Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 41

Educational Publishers: Submit Your Resume

When contacting an educational publisher, the first thing they’ll want to see is your resume.

How do you prepare a resume?

Here are a series of posts I made that will help you on your journey. Just start at this first post and continue through the series.

RESUMES: PROFESSIONAL AND PERTINENT

(Note: To find the rest of the series of posts, scroll down to the bottom of that first post and click on the link that says, “Resumes: Let’s Start at the Beginning.” This is how you advance through posts on blogs.)

Filed under: Uncategorized

Educational Publishers: Work-for-Hire

When we submit to educational publishers who need authors to work on projects they develop, they expect us to have our ducks all in a row. Most of their contracts are work-for-hire contracts meaning that they pay you a flat fee and keep all the rights. Be sure to follow their submissions guidelines very carefully.

Here are just a few of the publishers listed on Ev Christensen’s amazing site, EDUCATIONAL MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS who follow into the category:

CAPSTONE PRESS

ENSLOW PUBLISHERS

FACTS ON FILE

FRANKLIN WATTS

GARETH STEVENS PUBLISHING

ROSEN PUBLISHING

STONE ARCH BOOKS

UPSTART BOOKS

As you’re clicking on links to explore these publishers and others similar to them, get a feel for the type of products they publish. Don’t worry about the publishers you look at and think, “This is way out of my comfort zone.”

Just keep an eye out for any publisher you look at and think…hey! I think I could write a book like that.

Those are the ones you want to submit to.

And if you have trouble pinpointing their submission guidelines, just google “Submission guidelines for name of publisher.” Sometimes they like to hide this info on their site and this usually gives good results.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Hypocrites!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you are like white-washed tombs

which indeed appear beautiful outwardly,

but inside are full of dead men’s bones

and all uncleanness.

-Matthew 23:27, NKJV

These scribes are anyone who writes without the anointing of Jesus Christ. Their books are beautiful on the outside with fancy covers and glitzy awards. But inside, the text is full of ungodly concepts and foul words.

Lord, I beg of You! Do whatever it takes to keep me from being a scribe like this. May I always be humble and only write for Your glory and not my own. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________

For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

The pocket edition of Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon. What a great gift of encouragement to give to your critique group buddies and writer friends!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Educational Publishers: Different Fish in the Same Pond

As we’ve been exploring the list of educational publishers listed on Ev Christensen’s amazing site, EDUCATIONAL MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS, we’ve been talking about how there are different categories of publishers listed.

Here are two categories I divide them into that we discussed in a previous post:

Publishers who need authors to work on projects they develop.

Publishers who accept original ideas from authors.

Each of these publishers have different expectations from authors who submit to them.

For publishers who need authors to work on projects they develop, in general they want to see an author’s resume plus writing samples.

Then they keep your name and samples in their files and contact you if they think they have a project they want to develop that matches your expertise as a writer.

Of course, you need to follow their specific submission guidelines, but in general, that’s how they work.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Faith-Building Fridays: Reflection

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

-Ephesians 5:1, NKJV

As we write, let’s strive to reflect God’s glory and imitate His characteristics to our readers. How do we do this? By choosing to stand on the clear Truth found in Scripture rather than the muddied waters of the world’s opinions. Let’s not pride ourselves in supporting or endorsing our friends, family, co-workers, or even our government’s decisions. Let’s follow wholeheartedly after Jesus and be reflections of His good and holy ways.

Dear God, please help me discern your Word rightly without being swayed by the news, the media, the publishing world, or even my personal friends. Give me the strength to write words that reflect You and Your truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________

For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Educational Publishers: Different Fish in the Same Pond

As I’ve been exploring the list of educational publishers listed on Ev Christensen’s amazing site, EDUCATIONAL MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS, I’ve realized an important point that I want to share with you…

Not all educational publishers are the same.

Since we were on vacation this past week and took a short hike around this small lake, seeing this young boy fishing reminded me that this list of educational publishers is like different fish in the same pond.

For example, I’ve written for various publishers listed on Ev’s site and some have similar submissions policies and similar products than others.

So I thought for starters let’s look at some of the categories of publishers on this list.

I’ve written a couple of books for Corwin Press. These projects have been work-for-hire where I’ve been handed a fairly lengthy packet of formatting rules to follow and my manuscripts have to fit into a series with other authors working on them, too. These books were based on the publisher’s ideas, not mine.

I’ve written several books for Chicago Review Press. For these books, I submitted my own ideas and landed royalty-based contracts with an advance.

I’ve written a couple of books for Libraries Unlimited that were my own ideas and landed royalty-based contracts with no advance.

