Links for Writers: Info on State Standards

Standards drive the educational market.Spend a little time understanding those needs.  

http://www.educationworld.com/standards/state/index.shtml Links to performance standards for all states.

http://academicbenchmarks.org/search/ another site summarizing standards for all states

http://www.edutopia.org/common-core-state-standards-resources More on Common Core. Lots of links.

http://www.corestandards.org/ Official site for Common Core.

http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/2012/05/theres-sea-change-coming-to-education.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FZiJh+%28I.N.K.%29 Excellent interview. Vicky Cobb talks with Dr. Myra Zarnowski, Professor of Children's Literature at Queens College School of Education, about how authors can help with Common Core. Note that books referenced are from the trade market. 

Links: General Info on the Educational Market

I don't have a lot of energy or time to spare this week, so I'm going to give you my list of links for working in the educational market. 

General Information

http://educationwriting.blogspot.com/ listing of job opportunities, also a discussion board

http://nancyisanders.wordpress.com/ Nancy Sanders’ website is full of helpful info.

http://www.evelynchristensen.com/markettips.html Evelyn Christenson’s tips and resources. A wealth of information.

Nancy Sanders did a series of blog posts on landing a contract in a month back in 2009. The posts are still there. They start HERE:http://nancyisanders.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/book-in-a-month-club-4/

http://institutechildrenslit.net/index.php?board=11.0 Writers Retreat discussion with Chris Eboch and Nancy Sanders

Information on Markets

http://www.evelynchristensen.com/markets.html Evelyn Christenson keeps an updated list of markets and submission guidelines.

http://www.thechildrenswriter.com/AD283/ Children’s Writer Newsletter

What's Missing?

After you've gone through publisher catalogs, you may find you are interested in writing for one of them. The next step is to go to the library and look at as many of their books as you can find. Ask yourself, Could I write a book like this? If the answer is yes, move on to the next step.

Find their writers’ guidelines and see whether they accept queries, proposals, or manuscripts. Many publishers do not accept unsolicited material. However that doesn't necessarily mean they won't accept a query. A query can be as simple as an email to the editor asking if they would be interested in seeing a proposal on your topic of interest.

Once you know their submission process, go back to the catalog or website and find the area of books you would be interested in writing. Look for the holes.

If you’re a science writer and you like kindergarten to second grade material, find that area of the catalog and ask yourself what they’re missing that would complement what’s already there. Is there a series that you like? What title is missing?

The next step is to query and see if they are interested in a book or set of books on your topic. If so, then follow their guidelines to get your proposal ready. 

TIP: Feel free to query as many publishers as you like about an idea, but never send a formal proposal to more than one editor at a time.

 Present your idea clearly. In an interview with my editor for Readers Theatre for Global Explorers, Sharon Coatney told me this:

I've learned after doing this for many years that if a proposal isn't very clear, there's no point in going forward. There will be so much developmental editing, it isn't worth it.

So do your homework. Be thorough. Write well.

Educational Publishers: What Can a Catalog Tell You?

 It's a good idea to collect catalogs if you want to write for the educational market. A catalog can tell you a lot about a publisher. Ask your local librarian or a school librarian if they have extra catalogs you can have. Publishers send new catalogs out about twice a year. Most media specialists and teachers have a stack of them somewhere waiting for the trash can. Or you can contact the publisher and ask them to send you one. The will be happy to oblige.

Take a look at your catalog and answer these questions:

1. Is it arranged by subject or grade level?

     A. Check to see how high and how low the reading levels are.

     B. If they’re arranged by subject, are they arranged by grade level within the subject?

               *This tells you the range of books they will be interested in.

2. Are there separate imprints? If so, what characterizes each imprint?

               *This may help you hone your interest in writing for their line of books.

3. Are the books published in series of titles or single titles?

              *If they only publish series, they are probably not interested in seeing a manuscript for a stand-alone book.

