Tips on Publishing Books for Children

If you intend to write children’s books that’ll be adopted by schools, you might want to look into getting one or more of the grade-level measurements that educators use. One that seems to have a lot of support is called Lexile. Many children’s books on Amazon come with a “Lexile Measure” next to the “Grade Level.”

amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorc … 59035342X/

Writers who’d like to get a certified Lexile measure for their books can find the details here:

lexile.com/about-lexile/pub … e-process/

The usual price per title for tradebooks under 150 pages is $30, which isn’t bad if you intend to market the book to educators who like that sort of thing. You can find a long list of publishers who use the service here:

lexile.com/about-lexile/how … -doing-it/

If you’d just like to get an idea of what level you’re writing for, try one of the free online sites such as:

readability-score.com

The results will vary. What I wrote above gets grade levels varying from almost the fifth to the early eighth grade.

Good luck with your book!

–Mike Perry, co-author of Lily’s Ride (YA novel set in 1870s North Carolina)