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How do we go about writing hi-lo books?
To start, here is an overview of the submission guidelines directly from Orca Associate Publisher Ruth Linka and the Orca submission guidelines page on the three hi-lo series they currently publish:Orca Currents: short novels of about 15,000 words for readers who are between 8 and 12 years old. Each book is written at a reading level between grade 2 to grade 5. The novels should appeal to pre-teens and offer straightforward plots and engaging characters.
Orca Soundings are short novels (about 15,000 words) for readers who are 12 to 16 years old. Each book is written at a reading level between grade 2 to grade 5. The novels are more mature, some are grittier and should appeal to teens.
Orca Anchor is Orca’s newest series and responds to a demand for lower reading levels. These novels are about 6000 words, for readers who are 12 to 16 years old and written at a reading level between 0 and 2.
To find your reading level on Word, go to review, then editor, and click on document stats. Under readability, you’ll see the Flesch-Kincaid grade level for your manuscript. And here’s a link to free online reading level tools.
On top of these submission guidelines, the cast of characters must be kept very small and the names distinctive.
Cultural references, that many of us may take for granted, must be explained for the ESL reader. We have to consider that many of our readers may not understand a given cultural reference or metaphor, or the kind of subtext that most readers take for granted.
Flashbacks can confuse a literacy learner and we also steer away from subplots which, again, can confuse a struggling reader.
Most importantly, the whole point of writing these books is to engage a reader who struggles to read, and to keep them reading. So hi-lo books contain interesting subject matter, and a fast-paced read.
