Ep 179 Do publishers like rhyming picture books?

In this minisode of So you want to be a writer: do publishers like rhyming picture books? How to break into the industry and techniques to edit and revise without going through hell.

Got a question for Val and Al? Ask at podcast [at] writerscentre [dot] com [dot] au

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Shout Out

From Verity:

 As an aspiring author I love how Al and Val talk about ‘when’ you publish not ‘if’. I always feel positive about my writing and that yes it is possible. I need to just keep writing!

Thanks, Verity!

Listener questions

From Bec:

Hi Val and Al,

Firstly thank you so much for your podcast! I was living in very remote north Queensland when I found your podcast and the content, along with the friendly hosts, helped me feel a little more connected to the ‘real world’ in what would have been a very lonely time without it.  

I did have a question I was hoping to get some of your advice on.  

So far I have completed two first draft manuscripts. I find when I am writing them everything is going great. I am having a fantastic time and feel like what I am writing is genuinely good however when it comes to editing and reading over that work I barely get past the first page as I spend the whole time cringing and wondering how on earth I thought this was any good in the first place.  

Do you have any tips on getting over this so I can get on and edit the damn thing?

Thanks,

Bec.

From Sarah:

Hi Val and Al,

I was just wondering why publishers don’t like rhyming picture books when so many of the most popular children’s books do in fact rhyme e.g. Nick Bland and Aaron Blabey books? Is it just related to the difficulty in translating them for other countries or something more?

This is a bit sneaky but maybe if you are addressing my first question you could tack in a bit of info on how we crack it as a new writer in picture books when so many publishers state in their submission guidelines that they are not accepting Picture Books.

Regards,
Sarah

Val and Al answer your questions in this episode.

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