Writing Children's Books For Dummies. Peter Economy

      a) Countdown to Grandma’s House and b) Grandpa Lets Me Be Me by Debra Mostow Zakarin. Reprinted courtesy of the author.

      FIGURE 2-4: Example picture books.

      Becoming a picture book author

Although word count is a wild card, some picture books, such as Monique Felix’s Story of the Little Mouse Trapped in a Book (Green Tiger Press), have no words. We’re of the opinion that less is more. The best picture books have spare, well-chosen text and well-structured stories that complement the illustrations with zero fat (see Figure 2-5 for some examples).

      To break into the picture book market, you have to write a stellar story, which involves mastering the elements of writing that we cover in Part 3. When you’re done with creating your masterpiece, make sure that you do the following in your picture book:

       Keep it short. Capture the essence of your story in no more than 500 to 1,000 words, the fewer the better. (If the book is longer than 1,000 words, you risk losing the attention of the youngest of the picture book audience — and hence those who do the reading to them, as well.)

       Make every word work really hard. Eliminate all descriptive baggage and every unnecessary word — especially those words that the illustrations convey.

       Use beautiful words. Replace ordinary words with richer, more evocative ones without getting wordy or too adult.

       Create a relatable main character. Give your picture book a strong, multidimensional main character whom a child can relate to. (We talk about creating great characters in Chapter 8.)

       Follow a clear story arc. Take your main character through a satisfying story arc that includes a beginning, a middle, and an end. (Chapter 9 gets into how to shape your story.)

       Convey concrete visual imagery. Use this imagery in action and dialogue throughout to move the plot ahead.

      a) My Dog, My Cat reprinted courtesy of Tanglewood Books. © 2011 by Ashlee Fletcher. b) Is a Worry Worrying You? reprinted courtesy of Tanglewood Books. © 2005 Ferida Wolff. c) An Equal Shot by Helaine Becker; illustrations by Dow Phumiruk. Text copyright © 2021 by Helaine Becker. Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Dow Phumiruk. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All Rights Reserved.

      FIGURE 2-5: Example picture books.

      Other books that have pictures

      Although picture books and board books seem to dominate the field in illustrated books, you can find four other players in the category — coloring and activity books, novelty books, informational books, and graphic novels. Of the four, coloring and activity books probably outdo all the others combined in terms of units sold.

      THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM WITH POETRY

      Most children’s book editors feel pretty strongly about rhymed text. From those who despise it or merely tolerate it to those who adore it, editors are pretty picky about rhyme. Why? Because authors often sacrifice the story for the sake of the rhyme — not to mention torturing the English language to create rhymes, paying little attention to whether the rhymes even make sense. Much more often than not, amateur writers of rhyme skimp on plot and character development, throwing in extra words just to make the rhyme work. Make sure that the story and the language come first; rhyme is secondary. A good rhyming story can sell, but it has to be written as tightly as a story in prose.

      If you want to write poetry, take it from us: Dr. Seuss did a fabulous job with the particular rhyme schemes he used in his books, and his books continue to sell tens of thousands of copies a year, despite the author having passed away in 1991. But if you want to rhyme, don’t use Seussian meter; make up your own.

      Coloring, activity, and how-to

With pictures to color and a lot of activities, including mazes, dot-to-dots, hidden pictures, word scrambles, and crossword puzzles, coloring and activity books (abbreviated to C&A books in the industry) offer kids fun — plain and simple. And you can find some educational C&A books (such as the ones in Figure 2-6).

      a) Cool Yule! A Creative and Crafty Christmas! and b) Happening Hanukkah: Creative Ways to Celebrate by Debra Mostow Zakarin. Reprinted courtesy of the author.

      FIGURE 2-6: Example color and activity books.

Mad Libs (those great fill-in-the-word-blank games) can provide good, clean fun at sleepovers. Almost any arts and crafts book published by DK (Dorling Kindersley) or Klutz (Klutz Press) keeps kids busy for hours. You can find dozens and dozens of choices on the Klutz rack, including Klutz Jr. My Cat Mermaid and Friends Craft Book, Klutz Lego Gear Bots Science/STEM Activity Kit, and Klutz Lego Make Your Own Movie Activity Kit.

      You can make any activity that kids enjoy spending time doing or creating into an activity or how-to book. Keep it simple and age-appropriate.

      C&A books on the market today often come with innumerable and novel extras, such as punch-outs, stickers, crayons, paints, glow-in-the-dark markers — you name it. These extras actually cross-classify these C&A books as novelty books, which we talk about in the following section.

      

C&A book authors are often in-house editors at publishing houses or established writers who have specific educational experience, firmly rooted in the publisher’s stable of workhorse writers. Very rarely do new authors break into this format (although it’s not unheard of if the author has a truly original concept). Another bummer: You don’t always get to see your name on the front cover. Also, the illustrators for C&A books often come from studios. These illustrators either do masses of these types of books or have approval to illustrate featured licensed characters.

      Novelty books

A novelty book goes beyond just words and pictures on flat pages. It’s often three-dimensional and always interactive (meaning the child must engage more than just their eyes in the experience). From pop-ups to pull-tabs, from juggling balls to paper dolls, innovative novelty books can really engage the imagination (see Figure 2-7 for an example). When any type of children’s book has something in addition to just flat paper and images, it moves into the novelty category.

      

Printing just words and illustrations on paper has become expensive — especially if the publisher prints only a few thousand copies to start. And novelty books always go beyond simply printed and bound paper.

      Once upon a time, publishers could afford to print tens of thousands of copies of a novelty title right off the bat. But when the market became saturated,