Benefits of Receiving a Grant For Writing Children's Literature

I recently receive a "Jackpot Grant" from the Nevada Arts Council to attend a writing workshop presented by the Society of Children's Bookwriters and Illustrators. Having attended the conference, I realized that there were benefits, to myself and the community. In this article, I'll briefly recap some of those benefits. I'll go over some of the objectives that I submitted when I applied for the grant.

Objective 1: Improve Writing Skills and Open Creative Horizons

I attended several workshops run by Bruce Coville, who writes middle-grade fantasy novels. As a result,  I started work on a series of books that are primarily aimed at boys, with a cross over appeal to girls.
I discussed a picture book on potty training, and created a draft of it. The manuscript has been well received on the Society of Children's Bookwriters and Illustrator's Manuscript Exchange discussion forum. I am refining it, and will soon submit it for publication.

Objective 2: Establishing Networking Contacts for future projects.

I met a number of illustrators, and have established contacts with them. These may lead to future collaborations, or at least to preferred introductions to publishers. (It is possible that a well-established illustrator will suggest a manuscript that they will enjoy illustrating to a publisher.)
I met a number of writers who may be interested in writing teacher's guides to accompany my existing books.
I listened to presentations by various editors and submitted a manuscript for a children's book to a major publisher. If they do not like the manuscript, I'm confident that another publisher will like it.

Objective 3: Provide a long-term benefit for the Nevada Arts Council and for children who reside in Nevada.

I have begun a publicity campaign that will help children become more literate by using the book and CD, which contains several different languages. Since the Nevada Arts Council paid for my travel expenses to the SCBWI workshop, I will have some available to provide free copies of the book to libraries in Nevada, and fully intend to make donations. Also, the book will be made available to literacy programs.
The prestige associated with receiving a grant from the Nevada Arts Council is making it more attractive for a teacher who home schooled her child to evaluate whether she is interested in bring the book/CD/website to the attention of other home-schooling parents.
One of the illustrators that I met is enthusiastic about preparing a teacher's curriculum for my existing books.
To build self esteem in children I will launch an internet radio show where children can discuss my books and CDs with their teachers, parents and other children. I have already implemented a service that displays pictures that children draw and a service that allows them to make digital tape recordings of stories.

If you're a writer, I encourage you to apply for grants.  You may be surprised at the benefits that you, and others, receive from the process.

Alan Jordan is the author of hundreds of articles, six business books and several children's books. He is the creator of a web site with a series of products to foster creativity in children and adults. http://www.LetsBeCreative.org

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Grant Writing - Not Reviewing the Literature - Mistake 2 of 7 to Avoid When Approaching Funders

Federal government agencies, foundations and corporations get turned off by grant proposals that:

Are off-topic;
Have been tried elsewhere;
Give a negative tone;
Come from an applicant, not a client perspective;
Lack adequate infrastructure;
Include lots of unsupported assumptions; and
Look for quick fixes. In this article, you will learn mistake 2 of 7 to avoid when approaching funders: not reviewing the literature. Failure to find out if your project or idea has been tried elsewhere could lead to your rejection. The solution is here, too, so you don't make this mistake in the future.

Most of the time, our ideas are not new. In fact, one researchaer (Meador 1985) found that as many as one-third of all proposals submitted to a funder who was seeking innovative ideas were for projects that had been tried elsewhere.

If the idea for which you seek funding is indeed unique, great. If you're anything like most of my students, after reviewing the literature - offline and online - they realize that they are not alone in the universe. In fact, many find programs doing almost exactly what they want to do someplace else.

Solution

Economically, it is far more efficient and far-reaching to build on what has been done successfully than starting from scratch. Surprisingly, you can still make your idea unique, even if it has been tried elsewhere.

To make your idea unique when tried before, here are six steps to reviewing the literature and avoiding this mistake:

Search online - Search on the Internet using keywords that best represent your idea or program, like child care, child development, daycare, early childhood, preschool.
Search offline - Identify professional associations in your industry, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Association for Childhood Education International. Review their journals and websites.
Identify 1-3 programs doing what you want to do, like Montessori.
Interview the director of each program.
Summarize in 1-3 paragraphs what each program has already accomplished, methodologies used, failings, successes, stumbling blocks.
Include this summary in the "methods" section of your proposal. Then, leverage your proposal in a way that builds on the successes of the other programs.
Subtle improvement of what works is easier, faster and more fundable than starting from scratch. In the eyes of the funder, building on a review and summary of the literature - online and offline - will demonstrate that you've done your homework.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your free subscription to the Grant Writing Newsletter when you visit http://GrantWritingNewsletter.com.

From Phil Johncock - The Grant Writing Professor

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