Here you’ll find a comprehensive list of links to my favorite resources. These are the sites or things I use to further my own writing career. Check them out!
To make it to this list, I must personally use the resource often!
Writing (Basic/Mechanics)
- Writing for Children and Teens: A Crash Course (Okay, I’m biased! This one is my own book,
and I wrote it with my fellow writers in mind. And I revisit this when I’m wondering, what the heck am I supposed to be doing?! This books includes everything you see in the Crash Course AND then some. Plus bonus materials! Oooh!)
- The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
(a C LIU favorite)
- RhymeZone (an online dictionary, thesaurus, and rhyming lookup tool all-in-one)
- Childrens Writers Word Book (Children’s Writer’s Word Book)
A must-have if you want to write Early Readers (Easy Readers)
Writing (Advanced/Theory)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- On Writing
- Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies
Research Children’s Books
- Renaissance Learning – For word counts and book levels
- Amazon.com – For the first pages of many novels
- Google Book Search – For a great inside look of many books
Buy Children’s Books (Cheap, cheap, cheap!)
- Amazon.com children’s books
- Barnes and Noble
- Overstock.com (Often cheaper than Amazon, unlimited $2.95 flat rate shipping for books)
- Indiebound.org (Buy from your local independent bookseller!)
Research Children’s Book Publishers
- CBC
- CWIM (Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market) – Also contains info on agents and contests
- SCBWI publications
- Reputable publisher websites
- Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf Newsletter (PW – fabulous and free newsletter!)
- Publisher’s Lunch (PL – Not always children’s stuff but still great coverage of recent children’s book deal information)
- Jacketflap.com (A searchable database of children’s books and more)
Research Children’s Book Editors
- Read my post, The Monster List of Children’s Book Editor Interviews, Blogs, and More
- SCBWI publications
- Google Book Search – Search the editor’s name
- Robin Friedman (A great collection of detailed editor interviews)
- Scholastic Editor articles – Editors discuss books they’ve edited
Research Children’s Literary Agents
- CWIM (Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market)
- SCBWI publications
- AgentQuery (online)
- Preditors and Editors
- Mediabistro (online) for a few agent and editor interviews
Meet Other Children’s Writers
- Blue Board (Verla’s)
- Children’s Writers group on Yahoo (CW List)
- TeenLitAuthors group on Yahoo
- Livejournal
- SCBWI national and chapter events, associated distribution lists and message boards
Keep Up With Children’s Book Market News
- Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf Newsletter (PW – fabulous and free newsletter!)
- Publisher’s Lunch (PL – Not always children’s stuff but still great coverage of recent children’s book deal information)
- Author Anastasia Suen’s blog on her website, Asuen.com
- Author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog Cynsations