Thursday, April 4, 2013

Call for Children's Chapter Books from Knowonder!

The other day I received an e-mail from an editor at Knowonder with a call for submission and guidelines for chapter books.

Here are highlights of what the editors are looking for in submissions:

* Imaginative, exciting, action-filled chapter book manuscripts for kids ages 7-9. Intended to be either read by kids themselves, or with an adult's help. The story should keep a young child's attention and move quickly.

* Beginning level chapter books generally contain up to 10 short chapters. Examples include The Magic Treehouse series, Junie B. Jones, and Ivy and Bean.

* Stories should be approximately 10,000-15,000 words in length

* Stories should fall within a first to third grade reading level. (Please provide the readability statistics from Microsoft Word or another similar program.)

* Stories must be fiction but can be any genre—fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, adventure, historical fiction, etc.

* Please submit a query letter and the first chapter of your work.

* Manuscripts should be double-spaced in a standard 12 point font such as Times New Roman.

* Allow up to three months for  response.

* Editors will contact author if they want to see the entire manuscript.

* Upon acceptance, author will receive a contract that explains in detail the terms of knowonder's royalty sharing program, which is competitive with industry standards.

* Chapter books will be published in both digital and print formats.

* If you're interested in submitting a chapter book to knowonder!, please follow these instructions.

* Go to this link to submit all chapter books: knowonder.submittable.com/submit
* Click on the "+show guidelines" link to see the detailed submission guidelines, or, click on the "submit" button to submit your book.

* Note that author will need to create an account with Submittable to submit a story. If editors decide they would like to use your story they will contact author and provide thier legal agreement for chapter books.

* Please disregard the legal agreement on their website, which applies only to their short story collections.

If you have any questions about the submission  process, contact Kathy (kathy@knowonder.com) or Phillip (phillip@knowonder.com).

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I've never written a chapter book, but one day I hope to give it a try.

 For any of my visitors with writing skills in this area, this call out might be an interesting opportunity.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks Donna. I submitted a short story to them (768 words) in February and received a reply in March saying it didn't match what they were currently looking for, but they hoped to see more of my work in the future. I guess a standard rejection email. I'll check into this, I don't know if I have any that length or not, though.

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  2. That's not exactly my bookbag. But I remember my kids being quite proud to be checking out CHAPTER BOOKS from the school library. I loved Junie B. Jones. Or as my youngest called her, "Junaby Jones."

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  3. Great information as usual, Donna! Thanks!

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  4. Hi Janet,
    It's worth a shot.

    Hi Val,
    Love "Junaby Jones."

    Hi Tammy,
    You are welcome. Hope all is well with you.

    Donna

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  5. This is an area I've never tried, funny how 'chapter books' seem a bit daunting. I have read many that I love. Kudos to those who author these stories so well.

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  6. Wish I were a chapter writer!

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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  7. You're a wealth of info! Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Hi Sally,
    Reading chapter books are fun to do with kids and grandkids. When my grandson was younger we read together some of the Magic Tree House series. Recently I gave some to my twin grand-nephews and they are enjoying them.

    Hi Pat,
    It's something to think about. I think a series about your critters would be great.

    Hi Lynn,
    You are welcome. It was great to chat yesterday. Hope all goes well with school. I admire you for tackling such a daunting subject.

    donna

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  9. Looks interesting, Donna. Thanks for sharing! I am kind of surprised they show Create Space as the publisher on Amazon instead of Knowonder. But it's really a cute idea and a cute name for a series, I think.

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  10. Donna-- Do you know if they include the author's names on the books are just their publishing name at the top--KNOWONDER?
    Thanks,
    Michelle

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    Replies
    1. Hi Michelle,
      I'm not sure, but if you contact one of the editors mentioned above they should be able to answer your question.

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