Trends in Children's Literature

What to write?! What to write?! This is a question so many writers of children's literature have. The children's literature market is a big market. Kids of all ages are always interested in reading exciting stories. Writers of this genre have the hope of having their books published and/ or their scripts sold and produced into a movie. Being a hopeful writer of children's literature and children's movies, I did some research into the literary market for children. I found some helpful tips on trends.

To Write a Series or Not to Write a Series
Children tend to like reading a series on their favorite characters. However, when trying to sell your book to an agents and/ or publishers, a writer should sell it as a stand alone book. A writer would want to focus their minds on the story that he or she had written instead of them thinking of future unwritten stories. If the book is published and does will in the market, the publisher will be open to extending the story into a series. So when querying agents or publishers do not mention your plans for making a series.

Picture Books
Over the years the picture book market has been slow. This can be due to the focus on publishers putting out grade and young adult novels which have been proven to be profitable. Small children, from second grade and down, the prime "readers" of picture books, tend to not request their parents to purchase books for them. Children in this age group typically cannot read for themselves and have to depend on others to read for them. If a writer wants to sell a picture book, the book must stand out and appeal to parents as well as children. To appeal to children with very little or no reading skills, a writer should focus more on portraying his/ her story through vivid and colorful illustrations in a way so that a child can determine and follow the story by just looking at the pictures. Bright colors and pictures appeal to children.

Writers must take into consideration the amount of time the average parent is willing to spend reading to their children. To reach parents, picture books should be quick and easy to read so parents will not get board. The words should be easy for children to learn so they can eventually read for themselves.

Young Adults
Many children, primarily girls from age 13 and up, enjoy reading young adult novels based on what is known as dark concept stories. Dark concept stories dominate the young adult market now. Dark concepts books are stories with vampires, demons, and other supernatural creatures. These creatures, which were traditionally thought to be evil, are portrayed as sympathetic characters with sex appeal. They are portrayed in a way for readers to form an identity with them. To simplify this explanation, the villain has some goodness and in a way is a victim. Also such characters share the same experiences that a typical 16-20 year old has. They feel sad, get happy, fall in love, can be taken advantage of, etc.

When writing a children's book keep in mind the trends in the market. Read published books, both the best sellers and low sellers, compare them, and use them as references. However, be careful not to imitate other writers' styles, not to use their characters, and not to use their plots. A writer should dig deep and work hard to make his/her story unique so that even though it is in line with market trends it will be new and interesting. If you are a writer and have written a book and or a movie script and would like your work edited, contact ahicks4298@msn.com or ahicks4298@q.com . This service will edited or critique a book or script for a writer for a very affordable price. The feedback on material is high quality and was helpful to me as a writer.