 ~ by Amanda Smith Before leaving on a revision retreat in the summer, I left my two boys with detailed instructions on cleaning their closets. One of the check boxes stated: Are you ready to get rid of some of the soft toys in your closet? If so, put them in my room. No, I am not being unreasonable. Both my boys are on the other side of 16. It’s time. Throughout the years, I'd broached the snuggie-subject, only to be brushed off with a “not right now,” but this time, three days into my trip, my husband sent a picture of two containers, lovingly covered with spread bandanas, like colorful funeral shrouds.  Sometimes revision is exactly like getting rid of loveys. Friendly, fluffy, comforting words that are just hanging out in the closet of your manuscript – really not bothering anyone. But these words are taking up space, making it hard to maneuver, or to add anything more useful. Here are a few strategies for letting go: The “not right now” mentality: Sometimes we save revisions for later, because at the moment it seems too hard to cut, or we don't know what to do in the space that is left. The cure: It is easier to make big cuts on paper. Print out your manuscript so that you can cross out sections without actually deleting anything yet. As you cross out, make notes in the margins or on sticky notes of all your ideas to fix, connect, or fill those spaces. The benefit: You get a big picture overview, and nothing has been irreversibly altered, but you've made room for new ideas. Cutting ruthlessly: Sometimes words and scenes that were necessary to make your story grow, are no longer needed. They belonged to your draft’s childhood and might actually get in the way of your manuscript launching. Ruthless revising asks, Marie Kondo-style, "Is this still useful? Do I still love it?" You may combine this with the "not right now" strategy by doing it on paper, but commit that when you have crossed it out on paper, it must be deleted from the manuscript. No backsies. The cure: Ruthless cutting, especially of backstory and info dumping that you initially needed to get to the heart of the story, leaves more space for the all-important story. The benefit: A mature manuscript. Sad goodbyes: At some point you will have to actually delete from the actual manuscript. This is sad and painful, because as writers we take care to write well, to weigh words, and to measure sentences, and we take pleasure in the result of our labor. Sometimes when we have to purge, we might need to put those words in another room under a colorful bandana just until we're sure. The cure: For each project, keep a darlings folder. When you cut something from a manuscript, paste it into a document in your darlings folder. That way you can still honor the words. You can tell them, “You are beautifully written and precious, but you are pre-writing and not needed here. Your job was to get me where I needed to go. You did that well. Thank you.” The benefit: Well, just in case, and because letting go is hard.  After my older child went back to college this fall, I slid open his closet to put away some linens. On the shelf, at eye level, sat Shamu, the beloved orca that resided in his bed since he was two until well into his middle school years. Next to Shamu sat Baby Tiger, the white tiger hand-puppet whose cuteness always resulted in belly laughs which morphed into a sweet gentleness in this boy and ended in a hug-fest. Every time. On the top shelf were a few other carefully selected fuzzy friends, including the puppy his preschool teacher gave him the day his baby brother was born. I nodded with approval and relief. Because sometimes we should also unapologetically hold on to the good stuff.
How do you know if it's good stuff? Ask how it contributes to your story. Does it lead to belly laughs or hug-fests like Baby Tiger? Does it reveal something about the character? Hold onto it! Ask whether the scene helps your character on his journey. Does it mark a big life moment for your character, like Puppy? Some words carry deep emotional value, even if they don't necessarily move the plot forward. Whether they are precious memories that promise safety and comfort like Shamu, or whether they bring the character's heartache or suffering to life, curate some space for a few of these emotionally laden scenes. Because as much as we have to eventually clean out the carnival prizes and scruffy beanie babies of our manuscript, some friends (and words) are keepers.
