Module: CW7043-30 Writing for Young People: Contemporary Children’s Publishing

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Claire Skuse

Module Tutor Contact Details: c.skuse3@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

The world of children’s publishing today is broad and diverse. Many different sorts of books, from picture books to teen horror, from literary fiction to film and TV tie-ins, can be found on the shelves of book shops and supermarkets. This module explores how they get there, from the creative impulse of the author to the marketing strategy of the publisher. It also outlines marketing opportunities open to published children’s authors themselves, such as promoting books at festivals, and examines the role of a contemporary children’s writer working in schools and libraries, and online.

2.Outline syllabus

This module is run as a practical guide for you as an aspiring children’s writer who wants to give your book the best chance of being published, promoted and sold. It will help you decide which genre or genres of children’s publishing are best suited to your particular talents. It will advise you on all stages of production of a published children’s book, from presenting manuscripts to agents and editors to working with the editorial and marketing team.

You will be encouraged to:

• familiarise yourself with the world of children’s publishing through reading reviews and trade papers and to consider who and what is being published and by whom
• understand the various stages in the publishing of a children's book, and how these differ between genres
• think about all aspects of your work, not only the text you write but the way you promote yourself and your writing
• discover where in the children’s book market your own work might fit, and what are its unique selling points
• focus on two genres of children’s publishing, exploring, in a practical way, diversification in writing for young people

3.Teaching and learning activities

Teaching will take the form of 1 whole-day lectures from a colleague in the Children’s Publishing Industry, plus seven three hour seminar/workshops. In addition to general topics giving a guide to the main features of the publishing world, seminars will cover case studies of specific books examining and contrasting the various stages on their roads to publication and success.

Using what you have learned about the children’s publishing world, you will be asked to develop ideas for books in two different genres of children’s publishing. You will be expected to present these, together with an outline of the target audience and publisher, and ideas for the books’ promotion and publicity, to the tutor in a portfolio. One of these is likely to be for the manuscript submitted at the end of the course.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Coursework
• Description: Portfolio of Work (5,000 words equiv)
• % Weighting: 100%