Promoting Yorkshire Authors

Hints when writing a Children's Picture Book

• While the children's e-book market is growing, paperback remains the preferred format for most parents.
• A picture book is targeted at children between 2 and 5, has between 200 and 400 words, contains 32 pages and has full colour vibrant illustrations on every page.
• Choose a title to grab a parent's attention, explain what the story is about and be searchable, difficult to confuse with other books.
• Choose a writing style. Rhyme perhaps, as long as it is very, very good - same syllable counts and rhythms for each line. Kids prefer books in present tense - it engages them in the story. Children prefer third person but if it works with the theme you've chosen, make that choice but stick to it. 
• Five important elements in a good children's book are: Unforgettable characters, suspenseful action with a hook, realistic dialogue, good storyline and instant recall of the story.
• Make characters solid.
• Make the story engaging.
• Professional quality proofreading and editing - don't skimp on this.
• Choose your books orientation: vertical - the norm, horizontal - good for journey type stories, square - instructional books,
• Popular book sizes: 5.5” x 8.5”, 6” x 9”, 6.14 x 9.21”, 7” x 10”, 8” x 10”, 8.5” x 8.5” and 8.5” x 11”. If your images cover the entire page add 0.125” to the top and bottom plus one side to account for trimming - sections removed during printing.
• You can self- publish easily on Amazon KDP.