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 ~Guest blog by Michele Regenold Opportunities abound for your professional growth as a kidlit writer! Conferences, workshops, classes, retreats—in-person and online. Plus books, podcasts, newsletters, and websites, including this one. But there is another option: You can work one-on-one with a book coach. What does a book coach do? A book coach is a smart, experienced editor who provides feedback on your writing. This includes specific suggestions for helping you accomplish your writing goals as well as ongoing encouragement and support as you work toward achieving those goals. Most book coaches provide both written feedback and oral feedback. For each submission a client sends me, for example, I return to them a short editorial letter with my big picture feedback along with their manuscript to which I’ve added my questions and comments. Then we have a call via Zoom to discuss any questions and reactions to the feedback and plan their next submission. Book coaching relationships can last from a few weeks to a year or more, depending on the writer’s needs and goals, and the book coach’s approach. Why would you want to hire a book coach? Two core elements that a book coach brings to the work are accountability and feedback. Your book coach wants to help you craft the best story you can and accomplish your writing goals. Some writers want more guidance early in the process and they seek help with the story premise, the characters, the plot, and the first draft. On the other hand, sometimes writers with a completed draft are too close to the story to see it clearly and a book coach can guide them out of their story wilderness. When to hire a book coach? You’ll get the most benefit from working with a book coach when:
 What to look for in a book coach? Their specialty Much like literary agents and book editors, book coaches tend to specialize in terms of age group and genre. A book coach for adult mysteries and thrillers wouldn’t take on a writer of picture books, and probably not a writer of middle grade mysteries either, but maybe a writer of young adult mysteries. For instance, I focus on helping writers of middle grade and young adult novels. In terms of genre, I’ve worked with clients writing MG historical, MG contemporary, MG science fiction, YA fantasy, and YA science fiction. I’d balk at novels in verse, however, since I rarely read them. Consider what you need the most help with—is it the tropes of your genre or is it targeting the age group of your audience? The experience level of writers they help Consider your level of experience as a writer and your understanding of how fiction works. If novel writing is new to you, then seek a book coach who works best with newer writers. They’ll help you learn basic craft elements like the fundamentals of a scene and a character arc. Likewise, if you’ve already written a novel or two, a book coach who works with experienced writers may be a better fit. The stage of the writing process Also consider how much of your story has been written—a few pages, a partial draft, a complete draft. Some book coaches prefer to work on revision of an existing draft while others prefer to help you plan and execute a first draft. The book coach’s credentials There is no official licensing for book coaches. However, there is a company called Author Accelerator that provides an extensive certification course for people who’d like to become book coaches. They maintain a searchable list of Author Accelerator-certified book coaches. Other credentials include advanced degrees, professional writing and editing work and references from clients. Most book coaches offer a free “discovery” or “intake” call after reviewing your submission packet, which is an opportunity for you to assess whether you are a good match. If you want to write, but don’t know where to start, or if you are stuck in your work-in-progress and need a different perspective, consider hiring a book coach to help you realize your book-dreams!  Bio:
Michele Regenold is an Author Accelerator-certified book coach specializing in MG and YA fiction. She helps writers with big ambitions realize their goals through 1:1 coaching. Michele is a writer herself, mainly of middle grade fiction that often includes an animal character’s point of view. She’s represented by Mary Cummings with Great River Literary. Contact Michele on her website, check out her blog, and discover more about her tool for interviewing characters.  Guest Blog by Ellen Mayer All picture books are works of collaboration. But with Leaves to My Knees, I had an extra-special helper: my young granddaughter. Elise was three-and-a-half years old when I first brought her in as a collaborator. A beta reader for this newly published book, she is now a first grader.  