4. Look at some of the sets. Are all the titles by the same author or a variety?

             *If all books in the set are by the same author, it’s unlikely they would accept a proposal for another book in that set by a different author.

5. What is the last date a title was added to the set?

             *This will tell you whether they are continuing to add to this set.

6. What leveling information is available?

             *If they have included AR, as well as GRL, they are probably targeting the classroom, as well as the library market.  (We'll talk about leveling next week, so don't fret it you don't get it yet.)

7. Have any of the books won awards?

             *Maybe yours will.

Publishers Have Personalities

Let's talk for a moment about all those educational publishers out there, the ones you might want to pursue in this market. And boy, oh boy, they are all different.

Publishers in the educational market are as varied as the people who buy their books.

Some of them are large, like Scholastic, which is practically an empire in the educational market.

Capstone is a conglomerate of publishing imprints that includes, Capstone Press, Compass Point, Heinemann-Raintree, Picture Windows, and Stone Arch. Their spring paperback catalog featured 398 new titles. That doesn’t include their spring library titles.

Some are small, like Creative Company or Norwood House who publishes about 75 books in a year.

Some are family owned and operated like Mitchell Lane or Crabtree.

Some have a stable of writers and hand out assignments only, some use book packagers, some accept manuscripts, some accept queries and/or proposals.

Every publisher in this market has a personality, a goal they want to achieve in their books, a focus or method of presentation.

Mitchell Lanes publishes biographies, almost exclusively. Stone Arch publishes fiction. Bearport promotes their books as narrative nonfiction. Picture Windows uses illustrations rather than photographs. Teacher Created Materials publishes paperback only. Bellwether publishes library bound books written on an incremental reading scale similar to leveled readers. Saddleback caters to the struggling learner in middle and high school. Scobre’s writers are all twenty-somethings. 

The place to learn their personality is in their catalog. You can get a feel for their books online, and you should read some of their actual books if at all possible,  but I like to hold that catalog in my hands. The way it’s organized and the information included will tell you a lot about a publisher. You can request a catalog at most publisher websites.

I've never had the privilege of going to the big bookseller conferences, but if you live near where one is being held, take advantage of it. Talk to the publisher reps. It's another good way to learn about a publishing house. 

The Educational Market: Who Buys the Books

We're still talking about writing for the educational market. Any writer worth his salt knows who his audience is. It's not a hard questions to answer for this market, it's those kids, preK to grade twelve, reading in the schools. But those readers are not the buyers. They are not the decision makers when it comes time to spend those precious school funds.

Traditionally we think of the librarian as the primary buyer in the educational market, but there is  actually a much larger marketplace out there that writers don't generally think of.

Teachers often have funds to purchase materials for their classroom. Many of them spend their own money.

Counselors, speech teachers, ESOL teacher/coordinators, special education teachers purchase books for their specific needs.

      

Literacy coaches/Instructional specialists - these are the people within the school who purchase books for classroom libraries and bookrooms. Bookrooms are small libraries set aside usually in a separate room for the specific use of classroom teachers or reading teachers. Books are usually in sets of six copies (6-packs) for use in reading groups.

County level buyers - Homeless coordinator, special education coordinator, instructional specialists, elementary ed coordinator, Title I program directors, grant coordinators. These people will often buy books for every school in their district.

So why do you need to know this as a writer? I want to broaden your horizons. Why do you need to go beyond the question What are my librarian’s needs? In today’s economy, school libraries do not have the funds they once had. Many of them of still buying books, but not in the quantities they once did. There has been a shift in spending in the last few years from the library to the classroom. The books purchased are paperback, rather than library bound, but the quantity of books purchased is much higher.

Here's an example from one elementary school that I serve. It is not a Title I funded school. Orders from Title I funded schools usually reflect the same balance, but they generally have more funds available. 

      Library order        $1,140.35               73 books

      Classroom order   $4,345.51             728 books

        In the list of purchasers above, only one buys library bound books. The publisher makes more money selling library bound books. If you get royalties (a few educational publishers do offer royalties), you make more money on library bound books. But only if they sell. 

