How to Write a Chapter Book
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
If you want to know how to write a chapter book for newly independent readers, or are curious about the chapter book age group, chapter book word count, chapter book page count, how to write a chapter book query letter, or how to find chapter book literary agents and publishers, you’ve come to the right place.
HOW TO WRITE a CHAPTER BOOK
Chapter books are a fun but challenging area of the children’s book market. How to write a chapter book is a very specific skill. The age group targeted by chapter books is pretty narrow, and a lot of publishing houses aren’t looking to acquire these stories by debut writers, for reasons detailed below.
However, if you’re wondering how to write a chapter book, make sure you’re thinking of entering this space for a good reason. Chapter book is not a catch-all category for your picture book that’s too long or your novel that’s too short. It’s a specific area of children’s book publishing, all on its own.
For the nitty gritty of how to write a chapter book, remember that these stories are told in short chapters, targeted for independent readers who are gaining their confidence incrementally. Chapter books are mini-novels and are expected to have dynamic main characters, plots with several key story points, and even some fun secondary characters. Family life, school, friendship, and relatable everyday struggles of the grade school kid are all popular topics.
Attention must be paid to reading levels, vocabulary, syntax, and mechanics, since chapter books target newly independent readers. Writers are somewhat curtailed in terms of the vocabulary they can use, and the complexity of their sentences and stories, but this category isn’t nearly as restrictive as the one below it, that of early readers.
Chapter books can be tough to write, because how to write a chapter book almost always involves a series idea. You have to make sure you have enough ideas to keep a much longer story arc afloat.
How to Write a Chapter Book: Chapter Book Age Group
Chapter books sit between early readers and middle grade novels on the children’s publishing ladder. Well-informed writers know that children’s book publishing is segmented by category, age, and reading level. Chapter books target readers ages seven to nine, for the most part, though there are precocious younger readers who might be entering the category, or older reluctant readers still working to master this level of reading. The chapter book age group is quite narrow, which should also indicate to aspiring writers that chapter books are a relatively small market.
How to Write a Chapter Book: Chapter Book Word Count
Expected word count guidelines for chapter books vary widely. Some chapter books clock in closer to 4,000 words, which is on the low end. Long examples are 10,000, or even up to 15,000 words. These longer chapter books sometimes get lumped into “young middle grade” territory as well, so there is some wiggle room for how to write a chapter book.
How to Write a Chapter Book: Chapter Book Page Count
The “chapter book vs novel” question gets asked a lot, and it’s a good one. Chapter books look and read like mini novels, since they are divided into chapters and since text is formatted in prose style, rather than in stanzas (as with early readers). The youngest chapter books, however, are very short novels indeed, coming in at 48 to 64 pages. From there, though, chapter book page counts stars to look more novel-esque, going up to 80 or more pages.
Remember, though, that when you get into anything that looks like a novel, page counts start to fluctuate wildly because of font size, layout, design, and page formatting choices that are individual to each book. Word count is a much more accurate measure of manuscript length, and that’s why it’s more commonly used in the industry to talk about manuscripts until a book is published.
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.
Click here to purchase Writing Irresistible Kidlit, my book on fiction craft for MG and YA novels, out from Writer's Digest Books. This will show you my writing craft philosophy and give you lots of valuable advice, including tips for the novel revision process and self-editing. There are over 35 example novels cited and discussed throughout. It’s a valuable resource for any writer’s toolkit.