Read Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman’s exclusive interview in issue 6.

Issue 6 is available as a print-on-demand magazine from MagCloud, and a text-only Kindle edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Many of the articles are also available as blog posts on this site.

In this issue:

• Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman speaks to Lucy Coats
• How Kit Berry build a community of fans around her self-published YA books
• Kate Wilson on making digital products for children
• Lucy Coats takes the pulse of the children’s book publishing industry
• Steven Lenton‘s top tips for becoming a children’s book illustrator
• Lucy Coats on the way to write for children
• 10 ways to market your books with Pinterest
• Children’s agent Hilary Delamare on what an agent actually does
• Tom Evans on finding your inner child with your writing
• How to manage your WordPress comments
• How to use LinkedIn to find your next publishing job
• Nicola Morgan‘s writing shed.

The author of the Noughts and Crosses series speaks to our contributing editor Lucy Coats about her path to publication, top writing tips – and the need for greater diversity in children’s books. Malorie is a great champion for diversity in children’s literature – yet, astonishingly (and dismayingly), this is a view for which she recently faced criticism and even racist abuse.

When I read Lucy’s insightful interview, it hadn’t even occurred to me that this was controversial. Surely children should see themselves reflected in the books they read? The good news is that children’s books in general are booming: the market is up 10% this year in the UK. Lucy Coats also looks at the state of the children’s book business, and has some great advice on writing for children.

The opportunities in this market are increasingly digital, and Kate Wilson shares some valuable lessons she has learned while developing apps for children at award-winning independent children’s publisher Nosy Crow. If you want to break into children’s publishing, children’s agent Hilary Delamere explains how an agent can help; Steven Lenton offers his tips for succeeding as an illustrator; and Suzanne Collier has advice on using LinkedIn to get your next publishing job.

If you’re thinking of going it alone, Kit Berry reveals how she built a community around her self-published Young Adult books, the Stonewylde series. There’s also a writing workshop from Tom Evans, who invites us to awaken our inner child with our writing; and award-winning author Nicola Morgan gives us an insight into her writing.

Social media is key to success, and there’s another WordPress tutorial, this time on managing your blog comments; plus advice on marketing your books with Pinterest.

Hope you enjoy this issue!

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Great #kidlit edition of @publishingtalk. Interesting, informative and very useful. Good tips from @malorieblackman @jonreed + a lot more. — Maria Farrer (@FarrerMaria) October 1, 2014

Excellent Edition! @publishingtalk: Publishing Talk Magazine issue 6, Oct-Dec 2014 – Children’s Publishing – http://t.co/1S362YQ7Jd — Sarah Towle (@towlesarah) September 30, 2014

@lucycoats @publishingtalk @malorieblackman @nicolamorgan @Kit_Berry @jonreed Terrific articles, all! Sharing with clients and colleagues. — emma d dryden (@drydenbks) September 30, 2014

@publishingtalk Your children’s pub issue is terrific! thank you for the great info and content! am sharing… — emma d dryden (@drydenbks) September 30, 2014

Hooray! #kidlit ed of @publishingtalk is out. Fab stuff from @malorieblackman @nicolamorgan @Kit_Berry @jonreed & ME http://t.co/yGpczJKK9r — Lucy Coats (@lucycoats) September 30, 2014

New edition of Publishing Talk up now – including me provoking shed envy http://t.co/HII91rKhSI @publishingtalk — Nicola Morgan (@nicolamorgan) September 30, 2014

@NosyCrow @lucycoats Thanks for your words in @publishingtalk, inspiring! I loved the comparaison film/app, i thought about it these days. — Anne Viel (@AnneCaroViel) September 28, 2014

Read my article on becoming a children’s book illustrator in the the new @publishingtalk Magazine out now! pic.twitter.com/FOL5klqHrG — Steven Lenton (@2dscrumptious) September 28, 2014