Writing Children’s Picture Books
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
Writing children’s picture books is an exciting but demanding task. Picture books are short and engaging, so the writing needs to be precise and impactful. With an average picture book word count of 600 words, you can’t waste a single syllable! To create a successful picture book, it’s important to start with the strongest idea possible and then develop it into an original story uniquely geared to preschool readers. Once you have your draft, you’ll need to revise it until it’s just right, and then dive into the interesting and competitive picture book publishing landscape. Let’s break down each step in this process.
Writing Children’s Picture Books: Creating the Idea
The most important part of writing children’s picture books is creating an idea that will engage readers immediately, which is sometimes called the premise of your story. It should be unique, interesting, and well-suited for its intended age group. Choose a universal theme for your story that is strong enough to carry through from beginning to end without losing momentum along the way. (But keep in mind that, in your quest to create meaningful children’s books, you should never condescend or moralize, even to these youngest readers.)
Make sure your characters are likable, relatable, and intriguing, with unique attributes and the sense that they have a unique spark in the world. They should, of course, have flaws that make them resonate with young audiences. After all, perfection is unrealistic, and young readers will be able to spot an idealized adult version of a child right away.
Finally, if you can include some form of conflict, whether internal conflict or external conflict, or both, then you will take your attempt at writing children’s picture books to new heights.
Writing Children’s Picture Books: Writing the Draft
Now that you have your idea all planned out, it’s time to sit down and write. One of the biggest mistakes I see when writers try their hand at writing children’s picture books, is thinking that it’s easy because it’s “just” 600 words or 32 pages.
When writing children's picture books, you need to know industry-specific guidelines that most books follow, and that includes your word choice. Varying sentence lengths can help keep readers engaged while also helping younger readers understand. You should also absolutely read your work aloud, as that is how the project will be consumed.
Finally, make sure you leave room for illustration. Don’t spend a long time describing the setting or your character’s looks or actions. All of those details will be taken care of by the art, as when you’re writing children’s picture books, you’re collaborating with an illustrator as a true creative partner.
Writing Children’s Picture Books: Next Steps
Once you have written your draft, take some time away from it before revisiting it with fresh eyes. I recommend putting a project aside for a few weeks at least, though many writers don’t follow this simple advice. When a person is emotionally invested in a project, they have a hard time seeing it clearly.
That’s why I also recommend joining writing groups or getting critique partners. If you want to put rocket boosters on your writing children’s picture books journey, hire a freelance editor who specializes in this market. An outside set of eyes can help identify any structural problems or weak points in the story more easily than you’ll be able to, especially if you’re new to writing and storytelling.
Once you feel your manuscript is ready (though you might not know exactly how to make this call), you can submit your project to literary agents and publishers that work with picture books, or self-publish. If you take the latter route, your project will require illustrations, but you should only consider hiring an illustrator after revisions are complete. If you go the traditional publishing route, the house will commission the illustrations for your project.
Writing children's picture books is no small feat! This very special publishing goal takes dedication and creativity, coupled with knowledge specific to this niche market. Start by building up your best idea into an original narrative that follows picture-book specific guidelines, then revise until the draft is as strong as you can get it, and finally, send it out into the world! Writing children’s picture books isn’t for everyone, but if you have a story in your heart, you’re doing the right thing by learning the process and finding educational resources like this one.
Click here to purchase Writing Irresistible Picture Books, my book on children’s picture books. This comprehensive guide is crammed with craft advice and groundbreaking original research, including a survey of 1,000 upcoming picture book deals, a breakdown of 80 modern and marketable picture book topics, and in-depth analysis of over 150 published picture books.