysburg National Military Park), self-help (Earning, Saving, and Investing), and sports (Women in Sports). But that’s not all. I’ve written science (Evolution of Mammals), pop culture (Spider-Man), geography (New Zealand), and even true crime although the publisher called it American Crime Stories (The Assassination of John F. Kennedy).
There are so many possibilities in writing nonfiction for young readers. Don’t panic if you aren’t interested in writing school library books. You can write for magazines and websites. I got my start writing for Young Equestrian Magazine. I wasn’t an equestrian, young or otherwise, but as a historian the editor know I could write breed profiles which are essentially breed histories. This is also where I started science writing and how-tos as well as columns for parents.
After Young Equestrian folded, I wrote educational how-tos. This was when one of my editors taught me to take my own photos. She told me that if I could make oatmeal look appealing, I would have nailed the skill set. She wasn’t wrong!
There are so many nonfiction markets for young readers that I still haven’t mentioned all of them. There are writers who create lesson plans and educational materials for teachers. Still other writers write test questions. My test questions are embarrassingly bad. No, really. They are frightening. Trade publishers also publish a wide range of nonfiction. A trade publisher is a publisher that sells their list through bookstores and other outlets that sell to the non-school consumer.
If you are someone who wants to write a wide variety of things, consider nonfiction for young readers. There are so many ways to get your work out into the world. You just need to find one or more that are a good match for you.
--SueBE
- To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog.
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