Most writers think about writing a book for children, with many thinking about the books they loved when they were a child. While there are some truly fantastic children’s books in publication now, there are also a whole lot of misconceptions leading people to believe that anyone can pen a book for children. These are five of the very worst misconceptions and mistakes that are made:

Completely Clueless

Misconception – I last read a kid’s book years ago but it can’t be hard to write one. They are short and simple, aren’t they?

Children’s books are as hard, if not harder to write than an adult’s book. For an older child, you still need the good characters, a strong plot, loads of action and it needs to be written clearly. The writer must also be able to see the world they write about through the eyes of a child.

Picture books tend to be short and they might look simple; in fact, they are anything but. A great picture book is a real work of art, one that requires the writer to have a good command of language and an intuitive sense of what children like. At the end of the day, a book that a 3 or 4-year-old loves is not going to appeal to a 10 or 12-year-old!

Children’s books come in several formats and it is vital that the writer fully understands those formats, the categories and has researched the category they intend to target. Ask yourself this – will your book be better as an easy reader, a picture book, a mid-grade novel?  Have a look at the major categories:

Age 0 to 3 – Baby or Toddler books

These are a first book for children and come in all sizes and shapes. However, they generally don’t have many words on each page. Unless you are a fantastic artist (or know one) or you have an idea that has never been presented before, this is one of the toughest markets to crack.

Age 2 to 8 – Picture Books

Pictures and text work extremely well together for telling stories. A picture book might appear to be simple but the very best ones are fabulous works of art that have an impact on so many levels; they can help in the emotional and psychological development of a child. Some picture books never have any words at all, the pictures do the job instead. Most never go over 1000 words and average about 32 pages including the covers.

Age 4 to 7 – EZ Readers

These are aimed at those just starting to read and are a large typeface, simple in sentence structure and vocabulary, repetitive and contain picture clues to the words.

Age 6 to 9 – Chapter Books

These are slightly longer and more complex than the EZ reader and are designed to fill the gap between the EZ and the middle-grade books, using words rather than pictures to tell a story.

Age 8 to 12 – Middle-Grade

These are for children who are more competent at reading and tend to vary in style, length, and subject. However, they should contain every attribute that an adult novel does. The main characters are generally children.

Age 13 to 18 – Young Adult

More contemporary and deal with real issues that teens today face.