SCBWI's Blueboard - A Message & Chat Board
Writer's Room => Chapter Books, Easy Readers, and Middle Grade (MG) => Topic started by: melissa-ross on February 22, 2021, 10:33 AM
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I am trying to learn how to write High/Low books in order to obtain freelance writing assignments. If you have any experience writing these kinds of books, can you please share tips and info that might be helpful. Thank you!
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Here's a link with some tips and publishers that accept hi/lo work: https://www.writing-world.com/children/foster03.shtml#:~:text=Writers%20don't%20have%20the%20luxury%20of%20long,%20description-laden,used%20vocabulary%20words%20increase%20reading%20difficulty%20level%204,5.
You might want to check out a few books from your library to get a feel for the interest and reading level.
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Hi/Lo is all about maintaining interest of someone older while keeping the reading level in mind and making sure you aren't talking down to the reader. So one tip is to look at your readership and know what will interest them. Another is to look at catalogues of publishers doing these books and the books themselves. Saddleback is one such publisher. If you're pitching. you'd want to find something they don't already have or fit a series they have with a new topic.
Consider age and grade level also. Hi/lo for a fifth grader may be at a second grade level, whereas hi/lo for a high schooler could be at a fifth grade level. And be culturally conscious. Recent publishing pros I've spoken to have been very much into sensitivity and diversity in all of their works.
Sorry I don't have links to offer.
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Thank you everyone!