How I Use Mentor Texts for Craft

By Nell Cross Beckerman

Today I would like to share with you how I have used mentor texts in a granular, practical way: to get your first words on the page. Beginnings (and endings!) are some of the hardest parts of crafting your text, so any hacks to make it easier? I’m in!

I wrote my first three books, Down Under the Pier, When the Sky Glows, and Caves, in my “cloffice”—my closet office, the only place in the house I could close the door. When that got old, we moved to a new house where I fin ally had my own office. Which was great…until I realized when I turned on my computer that something had changed. My fingers felt frozen and my mind was static. I had writer’s block!

Around that time, I had been inspired by walks on my local hiking trail, called the Park to Playa trail. I knew I wanted to write a story about how paths and parks connect communities and bring us closer the nature. But for the first time, I couldn’t figure out how to start.

So, I did what I always do when faced with a new challenge in my publishing career. I thought: What would Kate Messner do?  (WWKMD). Ever since discovering Kate’s book Over and Under the Snow (published by Chronicle, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal), I have followed her as my unofficial mentor-from-afar (although I have been lucky enough for a few personal encounters!)

I love Over and Under the Snow so much I could recite it by heart. It is a lyrical adventure of a father and child as they cross country ski through the wonderland of woods that seem to be in their backyard, observing and learning about the animals over and under the snow (aka the “subnivean zone”) Through this adventure, the family bond deepens, the setting feels intimate and local, and the reader learns some STEM concepts without realizing they are learning at all. Perfection.

What if I used Kate’s introductory text, but swapped my words for hers? Wait…but isn’t that plagiarism? Definitely not what I’m proposing! Not imitating the story, but studying the craft. Let me show you what I mean:

Kate’s opening lines are simple and magical:

 Over the snow I glide.

Into woods frosted fresh and white.

 First, I sat down to pick apart why I liked these lines so much. I never studied creative writing in college and have no background in education (I’m a former documentary TV producer.) I’m still learning terms like “assonance” and “consonance.” But, I have been a reader my whole life, and I know when I like how words sound when I say them out loud.

 In layman’s terms, I noticed:

•   The repeated long sounds of “O” (over, snow)

•   The echoed long “I” sounds in I glide and white.

•   Alliteration of frosted fresh.

•   The inverted sentence structure: Over the snow I glide instead of I glide over the snow.

Here’s what I tried, using Kate’s structure but swapping in my own words.

                               

Kate’s words	My words
Over the snow I glide.	Up the path I climb   (repeating “p” sounds)
Into woods frosted fresh and white.	Stepping from pavement to earth, leaving the river of cars behind.   (Continuing the “p” sounds, repeating “v” sounds, repeating “I” sound in “climb” and “behind”)

 

As you can see, I already have veered off from Kate’s structure in the second line. Turns out, I just needed her to hold my hand for that very first line to get my fingers in action.

Those lines disappeared in revision, so there is no visible trace left of Over and Under the Snow in From Park to Playa: The Trails That Connect Us (published by Abrams, illustrated by Sophie Diao.) But I will always be grateful to Kate’s book for helping with the building blocks of mine.

How to Use This Strategy in Your Own Writing

If you find yourself staring at blank screen with an idea lodged in your head, try this:

•            Choose a mentor text you love, especially one with a tone or structure that fits your project.

•            Copy the text in full, by typing it out or writing it longhand. Follow line breaks and page turns. This will help the style seep into your creativity bank.

•            Study the opening lines closely. Listen for repeated sounds, rhythm, and sentence structure.

•            Swap in your own words, Mad Libs–style, using the same structure. Verb, noun, adjective, etc!

•            Let go of the result. This is a warm-up, not a final draft. Just gets words on the page so you can get your idea out.

I hope it goes without saying that you shouldn’t do this for a full book! That would be creepy, and I’m definitely not advocating anything that smells like plagiarism in any way shape or form.

I’ve only used this method once, but it’s a tool I’m grateful to have in my toolbox. And sometimes that’s all you need—a mentor text to hold your hand just long enough to get you started.

