Non-fiction books

1. Creating a children's non-fiction book
It's all about teamwork


Why I'm like a link in a chain ...

What's involved in creating an illustrated children's non-fiction book? Teamwork, that's what.

I work from home, but I'm not alone. For every book I write I'm in contact with many other people. That's because I'm part of a team.

I may never meet the other members of the team face-to-face. As long as we keep in good contact with each other (usually by email and phone), co-operate and do our jobs, the end result is a book.

We all know what we have to do, and when to do it. Think of it like this: each person in the team is one link in a chain.

Journey of a Book cover

The following pages describe one method of how a children's illustrated non-fiction book is created.

You'll find out about the jobs of key members of the team:

  • the author
  • the editor
  • the illustrator
  • the picture researcher
  • the photographer
  • the designer
  • the printer

As you read the pages in this section, you'll find out about the team of people who created a children's non-fiction book called Journey of a Book.*

Who do you think came up with the idea for Journey of a Book? Turn to page 2 to find out – you might be surprised by the answer!


* Journey of a Book, by John Malam (published by Raintree 2012; ISBN 978-1-406-23932-4)

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