Saturdays, July 13th - August 17th | Did you ever wonder who writes the books your kids bring home from school? It could be you! If you want to write engaging stories for kids to help them learn, educational publishing offers work-for-hire assignments that have a faster turnaround than the commercial market. You don’t need an agent to create beautiful, important books.
In this workshop you will learn all about the world of educational publishing and how to pitch yourself as a writer for hire. We will cover typical assignments and writers guidelines, and you will receive feedback on one 500-1,000 word writing sample created in class along with a cover letter so you can start pitching yourself to publishers.
You will see examples of my actual writing assignments, the feedback I was given, and how the final illustrated stories turned out. We will talk about how to understand state standards, and how to write for specific grades and reading levels. You will also learn how to locate educational publishers from their websites and other sources. There will be at least one guest speaker from the educational market who is open to receiving pitches. Recordings will be available for missed classes.
In the words of a student who took this workshop: “One of the best things is coming out with all your writing samples and cover letter ready. It was super helpful to see the stages of your assignments and how you spec different kinds of things. Many of your cheat-sheet handouts were amazing. I also loved when you went through Evelyn's site and explained how you would find and interpret job listings.”
This is a great class for people with classroom or library experience, but it’s also a great fit for anyone who has a strong desire to write for kids.