There are so many ways to use mentor texts to help your writing.  I hope you’ll join me and NF authors Laura Purdie Salas (please link to https://laurasalas.com/), Michelle Schaub (please link to https://www.michelleschaub.com), and Jolene Gutiérrez (https://www.jolenegutierrez.com/ ) as we reprise our NCTE panel Writers Inspiring Writers: How Both Authors and Students Use Mentor Texts to Reach Their Writing Dreams, hosted with writing prompt breaks from the Southern Nevada Writing Project (https://snwp.org/), offered for free on Zoom. Visit NellCrossBeckerman.com for details to sign up.

If you’ve tried something like this, I’d love to hear about it. What mentor text helped unlock your writing? 

About the Author: Nell Cross Beckerman is the author of Scholastic’s multi-award-winning series, Adventure Through Nature (Caves, Volcanoes, and Forests) and the forthcoming Coyote & Me (Beach Lane Books, illustrated by Yas Imamura.) Sign up for book, teaching, and event updates at NellCrossBeckerman.com

From Lyrical Poem to Nonfiction Debut Picture Book: One Writer’s Journey

By Judy Bryan

 

My debut picture book, ONE GRAIN OF SAND (Beach Lane Books 2027), started as a poem, a lyrical ode to everything one tiny grain of sand may have been. 

The idea for this story came to me on a sunny beach in Mexico. While sifting the warm sand through my fingers, I noticed many different colors, so unlike the sand I played in as a child on the sandbars of Lake Wisconsin. 

 

The first sentence formed immediately: 

 

Have you ever held a grain of sand, and wondered what was in your hand?

 

I’m curious by nature, so my brain began asking questions.

• Why are there so many colors?
• Why was it different from the sand where I’m from? 
• How did it all end up on this particular beach? 
• What was it made of? 

 

Those questions led me to research the different kinds of sand. I searched the internet, checked out books from the library, talked to geologists, and discovered every single grain used to be something else . . . rocks, bones, fossils, shells, glass, even a chip from the tip of a distant mountain. How they end up washed ashore on beaches around the world is a fascinating look into weathering, erosion, tides, and time.

 

Loaded with information, facts, and scientific terminology, I sat down to write. I knew the poem I’d started would be factual, but how could I make it engaging? I’d recently taken Renée LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab (highly recommend!) and began incorporating what I’d learned: rhythm, rhyme, lyrical language, and poetic devices. These all help create vivid images that enchant and enlighten, which in turn make reading nonfiction entertaining and fun! They also help educators bridge the topic they’re teaching with language arts, turning lessons into rich, language-filled explorations. 

 

There are many excellent lyrical nonfiction picture books on the market today. They are filled with drama, fascinating subjects, insightful sidebars, and extensive back matter. Here are a few recent titles that have caught my attention, all gorgeously written and illustrated:

 

In the World of Whales by Michelle Cusolito, illustrated by Jessica Lanan (Neal Porter Books, 2025).

 

Forests: An Adventure Through Nature by Nell Cross Beckerman, illustrated by Kalen Chock (Orchard Books, 2025).

Interested in writing your own lyrical nonfiction picture book? Here’s a short Brain-Storming Activity to get you started.

• First, you need a topic. Something that interests you. Find a spot you love. It could be your own backyard, curled up in your favorite chair, or anywhere that inspires you. 
• Look around. Take a long, deep breath. Let it out slowly. Do that again. Quiet your mind.
• What do you see? 
• Hear? It helps to close your eyes.
• Smell? 
• Feel? 
• What piques your curiosity? 
• Begin asking questions.
• Write it all down. I find word banks helpful at this point. 

Did anything spark an idea? Are you excited? Tingling? Fingers itching to get started? I hope so! The next step is researching to find answers. WARNING: This could take you down a long, but fascinating, rabbit hole of information. 

Enjoy the journey! I’m rooting for you and can’t wait to read your story.

 

Judy Bryan is a children’s author and poet. Her books inspire, entertain, and foster a natural curiosity about the world. An active member of SCBWI and past Assistant Regional Advisor for Wisconsin, Judy also belongs to the Courage To Create Community and the 12X12 Picture Book Challenge. She’s a mom to three wonderful humans and two cuddly cats. When not reading or writing, she enjoys boating, kayaking and hiking Wisconsin’s Ice Age trails with her husband. For more information, please visit https://judybryanauthor.com.

