Revise Your Children's Book Bundle

Edit your children's book in 4 rounds, then write an opening that keeps them reading.

You finished the draft. Then you opened it again to revise, and all of it came at you at once. The plot, the character, a word you don't like on page 3, the ending you were never quite sure about. So you tinker. Two months later the story is different, and you couldn't honestly say it's better.

Revising isn't one job. It's 4, done in an order, so you're only hunting one kind of problem at a time.

That's what the Kidlit Editing Workbook gives you. Then Your Book's First Impression handles the part that decides whether anyone reads the rest, because an editor gives a manuscript about 10 seconds, and most of that is your title, your first line, and your first 50 words.

And if you're writing a picture book, the Picture Book Page Layout shows you what a manuscript never can. How your story reads once it's split across 32 pages, where the page turns land, and how many scenes you actually have.

Work the rounds. Sharpen the opening. Then see it as a book.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN...

1. The 4 rounds of editing, and what to look for in each one so you're never fixing everything at once
2. How to check your plot against 3 structures and find the beat your story is missing
3. The 3 title approaches (character driven, problem driven, theme driven) and which one fits your story
4. How first lines are built in each category, and the 3 questions that produce one a reader can't pass up
5. The 3 things a reader needs from your first 50 words, and how to find where your story actually starts, which is usually not where you started writing
6. Where your page turns fall once a picture book is laid out across 32 pages, and whether your pacing holds up

WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE...

Kidlit Editing Workbook (instant download)

1. Fillable PDF workbook, roughly 17 pages
2. Character Profile Card
3. The Dos and Don'ts of Characters cheat sheet
4. Plot Analysis Worksheet
5. Story Plot Checklist
6. Story Writing Techniques Worksheet
7. Kidlit Editing Checklist

Your Book's First Impression (online course)

1. Video instruction plus worksheets for the title, the first line, and the first 50 words
2. Examples for every children's book category, from picture book through young adult
3. A curated list of 150 recently published mentor texts, sorted by category
4. Lifetime access to the course, at your own pace

Picture Book Page Layout (instant download, for picture book writers)

1. Google Slides sample pagination layout to lay your story out digitally as a book
2. Fillable 32-page PDF layout with the 4 pages to skip with your text
3. Video tutorial for how to use the pagination

Who's this bundle for?

Writers with a finished draft who know it isn't ready and want to do the work themselves before anyone else reads it. If you've been editing for a while without feeling like you're getting closer, the rounds give you a finish line for each pass.

The workbook and the course cover picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult. The Picture Book Page Layout is the one piece that's specific to picture books, so if you're writing longer fiction you'll work from the other two.

It won't give you outside feedback on your story. This is for the editing you do yourself first.

How soon will you get it?

Your download links for the workbook and the page layout come to the email address you use at checkout, usually within a few minutes, so you can start the first round today. Your course invite follows within 24 to 48 hours, and it comes from Brooke Van Sickle via Podia, which hosts all our course content. If you've bought a course from us before, your existing login opens this one too.

This is a digital bundle. Nothing physical will ship.

Please note: Our digital products are for personal use only. While you can use the fillable fields on your computer or print out the sheets yourself, you cannot share this with anyone else, make a copy, or use this for resale.