Guest post by Jan Fields
Photo courtesy of wintersixfour on morguefile.com
A résumé that you send on first contact with a publisher (especially an educational publisher) is not the same kind of résumé you would use to find a job as a teacher or other position. The writer’s résumé is basically a map of writing experience and any useful knowledge/experience/expertise in your brain because that’s where the gems that interest the publisher lie. Approach your résumé by asking yourself, why does the publisher want to see my résumé? What’s in it for him/her? The publisher approaches your résumé like a detective: “what do I see here that I could make use of?”
You’re selling your KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, INTERESTS, and SKILLS.
So what kinds of things will you need to include? One very “normal” résumé item is education. Much of the time, the scope of your education doesn’t matter, but occasionally an editor will look specifically for someone with a certain level of education (this is especially true with assessment writing or when a publisher is looking for a specific kind of expert.) Or a publisher may look for someone who’ll look good in their catalogue because of education level. Education is almost always a bonus, but (most of the time) it’s not a deal breaker.
Another “normal” résumé item is job experience, but most of the time, the jobs you’ve held won’t be of interest to a publisher. However, if you have educational or classroom experience, or experience working with children in another setting, this will be of interest. It will suggest that any school scenes or similar moments in the book will be based on much more recent experience than your memories of your own childhood. For example, if you’re pitching a fiction series that takes place in the classroom to an educational publisher, you BETTER have classroom experience as a teacher, room mom or other volunteer or the publisher will pass because they will worry that your books won’t mirror modern classroom settings.
Even experience with children’s Sunday School or Girl Scout leader suggests you are familiar with children TODAY and won’t be writing with only your memories of what childhood was like when you were a kid. And if your experience is unusual, you never know what a publisher will cherry pick THAT part of the résumé and ask for a proposal on it. For example, I once volunteered to help with a creative problem solving competition. I mentioned that in passing to an educational publisher and was asked if I’d consider sending a proposal connected to that experience.
Focus on skills & experience
Any area where you are already an expert will shave time off the learning curve, so if you’re a licensed diver, or you’ve taken a flying course, or you can rock climb, or whatever – put it in. BUT be careful NOT to include things that you don’t want to write about. If you’re a licensed pilot but don’t ever want to write books related to flying, you might not want to mention being a pilot because editors will ask. So add in any unusual expertise, experience or interest. You honestly never know what will spur interest and result in an assignment offer.
Make the Résumé look LIGHT
The easier your résumé is to consume, the more likely an editor is to examine every item on it. Keep in mind, this is a different document than the one you would send when seeking a job. You don’t need to give addresses and dates and extensive information about each place where you’ve worked. The removal of all that extraneous detail will help you to make your résumé look like something a publisher could easily look over on even the most stressful day. So don’t overburden the document. Don’t try to look too academic. The look you’re going for is clean, light, and easily consumed. If you don’t have a website, but you’re regularly submitting to publishers who ask for résumés — consider getting a website. It’s a great place to put the more extensive details you didn’t put on the submitted résumé. And it’s a great place to load more writing samples. The kinds of editors who ask for résumés are also the kind who check out websites — so having a clean, professional website to back up your résumé is always a bonus.
JAN’S BIO
Since my first magazine publication in the 1980s, I have been steadily writing for money in some form. Today I have over twenty books in print and still more in the pipeline – books for children and adults. I’ve also written for magazines, educational publishers and even a toy company! Writing is the only thing I’ve ever done really well that didn’t eventually become more like work than fun.
Read more here. And see her own résumé here.