The Math Makes Sense Leaves to My Knees is a playful STEM story about a little girl, Camille, who is determined to rake a pile of leaves all the way up to her knees to jump in. In the story I wanted to demonstrate how young children, before they use formal units of measurement like a ruler, measure by comparing sizes with their own bodies in everyday activities. Elise at age three-and-a-half helped me “test out” the use of the math ideas on measurement and comparing sizes in my polished draft. As we raked leaves together in the backyard, I slipped in story character Camille’s mathematical thinking. How about raking a pile all the way up to your knees? I asked. The prospect not only delighted Elise, but the thinking felt true and natural to her, and soon she was chatting about the progress of the pile up her legs, just like story character Camille. She was also interested in comparing the size of her little toy rake against the big grown-up rake of her grandfather. For this young child, the math in the story made sense. Clarification Is Needed In the fall of 2019, I submitted the manuscript to the publisher. After I signed a contract for the book in the spring of 2020, Elise began to help me with revisions. While zoom readings during the beginning of the pandemic meant the loss of the lap, this technology did afford me a clear view of Elise’s four-year-old face, and I was able to make note of her expressions and body language as I read the text to her. Before the reading, I said: Elise, there are no pictures yet. You’ll just have to imagine them for now. But I’ll read you the words. She listened intently as I read through the entire text. What do you think? I asked. GOOD! she proclaimed. Even without the art, the story kept her attention – and elicited smiles. But I noticed one point where Elise furrowed her brows. When Camille sets out to rake leaves all the way up to her knees, she hoists her rake up onto her shoulder and does so “Because I mean business.” Elise was clearly drawing a blank at the idiom. Is “I mean business” kind of confusing? Should I change that a bit? I asked. Yeah. How about if I say: “Because I am serious––I mean business!” That’s good, she said. Of all the idioms in the story, that one needed a little explication for this four-year-old. Reconsider a Character Months later, a PDF arrived from publisher Star Bright Books with illustrator Nicole Tadgell’s full-color art in it. After reading it aloud to Elise, my beta listener paused thoughtfully and asked: You know, Mimi, Jayden doesn’t say anything. How come? That gave me pause. She found it odd that the goofy and playful two-year-old brother Jayden didn’t say anything. I never deliberately intended for him to be silent. Hmmmm. My publisher was getting the files ready for the printer, but I had to email the editorial team. If it's not too late, I have a suggestion for one more text edit. This suggestion is prompted by a comment made by my granddaughter when I read her the story recently. She pointed out – with some concern – that Jayden doesn't say anything in the story. I suggested that we have Jayden join in with Daddy when he cheers Camille on with a GO! as she readies herself to jump into her leaf pile, now up to her knees. Star Bright Books concurred. One of the editors wrote back: It’s always fascinating to learn what children can see that adults don’t. Thank you, Elise, now Jayden has his own “voice.”  A Starred Review I learned that the reception of the story only improved with repeated readings. I watched my granddaughter sitting on the sofa beside her grandfather as he read aloud from the pages of the PDF, her face passing through a wide range of emotions as Camille suffers ups and downs in her leaf-raking project. When they got to the page where Camille steps into her hard-earned knee-high leaf pile, confirming that it indeed reaches to her knees, and shouts “TA-DA!”, Elise sprang up on the sofa and raised her hands high above her head in victory, just like Camille, and shouted joyfully: TA-DA! Months later, she insisted that she had “requested” that Camille say “TA-DA” back in the editorial stage. But then, that’s what happens in collaboration, isn’t it? We often forget who contributed what. When she was six years old and a rising first grader, Elise wrote out her review. To help her elaborate on her stickies, I said I wanted to “interview” her about each page. With much eagerness and solemnity, she pulled up a chair next to mine. As we slowly examined each page I asked her what she thought and she provided detailed feedback. She loved what the kids were wearing (it’s a Stegosaurus hood on Jayden), Jayden was so funny, her favorite image was the cover because Camille looks so happy. Elise identified with Camille, and she thought her peers would, too. They would understand how Camille feels and they’d feel the same way in that situation. Like, it’s a good book because it’s kind of like you’d be if you were Camille… I think the kids in my kindergarten class would’ve liked the book because it’s like them.  Ready to Read Soon after Elise started first grade, I had a surprise for her. It was the “F&G”, the folded and gathered advance pages of the book, before it was bound. It was a glossy splash of fall color, all ready to read, with real pages to turn. She was the person I most wanted to share it with. I jumped right in and started reading. After several pages, she put her hand over mine. She had a surprise for me, too. STOP, MIMI! she said. Let me read. I’ll read this page. Since I couldn’t see very well through my tears, I let her take over. The book had come far in those last three years. And so had Elise. Lessons Learned From a Young Beta-Reader Quite apart from the joy our journey together afforded me, getting reactions from a real child helped my writing process:
Each child and each book process is unique. For myself in this case, I came away with some thoughts about how to incorporate a young child into the making of a picture book:
