Friday, November 16, 2012

Tips for Picture Book Writers: Researching an Idea

Since I'm participating in PiBoIdMo (30 picture book ideas in 30 days, started by Tara Lazar), I thought I'd pass along this tip.

When I want to find out what other books have been published that relate to one of my ideas, I check out the Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University. This free resource allows you to search by keyword to find books written on your topic. It's also a great resource for teachers looking for picture books to address a particular lesson topic.

Do you know of any good resources for finding out about picture books?

5 comments:

  1. This is fantastic! I didn't know about it. Thanks!

    Do you know about the word count site? You probably do. It's good if you're writing longer pb's or easy readers, so you know how your word count compares to already published books. http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristen, that's a great one too! I use it often.

      Delete
  2. Oh, that's a cool idea.

    I don't write PBs, but when my kids were at the PB age, I'd go to the library and picked up whatever books had covers that called to me. The illustrations were the key decision for me. When I loved a certain illustrator, I would put all his books on hold. Occasionally I would put PB on hold based on who the author was. It's ironic what was more important to me considering I'm a writer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is an amazing resource! It is new to me. Thanks for sharing this with us!
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear your responses and thoughts! Your comments will appear after moderation (I’ve decided to enable moderation due to excessive spam).