The Writing Process: Publishing

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Publishing your writing will not be nearly as difficult as it was back when the movable-type printing press was used!

If you have not completed, or wish to review, the previous Related Lessons in The Writing Process series, you are not ready to publish, so check them out in the right-hand sidebar.

The word “publish” is derived from “public.” Therefore, it simply means that you are getting your paper ready for public view. Take out a piece of paper and pencil. As you watch the Teaching Without Frills video, Writing a Personal Narrative: Publishing for Kids, write notes on a piece of paper showing the steps you will complete in the publishing process:

The main steps you will complete during the publishing process are:

1. Type or write your story.
   • Leave a blank line between rows of writing if you are writing it by hand. Double space your story if you are typing it.
   • Fix the changes that you marked on your paper during the revising and editing steps.
2. Make illustrations detailed and neat.
3. Make a cover.

As you are preparing to publish — and before you do the steps above — you want to re-read your draft one last time. Ask yourself the question, “Does my story look and sound ready to publish?”

If your answer is “No,” you will need to go back to the revision step in order to make any additional changes that need to be made.

If your answer is “Yes,” you are ready to begin the publishing process!

1. Type or neatly copy your words with your best handwriting. Fix changes as you go.
2. Add any illustrations you want. Make sure your pictures match what is going on in your story.
   • Make sure your illustration is neat.
   • Make sure your illustration is detailed.
3. Make a cover. It should catch a reader’s attention and make him or her want to read your story.
   • Covers need:
     1. a title This needs to be three to five words that represent what your story is about.
     2. author’s name You want everyone to know that you wrote the book.
     3. colorful illustration Again, make sure it reflects what the book is about and that it is neat.

For the next step, take out a piece of your writing that has gone through the first four steps of the writing process and is ready to publish. The piece you choose should have gone through the revision and editing steps and is ready to publish.

Continue on to the Got It? section to begin.