Children's writers- advice from an editor

1/5 books make 4/5 of the profit for publishers.  The FInkler Question won the Man Booker in 2010 and had the biggest boost ever: 200,000 books; meanwhile Jordan's biography sold 300,000 in 6 weeks.  Big successes fund the many failures.  

Mills and Boon are the most successful publishers, they sell 130m books a year.  Their success is based on  a promise to readers. An attractive young woman will meet a dashing virile man.  Every genre promises its readers something, eg Beast Quest.

What a story needs:

1. A good concept, well written.  The concept is more important than the writing.  If the concept can be summarised in five sentences it's high concept and that's your elevator pitch.
2. Practice summarising your book in 5 sentences max.
3. "But" is a useful word:  "Like Stephanie Meyer but with more heart."
4. A strong main character, male for young boys, female for teen novels.  Strong means aspirational, honest, cool, slightly older than the intended readers.
5. Younger boys prefer books about external conflict [eg dealing with monsters] which are usually written in the 3rd person
6. Girls prefer internal conflicts, written in the first person.
7. The inciting incident occurs in the first chapter.  Don't worry if it's confusing, readers can read on to find out what's happening.
8. Write short chapters [eg 200 words] and finish each one with a cliffhanger.
9. Word count: 5-7 4-8,000   8-10 8-10,000 10-13 10-50,000 13+ 30-80,000 words picture books, under 500 words.
10. Always have more ideas in outline form.

With Thanks to Lil Chase.