Could Your Children’s Book Reach A New Market?

Children’s books are, potentially, big business. Who didn’t grow up reading classics like AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories, Roald Dahl’s epics such as the Big Friendly Giant or Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows? As JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series showed, some authors become best-sellers whose children’s books are widely read in the adult world too.

Of course, reaching the levels of JK Rowling is something only a select few can ever do. But then again, when she started out she might have wondered if she could ever be as popular as Dahl or Milne.

For those who do have a big idea for a story, sending a synopsis off to various publishing houses hoping one will run with it is not the only option. Self-publishing is another and with our children’s book printing and binding services, you may be able to give yourself a great start.

A good way to produce a book that stands out is to do something different. Comedian Lenny Henry has sought to do that this month, which his new children’s book, the Boy With Wings.

Launched to coincide with Black History Month, the story features a black superhero, something he said he could never have imagined when he was a 12-year-old growing up in Dudley.

As ITV reported, the author gave kids at St Barnabas primary school in London a sneak preview as he explained his motivation for writing the story.

“I wrote this book because when I was your age, there were no books that had people like me in them – so nobody that was black, or came from Jamaica, or anything like that,” he explained.

“And he also learns how to make friends, and how to stand up for himself at school, and these things are important to know and to learn about,” Mr Henry added, explaining that a book like this would have helped him deal better with racism and bullying at school.

Finding a gap in the market or writing a book that features a genuinely new kind of character is the kind of thing that might help a story become very popular, although of course it won’t harm Lenny Henry’s cause that he is famous to begin with. It may be those who have loved his comedy sketches sending up everything from Barry White to Michael Jackson will happily buy the book for their kids.

Other well-known people writing children’s books include Emmerdale actress Samantha Giles, who, the Lancashire Telegraph reported this week, has been conducting signings of her new book Rosemary and the Book of the Dead.

The signing is taking place in Clitheroe, near the scene of the Pendle Witches affair.  With Halloween coming up, the timing and location have been carefully chosen to help publicise the book.

While being famous before becoming an author helps, we should remember that many authors only found fame because of their books. But whether you focus on finding a niche in the market or appealing to popular themes like witchcraft and wizardry, the use of self-publishing could give your children’s book the best chance of getting off the ground.

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