Can teachers publish children's fiction books?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Karen Wade on March 26, 2009 at 1:05pm

Hi Kay,

I'm a primary school teacher and I'm soon to publish my Dad's first children's book "Piggis Play Games" by Dave Donicci (for 4-8 yr olds).

I think what you're planning to do is wonderful and I can't see there will be any conflicts of interest. The only thing I would suggest is that if you are saying to your customers that "All proceeds will be donated to charity" then it would be wise to state which charity and request and keep all receipts from the named charity.

If you haven't already chosen a charity then you may like to look at 'Free The Children' - they help build schools in deprived countries and encourage children in western countires to help other children.

Are you an English teacher?

karen

Permalink Reply by Angelika Devlyn on December 1, 2009 at 4:52pm

Hi!

I think if you work in a school, and write books for kids, you are in the perfect place to get publicity. It's not wrong. You are a teacher, you probably already have your "fans", and the kids most likely already know you write. You could do extra special assemblies, read your books with them to find out what they think of them - judge their reactions, etc.

If your headteacher is very supportive of you, I'm sure this would add to their curriculum.

I know this, because I worked in a school, but unfortunately, I don't write for kids. Never did, actually! My headteacher was very supportive of my out of school "hobby", and asked me to write mini lectures encouraging them to enjoy writing stories.

That's not using the kids to better your career as a writer. That's making their English lessons more fun! Especially when it comes from someone they already know. Think how you could inspire them!