TRANSCRIPT

If you’re tempted to write a rhyming picture book manuscript, my advice to you is… don’t do it. But let me explain why.

Now, I know that children love rhyming books and Dr. Seuss and Julia Donaldson have sold zillions of books that rhyme. But these videos that you’re watching are about how to get published and, the bottom line is, rhyming stories have more difficulty getting sold.

For starters, publishers and agents expect the rhyme to be perfect. This means that the rhyme and meter have to be spot on without making the sentences sound forced. And that’s just really difficult to do. The bigger factor though is that publishing is a business and publishers have a harder time selling the foreign rights to rhyming books. If a publisher is looking at two equally great manuscripts but can only choose one, they’ll go for the one that has the potential to make them the most money.

All that said, if you want to write in rhyme, write in rhyme. Don’t let me or anyone dissuade you. Just keep moving forward and make sure that your rhyme is perfect.

Thank you so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.