insights into telling and selling your kidlit stories
We are four published authors with a combined total of nearly 100 books for young people, from toddlers to young adults. We came into this industry with little or no experience; no degrees in creative writing, no backgrounds in the kidlit business. We started the way so many do -- writing our personal stories, taking courses, sending out unsolicited manuscripts, and withstanding the blows of rejection all the way to a first contract.
BookFlap taps the wisdom of writers, illustrators, publishers, editors, readers, and educators, by offering interviews, mini master classes, art demonstrations, podcasts, articles, and more. We bring insight, tips, and experience to telling and selling your stories.
Join us as we dive headlong into the world of children's literature.
vicki grant
Vicki was a late bloomer, losing her first baby tooth in grade three. Puberty, marriage, and any sort of career success were similarly delayed. She eventually grew up to be an advertising copywriter, a television scriptwriter and an enthusiastic if irritating mother. Her own parents, if alive, would be amazed to find that she’s more or less on-time, more or less tidy, and actually landed more or less where she should have.
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Teresa Toten
Teresa got her social insurance number when she was eleven years old, the first of her many summers working in tobacco harvests. She’s also been a waitress, speechwriter, collections agent, corporate secretary and mailman as well as an award-winning author of twelve books. Of those, Teresa finds writing the most difficult. Teresa gets her ideas from walking and talking to herself although inspiration often emerges via her embarrassing taste in music or books that make her cry.
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marthe jocelyn
Marthe’s first effort in fiction writing was lies told in letters she sent to the pen pals who used to be listed in the back of Archie comic books. Inventing stories was one way to make life more interesting, along with working at what she called research: being a theatre usher, a brownie baker, a waitress, a puppeteer, a sailor (across the Bermuda Triangle), and a toy designer. Finally, she found an occupation that can be performed wearing pajamas and lying in a hammock.
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kathy kacer
It all began when Kathy's grade five teacher said, "Why don't you write that story down." Forty years and dozens of books later, that's exactly what Kathy is still trying to do - write the story. Along the way, she's dabbled in psychology, consultation, camp counseling, and painting floor mats. She even once walked in the Santa Claus parade, dressed as a poinsettia. She dreams of singing and dancing but has decided to leave that to her talented kids.
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