Writing a picture book is a challenging and rewarding choice in the children’s book arena. To do so successfully though requires that you arm yourself with a few skills and some information. The picture book is very versatile in its range of topics, its writing style and its wide array of illustrative possibilities.
There are some important guidelines that must be followed in its structure however that will impact on the layout of your story. Picture books are generally either 24 or 32 pages long, it is possible to go shorter or longer but the makeup of the book is always a multiple of eight.There are of course introductory or information pages, a title page and a blank page front and/or back if required that can be used to fill out the book. For the standard 32 page book you will roughly have a word count of about 2000, but take into account also the nature of your illustrations and how they will flow with the story.
It’s important to consider how the story will fit into the pages and it often helps to make a mock up of you book so you can assess its pace. Publishers will have the final say but you must know that the work you’re presenting meets the requirements. There are a few basic picture book categories and although not exclusive they make up a large majority of what is in the market. They include the story book, the concept book and the novelty book each require the same considerations in presentation.