 

 

 

WEAVING THROUGHLINES INTO NARRATIVE NONFICTION

By Donna Janell Bowman

Have you noticed that the term “throughline” pops up in webinars and editorial letters more often these days, but not always with clear definitions? In 2021, after realizing that the term is rarely highlighted in craft books beyond screenwriting, I embarked on my first deep dive to better understand how throughlines ensure structure and continuity in fiction and narrative nonfiction. Sometimes, throughlines emerge organically during the writing process. At other times… not so much. Being conscious of throughlines was certainly helpful during my writing of Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills, a collaboration with Native Olympian Billy Mills. Let’s try to demystify the term here.

Note — As you read this article, keep in mind that there are countless variations in children’s narratives. For example, narrative nonfiction picture books often have unique structures, creative approaches, non-human subjects, and illustrations that tell part of the story. Throughlines will vary, too.

What are throughlines?

Technically, a throughline is any storytelling element that is employed from a story’s beginning to its ending. Think of throughlines as threads of different colors and textures that, when woven together, result in a satisfying layered tapestry.

Critical Throughline — The Character Arc / Internal Throughline

Sticking with the weaving analogy, the character throughline is like the Warp threads — the foundational spine — in a tapestry. In a human-centered (or living being) narrative, the character’s journey and struggle toward a goal or resolution IS the story. Not surprisingly, the character arc in a narrative is akin to the Character Spine or Super-objective in a screenplay. On a theoretical stage, an actor might ask “what’s my motivation” so that they can stay in character throughout the fictional story. In narrative nonfiction, research reveals the character backstory, traits, inciting incident (if applicable), and the motivation that propels them into action. By stitching every scene or spread with the essence of the character and their slow transformation, we ensure a strong character arc throughline that holds up the entire story and results in the narrative theme, which we’ll address later. Every other throughline in a story is in service to the character throughline.
            I am so grateful for my collaboration with Billy Mills, because, from my very first draft of Wings, I knew the story focus, and I knew Billy’s internal motivation — to chase his Olympic dream as a way to emotionally survive poverty, heartbreak, grief, and systemic racism. I also knew the story’s ending — Billy’s Olympic success and what he did with it. For the character throughline to be cohesive, every scene between the beginning and the ending had to show his internal transformation.

Character + goal/problem + motivation + ordeal = character transformation / character arc

The character throughline is like the Warp threads of a tapestry

Tip — What if research doesn’t reveal enough backstory or details to authentically show character change? When there isn’t enough evidence for internality and an obvious character transformation, try crafting the protagonist as a Flat/Steadfast character. For narrative purposes, this kind of character doesn’t transform as an individual on the page. Rather, they change their world in a notable way. The throughline for this kind of character might rely more on their pragmatic efforts, external goals or processes, or how others perceived the character and their contribution. Bring them to life by showing them in action.

Critical Throughline #2 — The Narrative Arc Throughline:

As you know, in most narratives, the all-important character arc begins when the character is propelled into action by their goal/want/problem. The plot — the action/things that happen in a story — becomes a narrative arc when the author gives the events meaning for the character through a beginning-middle-ending structure. As mentioned earlier, once you know your story focus, select scenes that specifically drive the story forward and reveal the character arc. 

During my research and conversations with Billy, a few obvious narrative throughlines for Wings revealed themselves. For example, we wanted the narrative to end with Billy’s post-Olympics Giveaway — a Lakota tradition of generosity. For that scene to be cohesive and powerful, I first stitched the idea into a third spread scene that shows Billy’s first memory of a Giveaway when he was a child.

Tip — Occasionally, a major throughline must change mid-story. For example, the beginning of Anita Pazner’s book, Words Matter: The Story of Hans and Sophie Scholl, and the White Rose Resistance, shows the two characters naively excelling as members of the Hitler Youth group and the League of German Girls — the initial narrative throughlines. But when the characters learn the truth about Hitler’s horrifying plans, they turn against Hitler, form the White Rose Resistance, and spend the rest of their short lives acting against him. If this kind of switch is necessary for your character, logically resolve the first throughline(s) before picking up the new thread.  

Themeline (Theme Throughline)

By the end of a narrative, what the character endured — internally and externally — reveals a universal relatable truth, the organic moral of the story. It is literally why the story matters and likely what drew you to the real character in the first place. The themeline begins in the character setup, possibly faint at first, but as the narrative progresses and the character changes as a result of the narrative arc, the themeline becomes such a prominent thread in the story tapestry, the reader grabs hold of it and takes it into their own life.

