The age
What this reader can hold: a picture book is not a middle-grade novel in fewer words.
Home/Editing/Children's Book Editing
Children’s book editing is not adult editing with shorter words. The age has to be true, the page turn has to do work, and the book has to survive being read aloud by a tired person at night.
What this reader can hold: a picture book is not a middle-grade novel in fewer words.
What the next page reveals, and why the child wants it.
Rhythm, a stumble, a line no one can say on one breath.
The reader in the room, respected without being winked at over the child’s head.
The brief
Picture books fail when every page explains and no page turns. Chapter books fail when the joke is a reference the reader does not have. Middle grade fails when the child is a smaller adult with a problem an adult would have. We edit against the age you named, and we will tell you if the manuscript is secretly a different age.
Read-aloud is a test, not a courtesy. We mark the line that tangles, the name that repeats because the writer was afraid to use “she,” and the ending that lectures. A children’s book can be about something hard. It still has to be a book a child can want.
How the edit runs
Who this is for, in years, and what that reader can follow.
For a picture book, what each spread does. For a novel, what each chapter changes.
We read it as it will be heard. The stumble gets marked.
Whether both land for the child, not only for the buyer.
Word count, repetition, and a moral that should have been a scene.
Before you send the manuscript
Young adult is closer to adult fiction in pace and in what the book is allowed to do. If that is the manuscript, we edit it as fiction and say so. This page is for picture books through middle grade.
We will cut what the age and the form do not need. Hitting an arbitrary count by deleting the best line is not an edit. If a house has a limit, tell us and we will respect it without hollowing the book.
Yes, and we will mark a rhyme that forces a wrong word. A perfect rhyme with a dead line is still a dead line. Meter that cannot be read aloud fails, even if it scans on paper.
You do. The text and the notes stay yours.
When you are ready
If you are unsure of the age, send it anyway. That uncertainty is often the first note. Call (833) 688-4166 or write [email protected].
The shelf
Our team has helped write, publish and market thousands of books over the past decade. Our books are well-written and finished to perfection. Have a look at some of our ghostwriters’ best works and clients’ bestsellers.
Geeks Ghostwriting’s helped me from idea refinement to publishing. I wanted a script on thriller-romance that had multiple twists and turns. I am directing a movie on the story now and our crew has fallen in love with the story!
Having a drama ghostwritten led me to gain the recognition I was seeking. I had an incomplete manuscript and Geeks Ghostwriting helped me complete it. I marketed it and it sold better than I had expected.
I thought that an illustrative self-help book was not possible! As an established designer, I have always wanted struggling designers and students to learn from my mistakes and achievements. The journey that I thought would be arduous turned out to be enjoyable and simple enough. Thank you, Geeks Ghostwriting!
Chat with an Expert