word count for biography PBs
By Janet - Posted on June 21st, 2009
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Hi, I have a question about word count. I know publishers want word count for PBs to be low, like 500 words. Does this also apply to biographical picture books? I've written a PB about a certain event in the life of a revolutionary war heroine, it is a low word count now, but should it be higher?
Hi Janet. What a coincidence, given my latest twitter postings on my own word count agony with non-fiction PBs!
(http://twitter.com/PaulaYoo) I don't think there's a set limit for word count in PBs - it's okay if you write 501 words for a fiction PB. :) However, in one class I took, I remember being told for fiction prose PBs, try to aim for no more than 1000 words (5 double spaced pages). Poetry is 500 and even shorter. For non-fiction PBs, the word count is higher. My original PB count for the Sammy Lee book was 1000 but it eventually ballooned up to about 1700 words for the final version. My original PB count for my new book on Anna May Wong was about 1700 words. So for non-fiction PBs, my guess is as long as it is between 1000 and 2000 words, tops, you should be fine, but try to keep it between 1500 and 1700 tops cuz I personally think 2000 can get a bit much. But the Caldecott winning PB bio Snowflake Bentley is only 979 words. A great website is this: http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp
Plug in the title of a published book and it will show you the word count. Good luck!
best
Paula
Thanks Paula for your input. I was thinking the word count could be higher, but wasn't sure.
I don't have an answer for you Janet, sorry. However, I am interested in the answer, too. I think it is a very good question, Janet.
Auntie Flamingo
http://auntieflamingo.blogspot.com/