Orange Blossom Publishing
  • Home
  • Our Authors
  • Our Books
  • Editing+
  • Submissions
  • Store
  • Blog
  • For Parents and Teachers
  • Contact
  • Printing Course
  • Infostack
  • Teacher Journal Bulk Order
  • Self Pub 101
  • Top Tools

Picture Book Word Count: How many words for a picture book manuscript?

11/11/2018

7 Comments

 
Arielle Haughee
Reading time with my boys
Getting the word count correct is a very important skill for anyone looking to publish picture books. Agents and publishers won’t accept manuscripts with high words counts. Distributors won’t select them for sales representation either.

Why? Long picture books don’t sell very well anymore.

Why Long Picture Book Manuscripts Don’t Work

Small Press United, an indie book distributor, has this in their Reasons for Declining information: “a children's picture book with pages that have large amounts of text no longer works as a picture book.”

Recent market surveys show that children age out of picture books at six, earlier than previous generations. Kids are moving up to early readers and chapter books younger than before. This in and of itself is a great thing. We have better readers! But it does raise a problem for picture book authors and publishers. We need to adjust our standards to match what children need and ultimately, what sells.

Authors also need to keep in mind the dual audience of picture books: the children hearing the story and the parent who reads it. Parents are the ones purchasing the books and reading them aloud until the child is old enough to read on their own. If there is one thing that drives me crazy during story time at night, it is a picture book that goes on and on and on. Those books often mysteriously disappear under the bed or at the very bottom of the book bin. As a parent, I won’t buy a picture book with a lot of text.

Picture Book Word Count: Here’s the Magic Number

For fiction or creative nonfiction picture books (not informational), the current word count goal is 500 words. Yup, that’s it.

If you are planning to traditionally publish, it is significantly more likely you will be successful if you stick to this word count. Yes, you can go to Barnes and Noble and likely find a longer picture book on the shelf. This book is probably either a classic or written by an established author. Stick to 500 words to increase your chances of acceptance.

If you are self-publishing, you do have some leeway but remember that you want to be competitive in the market with all the other picture books. You also don’t want your adorable-but-wiggly audience getting bored. Keep it under 1,000 but try to get closer to 500.

A Quick Way to Practice

If you write adult fiction, one of the best activities you can do to get comfortable with the 500 word format is to practice flash fiction. It teaches you to squeeze your entire story in a low word count and helps you focus on every single word, cutting anything extra.

If you are new to writing or are only interested in writing picture books, look for my next blog post: Five Tricks for Trimming Word Count in Picture Book Manuscripts.

Happy writing!

7 Comments
essay writer reviews link
5/18/2019 04:53:07 am

A picture book is something that I really need right now. I am someone who loves taking pictures using my Polaroid. I have a lot of pictures at my disposal at the moment. Of course, I do not want them to lose their touch and quality, which is why I am in dire need of a photo book. If you know a place to get one, then please kindly message me. I am really hoping to obtain one at the soonest.

Reply
Cg
9/7/2019 08:54:13 pm

It was good

Reply
Amy
7/27/2020 11:17:43 am

Hello, I agree that the average picture book should be 500 words, max. But, do you have any idea as to how long a non-fiction picture book or a picture book biography should be? Thanks (in advance)!

Reply
Arielle Haughee
7/28/2020 06:31:45 am

Hi Amy! Great question. It all depends on your age group and topic. For example, a biography intended for primary grades (K-2) will have fewer pages and a lower word count than one intended for intermediate (3-5). You have a lot more wiggle room as far as pages and word count because nonfiction books are often intended for school-age readers instead of ages 2 - 6, which is the target age for fiction picture books. So I would recommend figuring out your topic and age group, then finding similar books on Amazon and scroll down to the details where they list the word count. That will give you a good idea. Thanks for asking!

Reply
caroleann link
12/7/2020 01:17:56 am

I agree with you on this and enjoyed reading it, Thank you. It has given me a fresh perspective on this topic.
In writing a great children’s book, it is not only enough to be skillful and creative. You also need to be determined, inspiring, and purpose-oriented as an author.

I hope you can take the time to read my post as well:<a href="http://www.solomonthesnail.com/the-secrets-to-writing-a-great-childrens-book/">The Secrets to Writing a Great Children’s Book</a>

I hope this would also help

Reply
Patricia link
4/27/2021 03:29:22 pm

I have been reading posts regarding this topic and this post is one of the most interesting and informative one I have read. Thank you for this!

Reply
Caroleann link
9/30/2021 03:24:38 pm

Very cool! Loved your tips <3

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Arielle Haughee is the owner and founder of Orange Blossom Publishing. 

    Categories

    All
    For Parents
    Getting Into Writing
    Giveaways
    How I Met My Other
    Picture Books
    Publishing
    Revision
    Writing Craft
    Writing Goals And Routines
    Writing Life
    Writing Picture Books

      Learn about upcoming projects, new releases, giveaways, and more!

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Our Authors
  • Our Books
  • Editing+
  • Submissions
  • Store
  • Blog
  • For Parents and Teachers
  • Contact
  • Printing Course
  • Infostack
  • Teacher Journal Bulk Order
  • Self Pub 101
  • Top Tools