Writing Locally for National Markets

What do you write?  History?  Parenting?  Gardening?  No matter what you write, publishers want something new, something they and their readers haven't already seen. This makes sense, but if you are trying to break into a national market you have to find something with . . . can you guess? . . . national appeal.

I write a lot of history and coming up with something that is both unknown and has broad appeal is tough. After reading Don Brown's Henry and the Cannon's (Roaring Brook Press), I have a much better idea how it should be done. He found an unknown person with a local story (Boston), but the story involved a national event and a big name.

If you already know about Henry Knox then you're way ahead of me. I had no idea who he was until I read this book. When Washington (yes, George Washington) was trying to take Boston from a larger, better armed British force, he and his officers realized that cannons would solve it all. Benedict Arnold (yes, that Benedict Arnold) had captured Fort Ticonderoga, 300 miles away. Knox was the man who said that he, in spite of 300 miles of winter weather, could get the cannons from Point A to Point B.

Before she read this book, the editor had probably never heard of Henry Knox. Brown gave her an irresistable hook -- an event of national importance (American Revolution) and two big names (The mighty George Washington and traitorous Benedict Arnold).

If you are interested in selling history, consider -- what big events or people have ties to your area? 

I'm in St. Louis, Missouri which means that I can easily hook into the Louisiana Purchase and through this Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark as well as the Civil War, Teddy Roosevelt, and Charles Lindbergh. I came up with that list off the top of my head on half a cup of coffee.

This same technique can apply to home decorating (local business, national trend), gardening (local success/innovation, national trend) or science writing (new discovery, national problem).  What hooks can you use to turn a local story into a national sale?

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards teaches our course, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults.  The next section starts on March 2nd.

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5 comments history, marketability, markets, reader appeal

Broad Appeal: Writing a Nonfiction Picture Book That Will Sell

Publishers are buying picture books.  To be marketable your nonfiction manuscript has to appeal to not only the young reader but also the adult buyer. 

Your reader is interested in all kinds of things from animals to how things work. They are eager to explore their world. Although they are interested in a wide variety of things they are still kids so your manuscript has to have a kid friendly slant. In their biography of Abraham Lincoln, authors Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer focused on his sense of humor. The aptly named book? Lincoln Tells a Joke. But kid appeal isn’t enough to sell your manuscript. Adults like the topic.  Kids like the slant.  

Parents and other adults stand between you and your audience. Picture books, especially durable hard covers, aren’t cheap and adults aren’t going to plunk down $16.99 to $19.99 unless the book appeals to them as well. How you do this depends to some extent on who the reader is.

Because teachers use picture books in the classroom, it pays to know what young readers are studying. Check the Common Core Standards for the appropriate grade levels. No matter how you feel about this educational initiative, it can help you see who is reading what and at what level.

In addition to their home in the classroom, picture books are read aloud at story times, in the classroom, at bedtime and more.  Many a parent knows that if a child really loves a book, this might mean reading it 15 times in just a few days. Don’t torment the adult buyer. Make this experience as fun as possible with language that is playful, lyrical or rhythmic. Lisa Wheeler does this in Mammoths on the Move, a fun to read aloud rhyming story that appeals to both the adult reader and the child audience.

I hinted at this above but to have broad enough reader appeal, your book has to be something the reader will want to experience more than once.  One way to do this is with a fun read aloud.  Another way is to create a manuscript with dual texts.

A manuscript with dual texts not only introduces a younger reader to a new topic, but also gives an older reader more information.  The main text is short and simple. It gives the younger reader what they need but also provides a framework for the older reader’s text.  This comes in the form of sidebars that provide additional, in-depth information. In Where in the Wild?, David Schwartz gives young readers a series of poem that invite them to find the camouflaged animals hidden in the illustrations.  The sidebars give in-depth information on each animal.

Create a nonfiction picture book with broad appeal and your work will find readers who want to experience it again and again.

--SueBE

Sue will be teaching one of our courses, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults, starting October 7, 2013.  

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4 comments children's nonfiction, nonfiction writing, reader appeal, Writing Picture Books

Four Things You Need to Understand about Character Emotion

One of the things that I look for when rewriting any piece of fiction is character emotion. That said, my understanding of character emotion and what I look for when I rewrite has changed over time.

As a new writer, I learned that I had to provide a varied emotional experience for my reader. My stories couldn’t be all plot even if that was the part that I most enjoyed writing. My character had to change and grow and part of taking the reader along on that trip was communicating emotion. One emotional note expressed over and over again would bore anyone to tears.

Number 1. Vary emotion throughout the story. Check.

After I mastered that, I learned to make sure that each character experienced multiple emotions. This kept me from creating cardboard characters with no emotional depth. Sure, my story as a whole had a full range of emotions but I still had a perky, upbeat side kick, a brooding hero and a very angry villain. Ho hum. Boring.

Number 2. Vary emotions for each character. Got it.

Then I had to learn to express this emotion in a variety of ways. I knew better than to tell everyone time and time again that my hero was worried. I had to show them. But to do this well still required variety. My character couldn’t simply chew on his lip and sigh throughout the entire story. He could but it would still be boring. I had to learn a variety of ways to express each emotion. Fortunately, I stumbled across the Emotion Thesaurus with its many lists. Now I could show worry 35 different ways.

Number 3. Vary ways of expressing emotion. Done.

My latest lesson? Emotional intensity. Some types of stories require pulse pounding emotions. Others are quiet, more sedate and measured. In most works of fiction you need to vary the intensity of the character emotions you serve up to your reader. If your characters experience only mild emotions, you risk boring your reader with the monotony. If your characters experience only extreme emotion, you may exhaust your reader. For a truly satisfying experience, the emotions need to cover the full range, peaking when things get really bad (or really good) but also having calmer, moderate moments.

Number 4. Vary the emotional intensity. Roger.

For the moment, that’s where I stand in my understanding of character emotion and reader appeal. I suspect that sooner or later a new understanding will sneak up on me and work its way into my writing. My readers will, I’m sure, be grateful.

–SueBE

Read more of SueBE's writing at her blog.

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4 comments character emotion, reader appeal, rewriting