Children’s book author Gloria Rothstein has the whimsy of a child and the tenacity of a professional, which is why she has experienced success in the world of children’s literature. Gloria has not only written fantastic children’s books and CURIOUS GEORGE animated cartoons, but she’s written books for aspiring children’s book authors. 

Is there anything this writer won‘t do? Slow down, it seems. WordHustler sat down with Gloria and her relentless enthusiasm to learn what makes a successful writer, how to take characters from real life, and the fact that slush pile dreams CAN come true! Just ask Gloria herself. Read on and be inspired!

WordHustler: You’re a writer of children’s books, books about children’s books, and even scripts for Curious George animated cartoons. What draws you to the world of writing for children?

Gloria Rothstein: I love happily ever afters. Probably the reason I’m hooked on picture books, fairy tales, and romantic comedies.  I’m drawn to the humor, silliness, and characters in kids’ books.  How could you not be intrigued by cows typing, a pigeon driving, or a pig accessorizing?  Picture books are written for the youngest readers, but must also appeal to the parents and grandparents reading them aloud.  Targeting such a wide audience is what makes these stories so much fun to write.

WH: How long have you been writing? Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote?

GR: I started in educational publishing, so I’ve been writing professionally for years.  I have published credits with Harper, Scholastic, Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin, Macmillan, Random House, Holt, Children’s Television Workshop, and others. One of my first projects was developing materials to go with a series of award-winning children’s novels. Not only did someone pay me to read piles of kids’ books, but they helped me appreciate the importance of targeting your audience. Through the years, I’ve written books, series, stories, scripts, and programs for readers of all ages. Somewhere along the way, I realized it was easy for me to think like a five-year-old and to tap into that sense of wonder a picture book author needs.

WH: How did you land the job writing for Curious George?  How different was writing television scripts for children vs. writing books for them?

[Read more →]

Gather round, boys and girls, and prepared to be transported to a magical world of…publishing success. That’s right. Ann Whitford Paul is the proud author of 19 children’s books and a brand-new, uber-helpful tome: “Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication.”

WordHustler was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Ann to ask about her writing experiences, being represented, and getting published…many, many times. Stay tuned at the end of the interview for a special trivia question about children’s books- the winner receives a free copy of Ann’s “Writing Picture Books” (and will be that much closer to children’s book success themselves!).

So here we go! Once upon a time…

WordHustler: How did you get into writing? I know you studied Sociology, then decided to pursue children’s book writing after having your own children. How did you actually go about doing it (getting represented, getting published, etc)?

Ann Whitford Paul: Reading books to my children inspired me to try writing books that other grown-ups and children could share.  I thought since the books were short, they would be easy too.  Ha!  Their briefness is exactly what makes them so difficult.  I wrote for five years before I sold my first book (published in 1986 and long out of print).  I did not work with an agent until after I’d sold my second book.  Since then I’ve had several different agents and am now representing myself.

WH: What were some of your favorite books as a child? What were some of your children’s favorite books?

AWP: My favorite books as a child were THE STORY OF FERDINAND and THE SECRET GARDEN, both of which I still enjoy and my children did too.  Their favorite books were CURIOUS GEORGE and they loved Russell Hoban’s FRANCES books, too.

WH: Do you feel like there is a big difference between children’s books today and the books you read to your children?

AWP: There’s a huge difference between the books today and the books my kids loved.  First of all, books are much bigger in size and brighter.  Publishers understand that glitzy covers entice customers in bookstores to pick up a book.  Also I think books are much louder and filled with lots and lots of action.  This is a shame.  Children in this noisy and fast-paced world need slower quieter books more than ever.

WH: Besides yourself, of course, who are some of your favorite children’s book writers out there?

[Read more →]

Remember that saying: “Those who do, do. Those who don’t, teach?” Well, Joyce Sweeney has blown that cliché right out of the water. Not only has Sweeney helped mentor 26 writers to publishing success, she is also a published YA author herself. Her first novel, Center Line, won the First Annual Delacorte Press Prize for an Outstanding Young Adult Novel. She has published thirteen other books, as well as a poetry chapbook.

But Sweeney’s real passion lies in helping would-be writers become successful. As Sweeney herself puts it: “Even more than writing itself, I love helping and mentoring writers.”

WordHustler sat down with Joyce Sweeney to discuss agents, editors, and the teenager inside every YA author. Grab your journal, some junk food, and get ready for the most informative [virtual] sleep-over you’ve ever attended!

WordHustler: How did you get your first big break? What was the first piece of writing you ever published?

Joyce Sweeney: My first novel, Center Line, won the first annual Delacorte Press Prize for a New Young Adult Novel in 1984.  I had an agent and had been submitting the novel for a year…over 30 publishers had rejected it.  Then it won first prize in the contest and I won a contract and got some good publicity for the book.  A good example of why writers have to be persistent and ignore rejections!  The very first piece of writing I ever published was a short story in a magazine called NEW WRITERS.  I was 18 and I got paid $25.  I thought I was on my way!  Then came the decade of hard work to get to 1984!

WH: As an author, why are you drawn to YA novels? Do you pull from your own childhood or from kids that you know today?

JS: All the children’s writers I know seem to have some kind of strong inner voice that reflects a certain age group.  The really great picture book writers have an inner child who’s about five.  The middle graders think like eight to eleven year olds.  All of us YA writers have a strong teenager inside us…we just think that way.  When YA authors get together, it’s totally like teenagers…all we do is complain, make sarcastic remarks and laugh too loud.  For inspiration, I pull from my own adolescence a lot…all my main characters are aspects of me…but I learn a lot from the teens I talk with now.  Often my story ideas come from them or things they are going through, but the emotional core of the book… that has to be me.

WH: Now for the part everyone wants to hear about: how did you land an agent? Was your first book finished at the time? How many agents did you approach before landing one?

JS: I got an agent so long ago it’s irrelevant to today’s world.  I got my first agent in the early 80’s. I wrote a query letter and started sending it out (snail mail of course) in batches of five to all the agents I could find. This part of my story was easy. I got two yeses from the first batch…Dominick Abel and Marcia Amsterdam. I chose Marcia.  She was my agent for the first ten years of my career and it was a great relationship for all those years.  But it took years working with her to sell my first book.

WH: How long did your agent take to get you a book deal with Henry Holt? Or did you just go to Macmillian/Henry Holt directly?

[Read more →]