You will never sell a book by claiming that your grandchild loves it, but working with a young reader in your family to critically evaluate your manuscript can make it stronger and help it find publishing success. I hope the collaboration I enjoyed with my granddaughter, as I worked on Leaves to my Knees, makes you think about using your own young beta-reader to improve your work. Leaves to My Knees, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell, and published by Star Bright Books in October 2022, is Ellen Mayer’s ninth book for children and her third math-infused one. Before focusing on writing for children, Ellen was an education researcher at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, studying family engagement in young children’s learning, and an early literacy specialist home visitor with the Cambridge Public Schools in Massachusetts. To learn more about Ellen and her various books for children, visit her website at www.ellenmayerbooks.com. To learn more about illustrator Nicole Tadgell visit her website at http://nicoletadgell.art/.  Kristen and Heather at the launch of AN ASSORTMENT OF ANIMALS. ~ Guest post by Heather Kelly and Kristen Wixted Hold onto your hats, folks, this will be a long post. But our goal is to give you a blueprint for following your dreams of holding your book in your hands! It’s Heather Kelly and Kristen Wixted here, publishers and editors at Writers’ Loft Press and Pocket Moon Press. Not only do we indie-publish our own stuff, but we publish anthologies and mentor other writers to publish their own work. Check out our previously published anthologies: Firsts, An Assortment of Animals, Friends & Anemones, and Heather’s workbook to help you get the writing done, Jumpstart Your Writing in 30 Days. Today we’re going to take you on a journey to publication using Tom Franklin’s brand new steampunk Middle-Grade adventure story, The Pterrible Pteranodon, as a guide. THE MECHANICS: Tom started with a very clean draft that had been critiqued and edited. Pro Tip: Throw your manuscript into Pro-Writing Aid for a final polish! We recommend hiring freelance editors and copy editors at places like ALLi—the Alliance of Indie Publishers, Reedsy, or other indie-friendly forums. Next, Tom hired Robert Thibeault to create a genre-specific cover. Tom did his research by checking out his genre bucket at Amazon. Make sure to check out your genre-bucket best-sellers at Amazon before you choose a type of cover. For example, here are the best sellers of middle-grade steampunk at Amazon:  Robert Thibeault designed an amazing and genre-specific cover:  Hopefully, you can see how it would not only fit alongside the books in its genre but also stand out. It looks great as a thumbnail. Very important in this digital age! Pro Tip: Choose a type of cover that sells well in the genre. What you love as a book cover might not be what your reader loves. Sometimes as authors, we have to put our personal preferences aside! Here’s a closer look at Tom’s cover, so you can see the details:  You can see here how an artist and book designer make a cover—it wraps around. Isn’t that cool? REACHING YOUR READERS: While Tom was waiting for his cover art masterpiece, he put up a freebie so people would sign up for his mailing list. Having an email list—direct contact with fans—is the most important piece of the publishing puzzle. Without this, every time you publish a new book, you start from scratch looking for fans. Tom gave away the first few chapters of his book and audio files of his book to entice people onto his list. Check it out here. Go ahead and sign up—Tom is going to KICKSTART this book, and you get to walk through the steps with him! (See the countdown page here!) Don’t just hide your freebie and the sign-up to your list on your personal website—plug it into one of the sharing sites that go directly to fans. Right now, two of the biggest sites are BookFunnel and StoryOrigin. Using sites like these, Tom doubled the number of fans he had on his list! Pro Tip: Story Origin is still in beta, so it’s currently FREE to use! Nothing beats free! Once you have fans, interact with them on a weekly or regular basis. Use email companies like MailChimp or mailerlite to do this professionally. Pro Tip: Make sure to consider who your fans are and give them what they are looking for! Remember that the people who sign up for your list are readers of your genre (or parents of the readers) and not just other writers or your friends. Formatting/Book Design: Use a program like Vellum (only for Macs) to format the inside of your book, or use the free program at Reedsy. Reedsy is a great one-stop-shop for finding indie-publishing support in general. PRODUCTION: While growing his email list, Tom finished all the production pieces. Here’s a list you can use:
Upload all the pieces (formatted correctly) along with the final cover artwork to Ingram Spark. Pro Tip: if you pay to be a member at ALLi you get a code for free uploads and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP has free uploads. Upload your ebook to KDP and choose to either have your book in Kindle Unlimited or use a distributor to go wide (like Draft2Digital) Pro Tip: Sites like Ingram Spark and KDP are often wonky, so make sure to save all your keywords and descriptions and bios elsewhere and paste them in. We have had some tense moments in the past! Pro Tip: You can purchase keywords that work in your genre at K-lytics, KPD Spy, or Publisher Rocket, to attract the right online buyers. Oftentimes as authors, it’s hard for us to think about what search words readers use! These keywords help people find your book when they search for it. If this seems like it’s a costly process, it can be. We generally budget $1,000 for a novel. (For an original cover like Tom’s from an artist, it’s much more!) But you can publish on a shoestring budget, by buying your cover premade (there are so many sites to use--just search for ‘premade book cover’) or by bartering. If you know someone who is a cover designer, and you are a great editor, trade those skills! Pro Tip: It’s okay to publish with the budget you have and then upgrade things as you go! FIND YOUR "WHY?" One of the most important questions to ask, before you start this process, is, “Why?” Why are you indie-publishing? If you want to see your book in your local bookstores:
If you want to make the most money you can:
Whatever you do, don’t go it alone. Some of the best resources for authors starting out on the Indie-pub path are Joanna Penn’s podcasts, the Facebook Group 20 Books to 50K, and joining an indie pubbing group. We have a virtual one at the Writers’ Loft if you’d like to join (email [email protected] to get on the email list). It’s run by Dave Pasquantonio who is also a freelance editor and knows a ton about book promotion. We promise, once you get going, things get easier, because you keep running into the same people, the same sites, and most of the people you run into are very supportive! So that’s another part of the job—be supportive of your fellow writers. Pro Tip: Don’t shortchange your readers—oftentimes the beautiful things that we love about books are simple enough for indie-publishers to achieve. See the gears that Tom added to each page number, the way his cover artist put the Pocket Moon Press logo into a gear, and how Tom invites his reader to read on into the next adventure!  Phew, we covered a lot, right? Thanks to 24 Carrot Writing!
Feel free to leave us questions in the comments! Just out of curiosity, did we make you open up a billion tabs? We might just give a prize for the person who fesses up to opening a ton of tabs! Heather generally has at least 25,000 tabs open on her screen on any given day. (Let us know in the comments and we’ll pick someone at random.) Did you sign up for Tom’s email list so you can follow his further adventures in Kickstarting? We can’t wait for that process. (That’s another blog post)!  By Annie Cronin Romano If you’ve ever taken a workshop on novel revision, there’s a good chance you’ve heard your fellow writers mention doing frequency checks on words that are often overused. These “weed words” are words or phrases that pop up over and over in your manuscript without adding texture to your narrative. Using the “find” feature, you type in the word you want to check and then edit accordingly. But did you know the exercise of a frequency check can and should go beyond merely deleting or changing an overused word? It can help you catch stereotyped phrasing and increase your awareness of varying descriptions and vocabulary. Recently, I was completing frequency word checks while editing my middle grade novel. When I first started the revisions, I kept a running log of words I noticed I was using frequently. Rather than interrupt my flow when writing, I'd simply jot down the word in my log to check later. However, it was while doing the common words frequency check that I discovered my own personal “weed words.” For instance, I never realized how frequently I used the words “hand” "reached," and “turned” in this particular manuscript until I started the frequency check. They kept showing up! I was astounded at how often I used certain words I didn’t think of as overly-common. In finding those words, I also picked up on similarities in many of my descriptions. (Didn't she "roll her eyes" three paragraphs ago?) As I edited, my weed word list grew from about 40 words on my running list to over 100 words (i.e., adding "roll" and "eyes"), and the task at hand became much more than a find-and-replace drill. I delved deeper into my writing, examining my voice and style as I edited. Questions I began asking included, “How can I convey that feeling differently?” "Is this truly how the character would say this?" “What else can my character do to show that reaction?” and “Is this line essential/moving the story forward?” What started as a basic editing drill led me to reexamine my overall writing technique and how it impacted my story as a whole. The result was a significantly stronger manuscript. I have included a frequency words list below, which includes words I discovered I use too often (my own personal "weed words") as well as some of the usual suspects ("very," "really," "seems," etc.). Your list may look quite different, but this will give you a place to start. Sometimes your weed words may be project-specific (i.e., if you're working on a book that takes place in the desert, check for words like "sand," "dry," and "arid"). You don't have to eliminate every instance of these words; use the list as a tool to ensure you vary your vocabulary and minimize common phrasing and descriptions.  The next time you’re editing your work, consider going beyond the find-and-replace approach to thinning out your weed words, and dig down further to bring out the best in every line. Weeding, when paired with conscientious revision, will make every word sing!
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