The theme slowly reveals itself through the character’s actions and reactions, direct quotes or internality, or the author’s creative storytelling choices.

Tip: There can be more than one theme in a narrative, but there should be one primary theme.

Sub throughlines:

While the character and narrative throughlines are foundational, sub throughlines are like colored and textured threads that produce an intentional tone and reader experience. As already mentioned, technically, a throughline can be anything that stitches through the length of a narrative, including voice, refrains and irregular refrains, repetition, subtext, subplot, visual or narrative motifs, an objective correlative, literary devices, etc..

Weaving sub throughlines into the lyrical voice in Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills was surprisingly enjoyable. Inspired by Billy’s memories and the poetry of Native Americans, I crafted bird-inspired metaphors, similes, and verbs throughout the text. So, too, with the use of “footsteps.” You will also find the refrain of “We are stronger together,” which was inspired by the Lakota prayer, “We are all related.” Any other sub throughlines are fodder for another day.

Authors aren’t the only creators to use throughlines. In addition to the use of pictographs and a traditional Lakota art style in Wings, illustrator S.D. Nelson added the visual refrain of a background eagle that stays with Billy throughout the story. The artistic choice works in beautifu synergy with the text.

I hope this distillation has demystified throughlines for you. Now it’s your turn! How will you stitch your narrative with just the right throughlines to weave a memorable story tapestry for your readers?

Happy writing, friends! 

 

Donna Janell Bowman is an award-winning author of books for young readers, including Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills, co-authored with Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota); Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness; Abraham Lincoln’s Dueling Words; King of the Tightrope: When the Great Blondin Ruled Niagara; and others. Donna’s books have garnered such accolades as starred reviews, state book awards, a Robert F. Sibert Award Honor from ALA, and awards and honors from NCTE, NCSS, ALSC, TLA, Oprah Daily, Library of Congress Great Reads, Best-Of-The-Year lists, and more. Armed with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, she writes from her Central Texas home and enjoys teaching writers and speaking at schools around the country. www.donnajanellbowman.com

 

 

PB, MG, or YA? Finding the Best Format for Your Story

By Lindsay H. Metcalf 

Eunice Newton Foote’s story hooked me immediately. Here was the scientist who in 1856 who found that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would warm the planet. Then the world forgot about her and credited a man with the discovery. Curiosity would propel me through research and writing. But how best to write Eunice into history? I assumed I was writing a picture book, but nope. This project would evolve into a YA novel-in-verse! (Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights releases February 10 from Charlesbridge.)

 In the beginning, I focused on who Eunice was rather than what I would write. I read countless articles, traced their sources, and scoured those, too. I mined Ancestry.com, Google Patents, historical newspaper archives, museum databases. When I exhausted all I could find about Eunice and her family, I pieced together a comprehensive timeline. 

I had published only picture books, so Eunice’s story would be a picture book biography, right? One problem: My timeline overflowed with juicy information, none of which I wanted to eliminate. I also wanted to center Eunice’s voice. Archives held her letters written decades after any throughline that would make sense in a PB bio.

A longer work for older readers could include all of that, plus explore historical forces and contradictions that shaped Eunice and her family. 

But could I pull it off? 

My first attempt came out as a poem. Aha! I could use metaphor to translate emotion without inventing Eunice’s feelings. Breaks between poems would provide natural transitions, and thematic imagery could fill space without making anything up.

Here's an example. A primary source said Eunice had painted landscapes, but I didn’t know specifics. So I created three poems about Eunice painting that pondered her life in broader brushstrokes (heh). The following poems appear throughout Part Two of Footeprint. 

Painting
With oils,
Eunice deconstructs
shadows, highlights, ombré tones,
ripples, straights, ridges.
Shade by shade,
stroke by stroke,
she translates each landscape
from three dimensions to two
until the likeness looks true
& Eunice swells with relief.

Painting II
Painting with facts,
Eunice reconstructs
each invention, each concept,
to tell a science story.
Question by question,
measurement by measurement,
she eliminates possibilities
until only truth remains.

Painting III

Painting her life,
Eunice brushstrokes her truth
with enough pressure to etch glass
but enough control
to avoid cutting herself
open.

