Straight from a publishing insider, this comprehensive picture book guide is crammed with craft advice and groundbreaking original research. Writing Irresistible Picture Books unpacks a survey of 1,000 upcoming picture book deals, a breakdown of 80 modern and marketable picture book topics, and in-depth analysis of over 150 published picture books.
You can confidently internalize and write character, theme, plot, conflict, voice and structure for young readers. You will get answers to the most common questions about picture book revision, illustrations, submission strategies, query letters, and more from an industry insider and former literary agent at one of the top children’s book agencies in the nation.
If you’re looking to get your work traditionally published, Writing Irresistible Picture Books is the resource for you. Dive in and learn the best strategies to get your picture book noticed by literary agents and publishers, and to leap into the hearts—and onto the shelves—of amazing young readers everywhere.
Former literary agent Mary Kole founded Mary Kole Editorial in 2013 and provides consulting and developmental editing services to writers of all categories and genres, working on children’s book projects from picture book to young adult, and all kinds of trade market literature, including fantasy, sci-fi, romance and memoir. She founded Good Story Company in 2019 with the aim of providing valuable content—like the Good Story Podcast and Crit Collective writing forum—to writers of all categories and ability levels.
She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has worked at Chronicle Books, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Movable Type Management. She has been blogging at Kidlit.com since 2009. Her book, Writing Irresistible Kidlit, a writing reference guide for middle grade and young adult writers, is available from Writer's Digest Books.