        Realize that the writer has no say in whether your books are published in paperback or not. I just want you to understand that if you’re writing for an educational publisher who does not sell paperbacks, sales are limited because funds are limited. 

        Many traditional library publishers, who said they would never publish paperback books, are sticking their toes in the water of the classroom market.

Traditional Nonfiction, and Not-so-Traditional

Nearly every educational publisher carries traditional nonfiction books,  but there are also publishers and imprints within traditional publishers that entertain some interesting not-so-traditional nonfiction. Many of these target struggling learners.

A large proportion of educational nonfiction uses photographs, but sometimes you find them illustrated. Take a look at Picture Windows, a Capstone imprint, and Magic Wagon from Abdo.

Opportunities for author/ illustrators. 

You'll find nonfiction written as poetry.

This one is from Picture Windows (Capstone).

This one is from Millbrook, an imprint of Lerner.

Graphic nonfiction burst onto the scene a few years ago and is a favorite of many teachers looking for creative ways to present information to their reluctant readers.

Rourke's Illustrated History

Capstone's Graphic Science. Max Axiom as the narrator has been a huge success.

Narrative nonfiction uses writing techniques that fiction writers employ, like character, setting, and narrative arc, to create a more readable text that is still completely nonfiction. Bearport markets their books with this narrative nonfiction tagline. Their books are all built around this model. Read Dolphins in the Navy for an example.

AV2 by Weigl creates audio-visual enhanced nonfiction. By going to a website and typing in a code from the book, teachers can access audio clips, video imaging, web links, and downloadable games and quizzes based on the book. All materials are accessible for smart boards. This spread is from Racoons in the Animals in My Backyard series.

Many publishers carry a line of Hi/Lo books. High interest, meaning things that a student might do in his spare time without the aid of an adult. Written at a Low reading level.

Snap books are middle grade hi/lo books for girls from Capstone.

You'll also find lots of publishers with books written on difficult subjects at a lower reading level for struggling readers who still need the content information. Heinemann's Freestyle imprint mirrors books from their regular line, but written at a lower reading level.

Geology Rocks targets 6th to 10th grade readers, but it's written at a 6th grade reading level. 

Here is a spread from Geology Rocks written at a third grade reading level.  

How Much Nonfiction Do You Need?

Just walk in to doors of any school library (think elementary and middle school here--only because that's my focus in these posts) and you'll find rows and rows of nonfiction books. Most libraries use the Dewey Classification System. You'll find nonfiction books on everything you can think of arranged by Dewey classification numbers.

But how much nonfiction do you need? The figures below represent the percentage of books recommended in each range based on an elementary school with about 500 students.

Dewey	Elementary	#      Books
000 Generalities	1%	90
100 Philosophy and psychology	1%	90
200 Religion	1%	90
300 Social sciences	5%	450
398.2 Folk Tales and Fairy Tales	6%	540
400 Language	1%	90
500 Natural sciences and mathematics	10%	900
600 Technology (Applied sciences)	7%	630
700 The arts Fine and decorative arts	6%	540
800 Literature and rhetoric	4%	360
900 Geography and history	6%	540
920-921 Biographies	4%	360
[REF] Reference	2%	180
[E] Easy Fiction 22% 1,980 [F] Fiction 24% 2,160 Fiction rounds out the list.for a total of about 9,000 books.

Over half the library should be nonfiction. This fits with the new Common Core Standards that will require 50% of all elementary reading be nonfiction.

In middle school, the recommended percentage of nonfiction jumps to 80%. Common Core standards require 75% of all reading in middle and high school be nonfiction.

The following table is from a middle school of about 700 students. It gives you an idea of the proportions media specialists work toward.

