Children's Writers' Coaching Club » CWCC

Tips I’ve Gained from the CWCC

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:03:29 +0000

When I first joined The Children’s Writers Coaching Club, I didn’t know what to expect and was apprehensive. I had been writing for years, with no publishing success. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I knew how to write, but I didn’t know that there were key differences between writing and writing for children. There are such subtle differences, unless someone points them out to you, you’ll never be published. It’s taken me a year to start putting different techniques together. The CWCC has made a world of difference in my writing career.

I used to jump from one project to another. I had so many stories; I couldn’t get them down fast enough. However, I’ve learned how unproductive this is. I’m finally learning to work on one project at a time. That’s not easy for me. However, I am managing to change my writing ways by using the strategies of the club.

Even though I had meant to try it for a long time, making a calendar seemed silly. I had read in several articles that this was a useful way to manage one’s writing time. However, I never knew how to go about it. Because of Suzanne’s monthly teleclass (which includes a lesson and assingment) and her explanations on how to use these methods to better my writing, I have begun to master the calendar. I am now listing one children’s writing project for each week, I can make strides in my writing. Taking a week, gives me time for writing a first draft, editing it, writing my second draft, and then sending it into Suzanne for her critique.

If you can, call into the teleclasses, there’s nothing like being on the phone with the other writers. I can’t always make the teleclasses because of work. However, Suzanne sends a link for the replay. Even if you don’t participate, being there and listening to other humans is helpful.

Suzanne and the other CWCC instructors had encouraged me to write for non paying and low paying markets. I did as they suggested and received acceptances. These writing projects didn’t pay me cash, but they are publishing credits on my resume. By writing for these markets, I have also gotten over my fear of sending my writing off to publishers. I also don’t wait for the mail carrier to come back with my illusive check. Once I send an assignment off, I get working on another. I won’t say that I don’t check my email constantly for acceptances, but the difference is that now I keep writing.

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Visit Marge Gower online at www.margegower.com and find out more about her recent publishing credits in our Member Spotlight.

5 Great Reasons to Join the CWCC Today

admin — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:20:25 +0000

by Terri Forehand

Writing for children is fun and rewarding. It is also hard work. The road to publication can be downright frustrating. Many authors find a writing coach or writing club to help them on the journey. Here are 5 great reasons to choose the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club Club for your journey into writing for children.

Terri Forehand

1. Improve writing skills so you get published. The CWCC offers weekly teleclasses given by Suzanne Lieurance and her team of talented and published authors. These classes focus on the variety of skills it takes to succeed as a children’s writer and to continue to hone your writing skills. Examples of what you may learn include:
Finding a niche
Writing exciting action
Revising and cutting unnecessary words
Show, don’t tell
Character development
Creating realistic dialog

2. Grow as an author. The CWCC offers critiques for your work giving club members concrete ideas on how to grow as a children’s author. Each month there are additional writing assignments that focus on a topic to help the member improve, pushing their talent beyond what they might accomplish on their own. The critique of your work teaches not only how to accept criticism but how to improve. The feedback is constructive and members soon begin to write tighter. It shows in the number of acceptances our members boast after only a few months in the club.

3. Set goals and a plan for success. The club requirements include setting realistic writing goals and actions to reach those goals. The encouragement offered by club members will go a long way to help each writer set challenging goals and design a set of actions to reach those goals.

4. Exposure for your work. As a club member you have many opportunities to present your writing to the group. Your work can be presented on a personal blog, as a guest post on another member’s blog, as an e-book for others, through affiliate programs on the sites of other authors, through contacts available from other club members, agents and publishers who frequent the club sites, or through other instructors who present for the club. Club members have access to contests, agents, publishing sites, and other potential contacts that would not otherwise be available for their work.

5. Networking and Marketing. Club members develop a marketing plan through club assignments and learn the skills for promoting their work. Club members write weekly marketing plans for promoting and begin early on to network on social media sites in preparation for their first (or next) published children’s book. Members can participate in virtual book tours for other published children’s authors and develop techniques to build a writing platform for their own work. Lifelong relationships are built between club members, many who are published or have valuable connections to the publishing world.

As you can see, there are numerous benefits when you join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club. As a four year member with my first prayer book coming out in February, I can promise you a fun and successful learning experience if you choose to join.

Want to Be a Children’s Writer?

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:30:40 +0000

by Karen Cioffi

Writing for children is difficult. There are a number of rules, techniques, and tricks involved to make your book publishable and saleable. In fact, there are more rules for writing for children than there are for writing in general.

Karen Cioffi

Some of the rules that are unique to writing for children include: the Core of Three, sentence structure, and the timeframe in which the story should occur when writing for young children. In addition, it’s essential to make sure your conflicts, storyline, and point of view are appropriate for the age group you’re writing for.

And then there are the general techniques for writing, such as adding sensory details and creating an engaging story that hooks the reader right away, along with great dialogue and correct punctuation.

In other words, you need to learn the craft of writing for children.

This is just the beginning though, there is also the aspect of editing your work, writing a winning query, and following submission guidelines, the list goes on and on.

But, what’s even more difficult than writing for children is breaking into ‘the business of writing for children.’

Imagine being stuck in the middle of the ocean without any navigational instruments. You may eventually end up on a shore somewhere, but will it be the destination you set out to reach?

Well, your destination as a children’s writer is to write quality articles and/or books for children AND have them published in paying markets. If you’re writing children’s books, having your book published is just the beginning of the journey, you also have to devise a strategy to market and sell your books. Sorry, but publishers nowadays expect you to roll-up-your-sleeves and sell books.

If you thought writing was difficult, wait until you have to create a marketing plan, create a website, target your market, post content on a regular basis to create an informational funnel, initiate and keep up with social networking, and promote, promote, promote.

Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction books, it doesn’t matter, going through this journey on your own can be a daunting task. But don’t fret, there is help available.

The Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club, directed by Suzanne Lieurance, is a valuable tool to help you, the children’s writer, reach your planned destination.

I’ve invested in a number of courses and programs in writing and marketing over the years, and know value when I see it; the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club has tremendous value and delivers what it promises, both in fiction and non-fiction children’s writing.

It delves into and offers:

Expert instruction on writing children’s books as well as children’s articles for magazines
Monthly assignments focusing on getting your work published
Weekly expert critiques of members’ manuscripts or articles
Weekly teleclasses geared toward varied aspects of writing for children

This along with Suzanne’s knack for instructing, motivating, and encouraging her members helps each member to learn and hone his or her craft.

I’ve been a member of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club for almost three years and for less than 90 cents a day, $27 per month, it has been and is worth every penny. I can honestly say, Suzanne has helped me hone my craft, get published, and guided me toward effective marketing strategies.

In the accounting field, there is a term ‘opportunity cost.’ It refers to the cost of choosing one opportunity over another; in this case, one course or product over another. With the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club you can be assured that if you choose to join the club, your opportunity cost will be zero.

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Karen Cioffi is an author, ghostwriter, and freelance writer. For writing and marketing information visit KarenCioffi.com, and sign up for her free newsletter: A Writer’s World. You’ll get 2 free e-books about writing and marketing in the process, and two more free e-books just for stopping by.

You Can Become a Published Children’s Book Author!

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:27:03 +0000

Overwhelmed with all the information out there for writing for children?

Not sure how to weed out the essentials?

Look no further!

Join theChildren’s Writers’ Coaching Club (CWCC) today and learn how to set your weekly marketing plan in place (you may refer to this as your “To Do List”). Coupled with weekly tele-classes and monthly assignments you will soon see your writing career moving in a positive direction.

The guidance and support at the CWCC has been instrumental in the success of my writing career. My first story book, due to be released Spring/Summer 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing, is a direct result of an assignment through the CWCC. And my most recent news, by attending one of the tele-classes I received direct information about a work-for-hire opportunity, I took the plunge, submitted my information, and was hired within 14-days!

Writing can be a lonely business, but with the expert coaching from Suzanne Lieurance and camaraderie of the CWCC members you will no longer feel adrift in a sea of jumbled words.”

Donna M. McDine
Member, Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club
Children’s Author

What I Like about the CWCC

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:22:42 +0000

I had been writing for many years and had several published books under my belt when I decided to join the Children’s Writers Coaching Club… and boy, am I glad I did!

It is is one of the best career decisions I’ve ever made.

The weekly teleclasses, critiques and moral support have kept me more focused and productive than ever before. I used to struggle juggling many projects at the same time and, naturally, I tended to panic and freeze and become overwhelmed, but shortly after joining the club I learned how to work with weekly plans and now I can’t live without them. I’m able to work on several projects without getting overly stressed and most importantly, I’m producing a lot of written work and submitting to publishers on a steady basis.

I’ve learned that the most important part of completing a long project (such as a novel) is to make progress each day, no matter how little, to stick to it until the end. Of course I knew this in theory before, but Suzanne’s constant encouragement and time management techniques have made all the difference.

–Mayra Calvani, www.mayrassecretbookcase.com

Learn the Tricks of the Trade for Children’s Writing!

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:24:48 +0000

Dorit Sasson

As a beginning children’s writer, I needed to know the tricks of the trade of writing for children and write in a way that would make my manuscript more marketable. After participating in Suzanne Lieurance’s summer writing bootcamp in 2008, I figured the next best step was joining the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club since I l’ve always wanted to write for children. The weekly professional manuscript critiques and teleclasses provided tools of successful writing I needed to armor myself in the children’s publishing marketplace.

As a direct result of Suzanne’s guided coaching and expertise, I was able to submit my FIRST picture book manuscript and magazine stories, and non-fiction articles. Several of these articles and short stories have been accepted by Guardian Angel for Kids Online Ezine and Stories for Children. I’ve also submitted a professional resource book for teachers to Scholastic, which I coauthored during the Build Your Business Write Author Program in the summer of 2009. I have a few other children’s manuscripts that I am preparing right now for submission. Without Suzanne’s wonderful coaching skills, I don’t think I would have the confidence and knowledge to continue submitting on a regular basis.

I have a blogsite, The New Teacher Resource Center for teachers that includes articles on how to write for children as well as many teaching tips for general education and ESL classroom teachers which I started when I was in Suzanne Lieurance’s Build Your Business Write program. Now, the New Teacher Resource Center is a global platform providing online support to teachers worldwide. Every week, I receive countless emails from editors and teachers who have shared my resources and weekly ezine (http://www.newteachersignup.com) with their colleagues. I have also been interviewed by other teachers and organizations and have recently presented at several teaching conferences – all due to launching this blogsite. Applying the knowledge of how to create a weekly marketing plan has also boosted my freelance business. Today, I start training for a position on correlating academic standards to educational books and materials. I continue to submit articles, queries and freelance packets for work for hire assignments weekly. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without learning the secrets of success on how to prepare a weekly marketing plan which beginning children’s writers also need for their success.

The Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club is a great place for all writers to learn the tricks of the trade on how they can submit more marketable manuscripts. Writing is tough work and it’s comforting to know that we can cheer and support each other in our writing endeavors. Being an active member in the children’s writing coaching club has truly made a difference in the way I view my profession as a children’s writer and has opened more doors to writing and publishing than I ever thought imaginable. We provide support and encouragement. Suzanne is a wonderful facilitator. This creates a feeling of team spirit that is unlike any other I’ve seen on the web.