“Painting,” “Painting II,” and “Painting III” © Lindsay H. Metcalf, 2026, from Footeprint (Charlesbridge Teen)

I had my format—a novel-in-verse. I tried to write straight nonfiction, because I wanted researchers to be able to use my work as a springboard for further discovery. I filled gaps in the timeline with poems about historical events, such as the New York legislature’s 1845 vote to allow married women to claim patents.

But as I wrote, my approach shifted. Sometimes I felt Eunice would have interacted with moments in history, but I couldn’t prove it. I bridged those with light fiction, writing, for example, that Eunice learned about the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls by reading a newspaper. The news article was real, and Eunice attended the event, but I didn’t know whether she read the article. I detailed what I had fictionalized in an author’s note, and a massive bibliography showed what I had not.

Did I know I had written a YA? No—not until I saw the “Charlesbridge Teen” logo in the first-round edits with my publisher. Someone up the chain had declared the target audience as 12 and up. I’m just happy I wrote the story I needed to tell without restricting myself. I hope Eunice would be proud.

She is getting three books this spring: Footeprint, plus two picture book biographies (Foote Was First! by Jen Bryant, illus. Amy June Bates; and Change Is in the Air by Rebecca Donnelly, illus. Mercè López). To me, that’s evidence of the myriad ways to tell a story. No one will write your story like you will!

***

Try these exercises with your manuscript:

1. Write a poem about a scene in your manuscript. Use poetic devices such as metaphor and simile, consonance and assonance. 
2. Rewrite a page of your manuscript from different points of view. Switch from third to first person or even second. Perhaps change third person-omniscient to third person-close perspective
3. Rewrite that page for a different audience. If you have a picture book, try middle-grade or an early reader. 
4. Flesh out the version that begs to be written!

There are a million ways to tell a story, and no one will tell it like you. Eunice is getting three books this spring: Footeprint, plus two picture book biographies (Foote Was First! by Jen Bryant, illus. Amy June Bates; and Change Is in the Air by Rebecca Donnelly, illus. Mercè López). Eunice is such an amazing subject, she deserves a hundred more.

 

Lindsay H. Metcalf writes nonfiction and poetry for children and young adults while balancing her laptop on matching Cavalier King Charles lapdogs. This February, Charlesbridge will release her young adult debut, Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights, a biography-in-verse about a nineteenth-century scientist and suffragist who discovered carbon dioxide’s atmosphere-warming properties. A former journalist, Lindsay lives in rural Kansas, downwind of the neighborhood cows, with her husband and two teen sons who remain unimpressed with Lindsay’s writing awards—not even the ILA Social Justice Literature Award for No Voice Too Small and No World Too Big, or the Green Earth Book Award for No World Too Big. Learn more at lindsayhmetcalf.com or @lindsayhmetcalf on social media.

 

Assignment vs. Freelance: Which One Wins?

By Amy Houts

I love writing nonfiction on assignment, but I also love writing freelance. What about you? Have you ever considered writing nonfiction on assignment? That’s when a publisher assigns you a topic. They supply all the specifics about the project including a deadline, contract, and payment amount called a “flat fee” (no royalties, no matter how many copies of the book sell). It’s a fun challenge! 

Of my 100+ books, the majority were written on assignment for educational or Christian publishers. About half are nonfiction. Most recently, I wrote four holiday books for Amicus (a division of The Creative Company) for their “Curious About” series: Presidents Day, Easter, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. 

You might like writing freelance better, or maybe you’d like to do both like I do. Following is a comparison of writing nonfiction on assignment vs. writing nonfiction freelance to help you decide.

Writing Nonfiction on Assignment

The publisher chooses the topic. I’ve found every topic I’ve researched interesting, but I’ve enjoyed some more than others. Publishers often ask your preferences. You can list you enjoy writing about science, social studies, or math in your cover letter or on your application.  

Detailed guidelines: Editors send detailed information: topic, word count, content, grade level, and more. Sometimes it’s pages long with an outline, style guide, etc. I refer to these documents again and again. 

Limited time to research and write: Deadlines are usually short, depending on the grade level and word length. For early grades, I’ve typically had one to four weeks to research and write a book. For older grades, I’ve had as long as three to four months to research and write. Keeping a detailed bibliography is a must. Often editors want primary sources where you talk to experts along with articles from reliable websites as well as books on your subject. Both following the guidelines and having a deadline are stressful. Imposter syndrome can’t last long! You have work to do.

