As a writer of children’s nonfiction, I’ve enjoyed a fairly steady flow of work over the years. The usual pattern is that publishers come up with ideas for new books, then approach me to write them. Occasionally though, when work is thin on the ground, I’ve had to adopt a more proactive approach by going out and selling myself as a writer for hire. I’ve found the best way of doing this is to come bearing gifts in the form of juicy new ideas for books.

1. First approach

It’s important to avoid giving the impression that you’re desperate for work. A common formulation, when writing to a publisher, might be: ‘Dear X, I hope all is well with you. Just to let you know, I’m coming to the end of a big project and should be free to take on new commissions from [insert month after current one].’ You might then go on mention that you’ve got a few ideas, and suggest a meeting to discuss them. 

2. Ideas? What ideas?

If you don’t actually have any ideas at this stage, now would be a good time to come up with some. For inspiration, look in your local bookshop or on Amazon to see what’s trending in children’s nonfiction. Also check the publisher’s catalogue to see what they’re strong on and where they have gaps.

3. Think global

Most children’s publishers will want to be reassured that the book you are offering has potential for foreign rights sales, so think big, broad subjects like the Romans, dinosaurs, robots, climate change, animals and space, and maybe leave that history of your local railway or that planned book of your granny’s recipes at home.

4. Jump on any passing bandwagon

Narrative non-fiction, books of lists, infographics, cutaways, 3-D, augmented reality: children’s publishing is full of fads and gimmicks, and whatever the latest one is, see if you can somehow work it into your proposal.

5. Find a new spin

Most subjects have already been written about, especially the popular ones. It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a publisher say: ‘Wow, what a brilliant new subject: I’ve never thought about doing a book about that before!’ So the trick is to find a new approach that makes a familiar topic feel like a fresh idea. This is probably how we ended up with ‘The 3-D book of Rocks’ and ‘The Pop-Up Book of US Presidents’ ¬ both, believe it or not, real books.

6. Feeling blocked?

If you really can’t think of anything, you can always offer them a book about poo: there appears to be an endless appetite for children’s books on this topic (I myself have penned a couple). Recent additions to the genre include ‘Daddy and the World’s Longest Poo’, ‘Vesuvius Poovius’ and ‘What’s Your Poo Telling You?’.

Final thought: Look after your ideas! 

Whatever idea you end up proposing, make sure you get something in writing from the publisher acknowledging that it was your idea and that they will offer it to you if they decide to publish it. I say this because publishers, believe it or not, have been known to steal ideas. It happened to someone I know, and I don’t want it to happen to you.

BIO: Alex Woolf (@brotzel_fiction) is co-author of a new comic novel, Kitten on a Fatberg (Unbound). As a reader of this newsletter, you can pre-order Kitten on a Fatberg for a 10% discount – simply quote promo code KITTEN10