A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SELF PUBLISHING A SPIRITUAL OR INSPIRATIONAL KIDS' BOOK
STEP TWO: READ THE BOOK ALOUD
Welcome back! Hopefully by now you’ve been writing furiously and have some wonderful ideas to work on.
Once you have a first draft of your story, it’s time for the acid test – taking it to the kids! One of the best ways to see if your story is going to be a success is to let the little critics have a go at it.
Read your book out loud. This is one of the most important steps in creating a brilliant children’s book. Reading your book out loud will show you very quickly where there are problems with the flow of the story and where you might need a rewrite. If you have your own kids, start with them. If not, take your book round to a friend with kids and read it out loud to them.
Ask for their feedback. Even very small children will tell you what they think of a story and they love to have their opinion valued. You will also quickly see boredom creeping in – kids are not inclined to the adult disease of telling you what you want to hear. They tell it like it is, and although this may seem a little harsh, it is better to get a good idea of where your story is lacking early on. Kids will also point out any inconsistencies and things that they are having trouble understanding. Often things that seem obvious to you are not that obvious to children. All too often I’ve seen books for little children using sarcasm or playing on certain sayings that children have not yet been exposed to or simply don’t understand.
This can also help you to define the age that your book should be targeted at.
Once you’ve read your book aloud to a couple of children and made the necessary adjustments, try having someone else read it out loud to some children while you watch and listen. Ask a number of people to do this – the more people you can listen to reading your book, the better. This way you will pick up problems with flow, and with understanding. It can be very insightful to see how others engage in your book with their children and how they answer the many questions that kids tend to ask while listening to a story.
Take note, particularly of any spiritual concepts that parents and children might not be familiar with. Often people writing spiritual books for children come from a particular religion or discipline and assume that everyone is familiar with the same terminology and concepts. If you are not sure if they understood, ask revealing questions about the story afterwards.
I highly recommend including a pre-school (or grade school depending on the age you are targeting) teacher in this step. Teachers read so many books to kids and can give you some excellent feedback on the ease of reading, the age group that it should be aimed at, and the response of the children.
Keep in mind through all of this that once you have done your illustrations, some of the problems with boredom and confusion may be cleared up through the pictures. However, the story itself should be engaging and should not rely on the illustrations too heavily.
Once you’ve gathered all your information, feedback and comments, make all the changes you need to make and move on to step three, teaming up with an excellent illustrator.
Step two should be repeated once you have completed your first illustrations.
Once you have a first draft of your story, it’s time for the acid test – taking it to the kids! One of the best ways to see if your story is going to be a success is to let the little critics have a go at it.
Read your book out loud. This is one of the most important steps in creating a brilliant children’s book. Reading your book out loud will show you very quickly where there are problems with the flow of the story and where you might need a rewrite. If you have your own kids, start with them. If not, take your book round to a friend with kids and read it out loud to them.
Ask for their feedback. Even very small children will tell you what they think of a story and they love to have their opinion valued. You will also quickly see boredom creeping in – kids are not inclined to the adult disease of telling you what you want to hear. They tell it like it is, and although this may seem a little harsh, it is better to get a good idea of where your story is lacking early on. Kids will also point out any inconsistencies and things that they are having trouble understanding. Often things that seem obvious to you are not that obvious to children. All too often I’ve seen books for little children using sarcasm or playing on certain sayings that children have not yet been exposed to or simply don’t understand.
This can also help you to define the age that your book should be targeted at.
Once you’ve read your book aloud to a couple of children and made the necessary adjustments, try having someone else read it out loud to some children while you watch and listen. Ask a number of people to do this – the more people you can listen to reading your book, the better. This way you will pick up problems with flow, and with understanding. It can be very insightful to see how others engage in your book with their children and how they answer the many questions that kids tend to ask while listening to a story.
Take note, particularly of any spiritual concepts that parents and children might not be familiar with. Often people writing spiritual books for children come from a particular religion or discipline and assume that everyone is familiar with the same terminology and concepts. If you are not sure if they understood, ask revealing questions about the story afterwards.
I highly recommend including a pre-school (or grade school depending on the age you are targeting) teacher in this step. Teachers read so many books to kids and can give you some excellent feedback on the ease of reading, the age group that it should be aimed at, and the response of the children.
Keep in mind through all of this that once you have done your illustrations, some of the problems with boredom and confusion may be cleared up through the pictures. However, the story itself should be engaging and should not rely on the illustrations too heavily.
Once you’ve gathered all your information, feedback and comments, make all the changes you need to make and move on to step three, teaming up with an excellent illustrator.
Step two should be repeated once you have completed your first illustrations.