Work with a talented team of editors: I’ve enjoyed working with editors who give me insight, support, and answer my questions. Getting constructive feedback is both helpful and a little daunting. Often one or more revisions are needed or expected. A few editors have become my dear friends.

Payment and publication is guaranteed: You will earn the amount listed in your contract and your book will be published! Often, the terms are 30-60 days after revisions when the final manuscript is submitted. Of course, you need to complete the assignment, which might include not only a manuscript, but discussion questions, a bibliography, sidebars, and a glossary. 

No promotion needed: There’s no need to promote a book when you don’t earn royalties. The publisher does not expect you to be involved in promotion on the same level as a freelance book. They take care of advertising and sales. I post about all my books, both those I’ve written on assignment and those I’ve freelanced, on social media. I’ve purchased author copies and sold books at school visits, but there isn’t a push to promote. It still takes creativity, inspiration, energy, and determination to write a book on assignment. It helps build credits and show you are a professional. As always, it feels great to hold a book you’ve written in your hands. 

 

Writing Nonfiction Freelance 

You choose the topic: You might have a special interest or know what you want to write about. There are many topics from which to choose. You must decide on one and narrow it down. Then you need to research to make sure there aren’t other books on your topic or with your particular angle.    

Create your own guidelines or outline. Know where you are going, what structure you want to use (or try several), and what you want to teach. It helps with nonfiction to have an outline. With fiction, I’m a pantser, writing without a plan or detailed outline, but with nonfiction, I become a plotter. Remember, with nonfiction, you don’t need to write the whole book to start submitting your proposal. You need two completed, polished chapters, a detailed outline, and query email. 


Research as long as you want, to your heart’s content: As a former librarian, I love research! Getting lost in the many ways (primary sources, internet, books, articles, and more) to find out about something is fun, motivating, and satisfying. This can be an advantage or disadvantage. Sometimes I’m enjoying the research so much, I don’t want to stop to actually start writing. Or sometimes I go down the rabbit hole spending way too much time doing off-topic reading.   


Work on your own: You might enjoy working on your own if you have a strong vision for your project. You don’t have a team to tell you if you’re on the right track or anyone to answer your questions. Your critique group can give feedback. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have an editor interested, they might request an R&R, “revise and resubmit.” You will probably just have one chance to revise, not the back and forth communication like you would have with an editorial publishing team.

Payment and publication are not guaranteed: An editor might love your topic, sample chapters, and outline and reward you with a contract. Then you will need to complete your book. Or, an editor might be interested and promise a contract, but they change their mind. (That’s happened to me more than once.) Or, you might spend many hours working, and no one is interested! What do you do then? I was so passionate about a local “ladies band” who participated in a 1913 voting rights parade in Washington, D.C., I decided to self-publish it.  

Promotion: Authors are expected to promote their books in a big way—much more so than when my first picture book was published in the 1990s. Of course, you want your book to sell. It’s not just the royalties, it’s your message, your information, your mission. There’s so much you can do! In-person readings, school visits, speaking engagements, blog tours, webinars, and social media posts. I’ve developed activity packets and sold books at vendor shows. Most of this will happen just before and after your book releases. But it doesn’t end. I’m still promoting my Earth Day book, God’s Earth is Something to Fight For, even though it was released in the fall of 2023.

If you want to try writing on assignment, how do you break in? Submit your resume and cover letter to the educational publishers such as those listed in the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) resource THE BOOK. Meet editors of educational publishers at conferences. And/or network with other writers to recommend you. Writing Nonfiction on Assignment vs. Writing Freelance? There’s no clear winner or loser. I still submit my freelance work, but also have success writing nonfiction on assignment. It’s the best of both worlds! 

 

Amy Houts is the author of 100+ books for children. She writes for general market, educational, and faith-based publishers. Amy retold 60 fairytales, folktales, and classic stories on assignment for the series, Compass Children’s Classics. Her 10 nonfiction science early readers were published by Highlights. Amy’s faith-based books include bath books, Noah’s Ark and The Creation (Sunbeam/Bushel & Peck Books), God’s Earth is Something to Fight For (Sunbeam/Bushel & Peck Books), and God’s Protection Covers Me (Beaming Books). To find out more, see: https://amyhouts.com and Linktr.ee/amyhouts.