Dewey	Middle	# Books
[F] Fiction	20%	1,400
000 Generalities	2%	140
100 Philosophy & psychology	2%	140
200 Religion	1%	70
300 Social sciences	10%	700
400 Language	1%	70
500 Natural sciences & mathematics	12%	840
600 Technology (Applied sciences)	10%	700
700 The arts Fine and decorative arts	11%	770
800 Literature & rhetoric	3%	210
900 Geography & history	13%	910
920-921 Biographies	11%	770
[REF] Reference	4%	280
		7,000

If you're a writer in the educational market, this should give you food for thought.

What You Might Write for an Educational Publisher

As I said in the previous post, educational publishing runs the gamut from board books to college texts. Below you'll find a list of types of writing you might do at the very lowest levels in this market, with suggestions of a few publishers who market each type of product. The list is not exhaustive, but it should give you a starting point for finding materials and publishers that you might want to explore.


Board Books - Rourke, PowerKids, DK

• There has been a push for nonfiction board books in the last couple of years, especially with the Common Core Standards moving much of in-school reading to nonfiction texts. Nonfiction board books give even the youngest readers an introduction to informational reading. Take a look at Rourke's nonfiction board books, and their Little Birdie Board Books. 

Leveled Readers - Red Rocket Readers, Teacher Created Materials, Bellwether 

Many educational publishers have a line of leveled readers. A true leveled reader collection contains lots of books that allow readers to progress incrementally in their journey toward fluency. The goal of any leveled reader program is to develop word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency.   Look at Red Rocket Readers designed by Pam Holden, 30-year Reading Recovery teacher. These are out of New Zealand. Also see TCM's Time for Kids Readers. Rigby from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is also a big name in leveled readers. 

Bellwether books are similar in feel to leveled readers, but they are produced for the library market in library bound editions. 

Early Nonfiction - Heinemann (Acorn), Capstone (Pebble, Pebble Plus), ABDO (Sandcastle) 

You'll find many choices for early nonfiction among the educational publishers. The larger publishers have imprints that identify their early nonfiction.

Next week we'll look at some of the more traditional nonfiction publishers for elementary students.

Writing for the Educational Market

On Saturday, I presented at a workshop on Writing for the Educational Market at the Hampton Parks Library in Cumming, Ga. As usual, I never thought about photos.

This is from the library's website.

Heather Kolich, Southern Breeze local liason, set the meeting up and got the word out. I had a great time talking to this group of children's writers, all interested in writing for the educational market. They asked questions and participated and were just an all-around blast to interact with. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

My goal is to begin posting some notes on my experience in this market once or twice a week. In my day job, I'm a sales representative for Delaney Educational Enterprises. I spend two to four days a week in schools talking with media specialists and literacy coaches about their needs. I attend two conferences a year where publishers come and talk about their company and their new spring and fall line up of books.  Sometimes it's a publisher rep who presents this information, but sometimes it's the owner or editor of the company. There are anywhere from 30 to 50 Delaney reps in attendance and usually about 15 publishers--a small setting where conversation and mingling is encouraged. I get a chance to pick a lots of brains. So I have a perspective that is somewhat unusual for a children's writer.

I hope you'll come along for the ride. Feel free to ask questions. I'll answer everything that I can.


What is the Educational Market?


Writing for the educational market spans everything from alphabet books to college texts. It includes
flash cards, educational puzzles and games, subject related magazines for students, Weekly newspapers for students, testing materials, materials for teachers and librarians, education films, text books, and leveled readers.

It includes fiction, as well as the standard nonfiction most of us think of when we say "the educational market."

Anything and everything written or designed for use to help educate students. For our purposes, I’m limiting the discussion to materials written specifically to meet the needs of teachers and students in the elementary or middle school market. I will touch a bit on high school books for struggling readers, but those are written at lower reading levels, and are more in line with elementary/middle school guidelines.

These materials are sold directly into schools. You will rarely see them in a book store with the trade publishers, although there are a few who cross over--Lerner, Scholastic, Penguin, -- and Capstone recently announced a trade line. They are sold by a publisher’s sales rep or by what’s called a book distributer, commonly known in the industry as a book jobber. This is a company that represents multiple publishers. I am a sales rep for Delaney Educational Enterprises, and we deal with over 150 publishers. I also have access to trade publishers through Ingram's iPage.

