For the last few years, the picture book market has
been down, but it is definitely on the rise. The word count is low, less than
500 for many of the books, but there are always exceptions. THE DAY THE
CRAYONS QUIT is about 1,000 words, which is long for today’s market; yet it has
become a best seller. Does that mean the trend for higher word counts is upon
us? Trends come and go so who knows.
Some picture books are all narrative with no dialog,
such as LOOK UP, the biography of Henrietta Leavitt astronomer. Some are all
dialog and no other narrative, as in DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS.
Usually, picture books are a blend of both narrative and dialog. In many, dialog is about one-third and
narrative two-thirds. Dialog is useful in creating the character and developing
the plot. It also serves as a way to keep the word count low. The dialog,
“Stop!” uses fewer words than “She told her sister to stop.”
Next, week, we’ll talk more.
Call for Submissions for Young Writers:
Creative Kids magazine is the nation’s
largest magazine by and for kids with games, stories, and opinions all by and
for kids ages 8–14.
Submission guidelines at http://www.ckmagazine.org/submissions/
Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:
RROFIHE TROPHY. NO-FEE
SHORT STORY CONTEST. For an unpublished short story. Minimum word count 3,500;
maximum to 5,000 words. Winner receives $500, trophy, announcement and
publication on anderbo.com. Deadline October 15, 2015.
Submission guidelines
athttp://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/no-fee-rrofihe-trophy2015.html
No comments:
Post a Comment