KNOWONDER!

The focus and mission of knowonder! magazine is to help parents promote, encourage and teach creativity, imagination, and literacy to their children. The audience is parents, and their children between the ages of 3 and 10. Payment ranges from $25 to $50 per story.

Submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.knowonder.com/submit

BUMPLES

Founded in 2009, Bumples is an exciting NEW INTERACTIVE online magazine for children four-ten years of age. Bumples specializes in illustrated fiction about children and animals in mysteries, sports, poems and fantasies with serialized adventures in each issue. Stories are uniquely supplemented with puzzles, question games, and activities, all of which makes Bumples story telling all the more engaging. Interesting information on a topic is always fun to explore after enjoying a great reading experience. Consequently, Bumples adds factual postscripts to complement each story.
Submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.bumples.com/WritersGuidelines.aspx

Step One

I would like to have a fancy, big name publishing house produce my picture books in large glossy texts with award winning illustrations. I want children to check my books out at the library. I want to see my books in a bookstore, like on a shelf, where complete strangers can see and buy them. That is my goal.

But before I reach that goal I need experience. And what better place to start than in smaller, non-traditional markets? With that in mind, I recently focused my submissions on e-zines, websites, and niche magazines for kids. And you know what? It's starting to work. I have two pieces that will be published in the next few months!! And I've had two other works posted on a couple of websites. You know what that's called? Publishing credits baby. Plus I've learned about some fantastic innovative publishers.

So starting today, I'm going to create posts, hopefully once a week, that center on these sorts of non-traditional publishers. Enjoy!

James Patterson Makes A Good Point

A great point, actually - about the importance of children's books.

In a recent interview with CNN, author James Patterson said the following about getting kids to read: "It's a huge thing with me. Getting the books out, going to schools, talking to kids about how important it is for them to read so that they really become better human beings. I think at this stage in our civilization, I think books are probably the best place to get varying points of view on things, understand how other people think and live their lives and have more understanding and compassion for people. Obviously, if a kid can't read well by the time they get out of middle school, most likely they're going to have problems. It's just so much harder to go through school and get a decent job. The implications are huge. There are a lot of things we as individuals can't do much about. We can't solve global warming as individuals or health care problems, but as individuals, most of us can get our kids reading. We can do that."

You can view the full interview here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/23/living/james-patterson-author-interview/index.html?hpt=hp_bn12

What A Clever Idea

A Story Before Bed (http://www.astorybeforebed.com) - Have ya'll seen this? According to their website, this company is "the first & only service that lets you record a children's book online with audio and video. Kids can play back the recording as often as they like on iPad, iPhone, Mac, or PC... A Story Before Bed is perfect for remote grandparents, split families, parents away on business or in the military, or even just mom and dad heading out for an evening." They also sell pre-recorded books.

I found the site by playing around on Jennifer Swanon's wonderful website - which is also worth checking out, especially if you are interested in non fiction children's books (http://www.jenniferswansonbooks.com).

March / April 2012 SCBWI Bulletin

The March / April 2012 SCBWI Bulletin is now available! SCBWI members can login with the link below and view the magazine online. http://www.scbwi.org/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fPages.aspx%2fCurrent-Issue