 Why write for the Educational Market? 

Nancy I. Sanders in her book, Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children’s Books, Get them Published and Build a Successful Writing Career, talks about the reasons we write. We write because we love it, because we want to see our name in print, and because we want to make money. So often we try to make one manuscript fill all those desires. Nancy offers some excellent hints on how to divide your writing time and energy. My novel took years to complete, and it still has no home, but I wrote it because I loved the story. I have short articles published in both children’s and adult magazines, most of them didn’t pay much money, but my name is on them. The place I have made money, while waiting for the novel project to see the light of day (or die quietly), is in the educational market. 

If you know you're a fiction writer and that all you ever want to do, that's fine. You just have to realize that it may be years before you see your name in print or deposit a check in your account.

Most projects in this market are work-for-hire. The writer is paid a flat fee for the manuscript, no royalties. The publisher retains the copyright on the book. Most projects are nonfiction, but not all. It’s still hard work. You are still expected to develop your craft. You often have short deadlines, and you’d better be able to meet them or you won’t have work the next time assignments are passed out. 

Can you earn a living at it? I wouldn't give up your day job, but if you work at it, you can earn decent money here. I have one friend who put her son through college with work for hire projects. It's less competitive than the trade market and offers a way to get published work onto your resume. You're always learning something new. 

Is it worth it? Absolutely. 

I hope I can help you find your way into this arena in the children's publishing world. 

Publishing Trends in the Educational Market

I spent a week in San Diego in July listening to some of the best educational publishers in the marketplace showing off their new books for fall. Usually there is a trend, some topic area that nearly all the publishers are trying to hit. Last year it was Going Green and lots of books on economics. This year it's a little harder to spot a specific trend. With the Olympics in London next year, there are plenty of new books on that subject. And the Titanic is having an anniversary. But the buzz word that keeps popping up, no matter who's talking, is common core. As states across the country adopt the new Common Core Standards, publishers are striving to make sure their new lists give educators the tools to meet the new guidelines.

If you want to cheek out these standards, visit these two websites.

Common Core Standards Initiative - The official site.

Common Core Curriculum Mapping Project - Is a Gates Foundation project that wrote curriculum maps for (English Language Arts (ELA) core standards. They are intended to be a road map for teachers to implement the CCSS standards in ELA curriculum. This link will take you directly to the grade level maps.

There are lots of new science books, both in the traditional library bound format, and in paperback for classroom use. In Georgia, and other states may soon follow suit, science is now the second indicator for CRCT testing (state testing). In then past, a school attained adequate

yearly progress based on the math and reading scores of students, with a secondary indicator of attendance. That is changing, and as a result schools are going to be looking for new ways to build science content into math classes and English language arts.

Writer alert! This trend probably isn't going to change any time soon, so if you are considering new ideas to propose to a publisher, look for creative ways to combine these subjects.

Lerner Publishing is introducing something they call Lerner Publisher Services. It's books from a

group of four small presses that Lerner with be carrying in their line. I was delighted to find that Gecko Press, an award-winning New Zealand based house is one of the presses, and Lerner will be publishing one book a year from author Joy Cowley. Love her books. Love her. Writers, if you've been to the Highlights Chautauqua conference, you'll recognize her name.

And by the way, I received a very complimentary rejection from Lerner editor, Andrew Karre, on my middle grades novel. I knew they were focusing on their new YA line right now, but it was worth a try.

We're working with a new publisher this year, called Weigl, who have come out with a very cool concept for pairing library bound books with book specific technology, for the price of the library book. They call them AV2 books. This is a good product for both libraries and classroom. You can pull up the videos, info, and games on a whiteboard in the classroom.

And of course, ebooks are still a big deal. More publishers are getting on the bandwagon and getting their act together a little better than last year.