Recently, I had commissioned illustrations for a children's picture book that I had written. I had outlined what type of illustrations I wanted and the whole thing ended up being 100 pages worth of illustrations (1 illustration per page). Initially, my plan was to not really give the amount of images all that much thought and just have everything illustrated as I saw it in my head, and then, after all these images were finished, condense them into roughly 40 pages of illustrations so that the book is a more traditional/commercial length. For the life of me though, I just can't see my book having any less than 100 illustrated pages despite being for young children, so I am just sort-of not sure what to do. Should I have the book be as it is, with 100 illustrated pages? Or... Should I have it shortened to something like 40 pages in order to fit commercial standards? It would be nice to get some varying perspectives on this, as well as some examples of picture books that have an unorthodox length.
1 Answer
- Are you a bestselling (!) published author? Then you have more leeway because you have an established readership part of which will buy anything you publish. If you are a newcomer, your chances of getting published are immensely higher if you conform to the conventions of your genre (illustrated picture books). Picture books are extremely expensive to produce (full page full color illustrations on every page, thick cardboard pages, durable binding), so every additional page will increase production cost and either make your book so much more expensive (and who will by a picture book that costs twice as much as all the others on the shelf?) or reduce revenues for the publisher and author (and which publisher wants to work for half or less their regular income?).
- A hundred page encyclopedia for toddlers may work (e.g. listing all animals of the world or all machines on a construction site), because you don't read all of it in one sitting, but picture books with stories must be short and simple enought for the cognitive abilities of such small children. A hundred page story is likely overwhelming and confusing for your audience.
- You face a common writing problem. You have created more content than is good for your story, and now you feel you cannot let any of it go, because you are emotionally invested in it. What you need to do is understand what your book requires and delete everything that is superfluous. This is called "kill your darlings", because to amateur writers that is how it feels. Professionals understand that writing is a job and do what it requires without torturing themselves over it.
- I don't know of any overly long picture books. You will have to do your own research. Given that we live in the internet age, maybe searching for something like "long picture books" should return some results.
There are quite a few blog posts and such where agents and other industry professionals give advice regarding the ideal length of picture books. For example:
The standard is text for 32 pages. That might mean one line per page, or more. 500-600 words is a good number to aim for. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. (from Writer's Digest)
PICTURE BOOK: 0-1,300 words. Sweet spot: 300-550*
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: 336
Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer: 348
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor: 418
Ladybug Girl by David Soman: 721
* Note: I really advise clients to keep their picture books under 600 words - 800 at the very top. Picture books in the 1,000+ word range are generally folktales and fairy tales... and are not exactly in fashion. Unless you are a really gifted folklorist, I would not go down this road. There are very few such authors in the country. They know who they are. (from Jennifer Laughran)
Story-based or fiction picture books are usually 32 pages long and vary between 500 to 1000 words. They are designed for pre-schoolers and children in the first few years of primary school, and are usually intended to be read aloud as a shared experience between an adult and child. ... Non-fiction picture books tend to be longer in both page and word count because they are usually designed for older children who are reading for themselves. It’s not unusual for non-fiction picture books to go up to 96 pages due to their more complex subject matter, and because they are enjoyed by children of all ages through primary school. (from Penguin Books)
