You could say I owe my writing career to children’s magazines.
When I first began writing I did what many of us do.
I wrote my children’s manuscripts, sent them out to book publishers, waited,
and eventually collected enough rejection letters to wallpaper a small room.
Needless to say, this left me very discouraged. But until reaching that low point,
I had not really considered children’s magazines as a possible venue for my work.
To be honest, the main reason I had not submitted my work to children’s magazines
was because I had a misguided, pre-conceived notion that magazine writing standards
were not as high as book publishing standards.
Don’t ask me why, I just did.
Today, I credit these magazines for preventing me from giving up on my dream
of becoming a children’s writer.
Having my work accepted by children’s magazines brought me validation.
Their approval told me I did have a writing voice and this spurred me onward.
Writing for children’s magazines really helped me hone my skills.
They taught me how to write concisely, given that magazines have more restricted space for each article or story than books.
They taught me how to meet a deadline.
They also taught me how to take direction from editors, whenever I was asked to revise, shorten or develop a text.
The first fiction story I sent to Highlights ran about 800 words.
The editor asked me to cut my word count by half AND develop the characters.
Revising that story taught me a lot.
Everything I learned while writing for magazines I have applied to my book manuscripts.
Writing is like a muscle and the more you do it, the better you get at it.
The truth is, you have a greater chance of breaking into the field of writing for children through magazines because magazine editors need so much more material than book editors.
What exactly?
Fiction, non-fiction, poems, craft projects, cooking projects, games, magic tricks,
puzzles, simple science projects, you name it.
So depending on where your interests lie, you can meet editors’ needs in a number of ways.
Another benefit to magazine writing is that some of my magazine articles or stories
turned into book ideas.
My article on the invention of the potato chip, for example, turned into my picture book
Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament.
So now that you know some of the benefits in writing for children’s magazines
where do you start if you want to scout for possible publications to submit your work to?
I suggest your first stop be your local library,
as most libraries subscribe to a number of children’s magazines.
I also troll book stores and newsstands,
but my go-to source is Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market,
which is published every year, and provides extensive listings of Canadian and US children’s magazine
If you don’t want to purchase a copy for yourself,
you should be able to find it in the reference section of your library.
There are also newsletters like https://fundsforwriters.com/newsletters/
and websites like http://www.evelynchristensen.com/mags.html
So happy writing!
sreference section of your library. There are also newsletters like https://fundsforwriters.com/newsletters/ and websites like http://www.evelynchristensen.com/mags.html So happy writing!20
