In the first part of this mini-guide, I gave you some tips to help you write your rhyming picture book text. Now I’m going to explain why publishers (and therefore agents) will probably reject it simply because it’s written in rhyme and metre (in the UK, at least). Tough, I know, but this isn’t about ruining your day, it’s about helping you to know your enemy. And the publisher is your enemy until the day they give you a contract and become your friend.
1. Rhyming texts are difficult and expensive to translate, and therefore hard to sell into foreign language markets. In Britain co-editions are crucial to the economic viability of picture books (I illustrated a picture book some years back which still isn’t published because it hasn’t gained enough interest abroad, and that was in prose!). This fact alone is enough to generate an automatic rejection. The situation is less acute in the US because the domestic market is so much bigger, but it’s still an issue.
It’s not all bad news though. An editor recently told me that ‘if it’s good enough, it will be translated’, but I take that to mean that it has to be something exceptional.
2. Even within the English language, rhyming texts don’t always travel. This is especially true between the US and Canada on the one hand, and the UK, Australia and New Zealand on the other (other English-speaking countries are available). This is because the stress patterns in North American English differ from those of elsewhere, and I’m not just talking about the famous case of al-u-MIN-i-um/al-U-min-um. While in the UK ‘toward’ is two unambiguous syllables, for many in the US it’s only one. And when it comes to rhyme, while many non-rhotic Brits are happy to rhyme ‘parcel’ and ‘castle’, most Americans wouldn’t dream of it.
These are subtle points, but enough to dissuade a reluctant publisher in the US from acquiring a UK text. British publishers know that and so should you.
3. Metrical, rhyming texts are much harder to edit, because they are inevitably more highly structured. Whereas 500 words of prose can go through enormous revision and emerge greatly improved, 500 words in verse can only really be tinkered with or scrapped and rewritten entirely. Editors don’t need that kind of headache, especially if they’ve never worked with you before.
Now you see why I wrote ‘IT’S MUCH HARDER THAN YOU THINK!’ In capitals in the first part of this three-part post. But don’t be disheartened, just add these three points to the challenge pile, roll up your sleeves, and get stuck in. Publishers DO take on picture book texts in rhyme, they just set the bar very high, that’s all.
Next: what happens when your published book encounters a very different kind of enemy/friend: the reader.
Aye up lad – we duzzn't rhyme parcel with castle up north.
Ize mean int'norf of England, not Canada
Thanks, Matt. I knew I shouldn't have used 'castle' as an example. I've made a small change…
"And the publisher is your enemy until the day they give you a contract and become your friend."LOL. And until the publisher tells you to do something with your book you don't want to do, like revise yet again, and cut words, and then they become your enemy again. Or until the book is released and they don't sell enough copies to suit you, again– enemy. Really, the author/publisher relationship can be so volatile at times that it's a wonder any books get released. (Excuse my rant.)
Ah, now I get how castle should rhyme – hahaha! I'd be rhyming "yes" with "this"!Why does this make me want to write a picture book?
Hi, Karen — rant away:)It's just possible I was exaggerating with that line.Rachel, I say 'castle' to rhyme with 'Dover' so what do I know?