Tuesday, April 17, 2018

No Cat or Dog Stories, Please...



When it comes to what picture book publishers are looking for, there are general please-don’ts some editors and agents have posted over the last few years.

One I have seen a few times is “no cute cats or dogs stories.”
Nothing wrong with the above, it’s just that the market is saturated.

And yet, I keep seeing more picture books that are new with feline or canine protagonists.

Another is no rhyming stories.


I keep seeing those, also. And I’m glad, because as rhyming has gone out of fashion in “serious” poetry, its last vestige is in picture books, and we all *love* rhyme when done well.

 Here’s a good example—

May I suggest we write the stories we most want to write and more-or-less ignore these please-don’ts?


& Tell great stories &

14 comments:

Evelyn said...

Well said.

niligross said...

A good book is a good book

Vijaya said...

Yup!

Tina Cho said...

Excellent observation, Mirka!

Trine Grillo said...

Yes. We need to write the story within us. It will touch someone, somewhere.

Barbara Etlin said...

Yes! I'm sure J.K. Rowling heard the advice that witch and wizard stories were a no-no...and ignored it, thank goodness.

janlcoates said...

Every now and again, I just HAVE to write something in rhyme - it can be incredibly frustrating, but also fun. And that's why we write, right?

Mirka Breen said...

Absolutely write ;)

Mirka Breen said...

I don't know if wizards were no-no then, but publishers did state that fantasy was "out." post HP, that's all everyone wanted. We've also lived through a half-decade of "no more picture books, please" a few years back.
Now I'm craving a seriously great cat or dog story...

Mirka Breen said...

And by "someone, somewhere" you are thinking of the readers. But we have to touch an agent or an editor first.

Mirka Breen said...

And the great ones could be a rhyming cat story or a novel with a dog at its center, no doubt.

Kelly Hashway said...

Always writer what you love. I don't know how some authors can write to market. I'm sure it makes them more money, but I can't do it. Have to tell the stories that come to me.

Trine Grillo said...

I feel the same, Kelly/Ashelyn

Anonymous said...

I'm continuously noticing all the new cute rhyming animal stories. Since all these manuscripts were purchased two or three years earlier, all the more reason to write what we want. You just can't tell what will be in vogue years down the road, and who cares anyway---a great story is a great story.