Wednesday, April 16, 2014

#SCBWIWWA14: How Justin Chanda edits picture books




Justin Chanda, publisher at Simon & Schuster, loves picture books. He talked about how he takes a good manuscript and makes it great. Picture books have an economy of language––less is more! If you are writing in rhyme, be careful because rhyming must be done so precisely. All picture books, however, must have rhythm. (Read your books as they are meant to be read: out loud!) To make sure you have the right page turns, be sure to paginate your manuscript, at least for your own knowledge of where effective page turns might be. And his biggest editorial note: “Let the art carry this!” Remember that it’s a PICTURE book, and it’s the blending of art and text that make picture books great.

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