IWSG - Not Unethical, Just Confusing

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day! This is exciting for me because it's been about eight or nine years since I last posted for the IWSG, and it's really really nice to be back. The first Wednesday of every month, the IWSG hosts a blog hop with a prompt, and it's always been a fun way for me to connect with other writers.

The prompt today is, "What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?"

I've only got two novels published, and they're self-published at that. So I don't really have a lot of experience in the publishing industry. However, this question made me think of the thing that's been bothering me the most this week: publishing children's picture books.

For background, I work at a library. I'm not a librarian, I'm just a circulation assistant--the person who checks in books that have been returned, answers phones, directs people to the resources they're looking for, answers questions, etc.--but a lot of my day consists of handling books, which automatically makes it the best job ever.

Sometimes, if it's a slower day, I have time to flip through some of the books. The ones I read most often are picture books, since they're the easiest to finish in one sitting. I'm not a picture book author, and I won't pretend to know anything at all about traditional publishing, or publishing children's books or picture books. However, I can't help but notice how many picture books seem to be written for adults.

I'm not talking about the picture books that address LGBTQ+ issues, the ones that the right-wing are getting all triggered about. I've read a lot of these books, and they're wonderful. So far, in my personal readings, I haven't come across a single LGBTQ+ picture book that I would find inappropriate for children.

No, the books I'm talking about are the ones like We, the Curious Ones by Marion Dane Bauer.

PC: Goodreads

Before I say anything else, this book is absolutely gorgeous. When I read it the other day, I was captivated by the stunning images and the poetry. This is a beautiful book, one I think most adults would enjoy reading––I certainly did. It discusses the human experience and our curiosity, our beliefs, and how they've changed throughout the ages. However, as I was reading it, I started to wonder who this book was really for.

Would I have enjoyed this book as a kid? Most likely, yes. I enjoyed Carl Sagan's Cosmos series as a six-year-old, so I'm absolutely not saying "there are no children who would enjoy this book!" But … there are so many books out there like this, books that are poetic and vague, books that seem sort of "highbrow" for children. Which, again, is fine.

But I realized something after coming across a few of these.

When it comes to children's picture books––and children's media, in general––we're not actually writing these books for kids. And you can't write these books just for kids because the people who approve whether or not you get published at all are adults. You have to convince these adults that your book is worth it, you have to convince adults to publish a book for kids. It makes sense, because a five-year-old isn't going to be shelling out the money to buy these picture books, or signing up for a library card to check these out. Your publisher knows that the people you really have to charm are the parents, otherwise they're not going to buy your books for their kids, or let them check out your books from the library.

I'm not saying anything is inherently wrong with this, it's just the way the world works. But it's one of the few industries where your target audience is not who you're trying to sell to, and all I can say is … I can't imagine how hard it is to write and publish children's picture books right now.

Be sure to visit the Insecure Writer's Support Group page and the other people who have posted today!