For all 3 publishers, I signed the contracts before I wrote the manuscripts.

I don’t know how other people might categorize these publishers I just mentioned, but here’s the two categories I divide them into:

Publishers who need authors to work on projects they develop.

Publishers who accept original ideas from authors.

Why is this important to know?

Because you approach each type of publisher differently.

(And just a note…some publishers do both kinds of projects! It’s important to realize which type you want to contact them about.)

So as you’re continuing to explore and click on different links on this site, keep these 2 categories in mind.

We’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Book Review: NIrV Study Bible for Kids

NIrV Study Bible for Kids

by Zonderkidz

Summary

This Bible features the updated version of the NIV just perfect for young readers. The hard cover will guarantee it lasts through lots of wear and tear. The soft, muted colors and dreamy-like illustrations throughout this Bible convey a sense of peace and comfort–a big plus for a young child who is reading this just before going to bed. Lots of engaging features are sure to keep a young reader’s interest and help present God’s Word in delicious bite-sized chunks.

What I Like

As a writer, I’ve used the NIrV version of the Bible for years. There are some Christian publishers who require writers to use this version when we write for them. And no wonder…the NIrV stands for “New International Reader’s Version” and is geared with grade-level vocabulary for kids ages 6-10 to read it. So when I saw they put together this version of the Bible as a Study Bible, I was so excited to get it! I love study Bibles as an adult, and I’m jazzed to think of using this with the kids in my life.

And yes! I like the features in this Bible! Here are some of my favorites:

*Full color/glossy/illustrated pages scattered throughout with IMPORTANT information such as who the Holy Spirit is and what the Ten Commandments are.

*Introduction to each book with top verses to read

*Soak it Up! Verses highlighted to memorize.

*Brain Game with questions to about a passage to make your thinker think!

-Thanks, BookLook Bloggers for another wonderful free book in exchange for my honest review!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Faith Building Friday: Scribes

Therefore, indeed,

I send you prophets,

wise men,

and scribes.

-Matthew 23:34, NKJV



We are God’s scribes. As we write, God is working through us with the gift of prophecy to address issues that He alone can know. God gives us the gift of wisdom to write words that are wise and good for such a time as this, or for future generations.



Ah Lord God! Your scribes write under the anointing and calling of the Lord Jesus Christ! Oh, may I alway be one of Your scribes that You send personally to write words that lead people to You! May the words I write bring life and plant godliness in the hearts of my readers. Even if I am never noticed, may my books and the words You call me to write bring glory to Your name. Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________

For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

Filed under: Inspiration

Introduction

Let’s get better acquainted with the amazing resource that Ev Christensen maintains for us at the site, EDUCATIONAL MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS.

At the top of this page, there’s a link to click on if you’re new to the educational market. (What a great resource, too, Ev! You’ve thought of everything!!!)

Click on that link even if you’re an old pro and you’ll find reminder tips and helpful info about writing for this market.

Getting back to the site’s main page, scrolling down you will next see an alphabetical list of educational publishers, packagers, and developers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had numerous market guides and this list is very, very comprehensive. It’s exciting just to look at it and think of all the possibilities for writing and getting paid while you write.

Below that list, you’ll find a short list of Test publishers. How exciting is this?! Somebody has to write the little stories that kids read while they’re taking standardized national tests…why not you? It’s fun to click on these links too.

And at the bottom of this site is “Additional Information.” This is the place we find another alphabetical list of publishers. Only this time this list includes publishers that are going out of business or don’t return phone calls, etc. This stuff is really handy to know!

Now that we’ve taken an overview of this site, feel free to explore some more. Just click on anything that interests you or start with the first publisher and click your way on down the list. We’ll be exploring this more together in an upcoming post.

Filed under: Educational Market

Let’s Explore the Educational Market

I hope you had a great time celebrating the Fourth of July! Summer is here with beach days, hikes in the mountains, and lots of family time.

It’s also a great time for us to start exploring the educational market because schools will be starting back in session before we know it.

And the best place to start exploring this exciting market is at Evelyn B. Christensen’s AWESOME site, EDUCATIONAL MARKETS FOR CHILDREN’S AUTHORS.

I’m not going to say much about it because its amazing information speaks for itself.

So hop on over and spend some time relaxing and clicking and looking and reading and following links and…EXPLORING!

(And thank you, Ev, for putting together and maintaining such an awesome resource for all of us as writers.)

To show your appreciation and gratitude to Ev, share her site with lots of your followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest!

And stay tuned for fun stuff coming up all about the educational market and YOU.

Filed under: Uncategorized