Myths and legends

Hi Nicole. Last things first - don't bother with pictures. Unless you are an outstanding illustrator (by published standards) it will most likely confuse the issue.

I've edited a picture-book version of Greek myths before, for an age group of 7-10 or so. They sell pretty well to schools and libraries. I did get a complaint once, that the stories were too depressing for bedtime reading (to which my response was, don't people read the books they buy BEFORE they read them to their kids?). That's the most important thing, I think - you'll need a sure control of tone in order to retain what's worthwhile about Greek myth without frightening children (and their panicky parents.)

Hey Nichole,

As to word count for a picture book. Definitely under 1000 words preferably quite a bit less. Quite a few publishers I know of list their upper limit at 600 wards.


JED

I once read that publishers don't like to see more than 30 words per page if its a picture book. Don't know if that's true or not though.

I would suggest that you send out a request for writers guidelines, from a few publishers and see what they say.

Also try going to the library and take out several children's books, similar in nature (page count, type of pictures planned, etc) to yours, and take them home and study them. How many words are on each page? Write that down. How many pages? Write that down too. What is the total word count for each? What is the average per page? Does one publisher seem to have a lot of books with about the same word count? If yes than they probably have a limit on word count. Look around at already published books and see what looks to be the average for books similar to yours, and go with that. That's what I would do.