Creating Children's Picture Books
One of the workshops I attended at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing conference was a panel discussion on publishing children’s books. Because my friend Angela has a children’s book blog and a great idea for a kids’ book, I went to hear what they had to say. The group consisted of Richard Cowdrey, Barbara Herndon, Kristine Nelson, and Michele Wood.Cowdrey illustrates the Marley books; Herndon is the picture book acquisitions editor for HarperCollins Christian Publishing; Nelson serves as senior art director for Zonderkidz; and Wood is the illustrator of several children’s books, including I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery (pictured).
. The art is what makes people buy the books; the story is whatbrings them back.. Authors should start by knowing what’s out there. Gobble uppicture books and study kids’ books.. Join SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). If you attend their conference, editors are more open to your work.. Purchase Writing with Pictures. It’s the bible on how to publish a picture book.. Follow the blogs that deal with publishing kids’ books.. Subscribe to Children’s Writer newsletter.How much text is ideal? For a thirty-two page book, anywherefrom 250 to 1,000 words. The market trend at the moment is “less.”Target the 4 to 8 age range. But make it your goal that theadult will enjoy the book as much as the kid.Amateur alert: When you submit a book manuscript, publishersprefer that you not bring your artist choice with you. (They called it a“no-no.”) Let the publisher handle that part.Don’t expect to have much input on the production process.Publishers often don’t want writers talking to illustrators. The artist is theexpert on “art.”Know that the process from the time of manuscript acceptanceto publication is generally about two years.Let this encourage you: You can’t pass your app to your kids, so eBooks will never replace hard copies. Still, there’s a huge eBook market to be explored. Nelson (Zonderkidz) said her company is definitely in the fixed-format eBook market.