HeyJaredThe KidLit Creator's Chronicle
A resource for to master the art and business of children’s books with actionable advice, insights, and inspiration for writing, illustrating, creating, and marketing your amazing children’s books. Brought to you by Children's Book Mastery.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 6
- Latest publication
- Sep 27, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest issues
AI won’t improve your manuscript. You will. (opens the original)
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Recently, I was about halfway through a manuscript when I became quite convinced the person had used AI to help write it.It’s hard for me to say exactly what I spotted. It was a few things, like specific word choices and the way some words were strung together. And the writing sounded lyrical, but it felt off, like an imitation of good writing. And the story didn’t make me feel anything. Because of my hunch, I ran it through Pangram, a reputable AI detection tool. Pangram said it had significant
Why Too-Perfect Art Is Losing Its Appeal, and the Trend Taking Over Children’s Books (opens the original)
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Children’s book illustration is changing, and you need to know about it or it can hurt your book’s success.For a while, a very clean, smooth look has been popular, and many came to see that as the professional standard. But over the last while, the industry has started to shift, and now it is going in quite a different direction.That very polished look is losing its appeal, and people are not as drawn to that style anymore. And with so much AI art around these days, this look can even seem a bit
Whatever You’re Stuck On, There’s an Edition for It (opens the original)
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Whatever you’re wrestling with in your author journey this week, I’ve probably already written about it.The KidLit Creator’s Chronicle has grown into quite a library now (we’re on edition #64 already!), so today I’m sharing some my favourites. I’ve sorted them by where you might be on your journey right now, so you can find the right one(s) for you.A few of these should be exactly what you need to read this week.So, scroll down and find the stage that matches what you’re working on today!First:
The Real Keyword and Category Research Behind One Picture Book (opens the original)
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Kids reach for screens. Parents reach for these. (opens the original)
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Kids are reaching for screens more than ever, and feeling more anxious with it. So let’s look at what’s changing in the picture book world because of it.For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The grown-ups who buy picture books are reaching away from screens, toward books that are calmer and good for a child. That’s the pattern that ties together the three trends I’ll cover here.A few weeks ago, in issue 56, I argued that three forces (screens, the children’s mental health cr
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