How to Write a Chapter Book — Mary Kole Editorial

How to Write a Chapter Book: Chapter Book Publishing

The chapter book publishing market is really quite small, for several reasons. First, a lot of chapter book publishers develop their content in-house or using writers-for-hire. For example, a chapter book publisher will have a license to a popular property, and they’ll turn that into a series of characters from, say, various Disney films. These manuscripts are not considered wholly original content (even if the writing is done by a writer and is original to the project), and so nothing is purchased from outside creators.

That being said, there is some opportunity to court chapter book publishers, especially if you are published by an existing house in another children’s book category. Chapter book debuts from unpublished writers tend to be rare. There are some chapter book literary agents who’ll consider a chapter book query letter out there, but they are few and far between.

When done right, chapter books are a fun and endearing way of telling stories for newly independent readers. If you’ve been wondering how to write a chapter book, your best path forward is to read a bunch of series examples that are currently selling. The good news is, chapter books tend to be a fun and engaging read.