[erin-kelly1 Posts: 1 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Hi, I have researched extensively about formatting a children's picture book manuscript.  I have a publisher I am submitting to that says
"Children's pic books : send your full manuscript including page breaks."

where I am confused is when researching, I get conflicting advice.  My book has short sentences and would have page breaks between all of them.  Some advice states" after that paragraph and leading into a new paragraph, I should have a page break and leave the rest of the paper blank and start the new paragraph on the next page."  That looks really strange, not to mention a waste of paper.  Other advice was to " insert (page break) after a space but then continue forward with the text on that same page."
I guess like:
     Blah blah words here....

                      (page break)

     Blady-blah blah I should have listed to my mother and went to law school.

I am sorry if this was covered elsewhere, I couldn't find it!  please help!
thanks,
Erin

[JulieM Posts: 943 Status: Offline WWW]

Hi Erin,
In my experience it's rare for a publisher to say they want to see page breaks. Given that, you may not receive lots of advice here. Given that too, here's a short part of my published nonfiction picture book, I've Got Feet!, which shows how page breaks were indicated. However, this was towards the end of the editing/revising period with my editor so someone else may well chime in with other recommendations.
Best of luck with your sub!

[pg 1]
design/art

[pg 2]
copyright info and dedication page
[pg3]
Title page

[pg 4-5]
Animal feet can walk, run, and kick. They can climb, jump, and dig. Some feet swim. Some catch food. What a lot of things animal feet can do!

[pg 6-7]
I’ve got fast feet! My feet are as quick as a car on the highway. Sidebar: Cheetah feet never slip. They have claws that grip the ground (even better than soccer shoes.)

PS Note how the double page spreads are indicated.

[olmue Posts: 3,582 Status: Offline WWW]

I've never seen anyone ask for page breaks; that sounds strange to me. But if I were doing it, I'd do what Julie suggested. Sending each line on a separate page sounds a bit over the top, right? I think her way is clear and clean.

Best of luck!

[Vijaya Posts: 7,337 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Erin, I've been asked sometimes to indicate page breaks and I indicate it as Julie has. However, even before I'm asked, I prepare a rudimentary dummy for all my picture books because it helps me to see how the page turns will work. If you google making PB dummies, you'll get lots of practical advice on how to make them. Good luck, Vijaya

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,871 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

I saw an editor speak yesterday, and she suggested doing just what Julie has. It wasn't a requirement for her though. She just used this as an example for anyone who wanted to submit that way. I do think it's becoming more common.

[Melody Posts: 522 Status: Offline WWW]

It really depends upon the editor/publisher as far as how they want PB manuscripts sent to them. If someone asks for page breaks, yes, do this as shown above. Good luck!

[literaticat Posts: 405 Status: Offline WWW]

Agree with above - it's fine with me if you describe the pagination, as above. (Or not).

What is NEVER done, in my experience, is *literally* paginating - In other words, don't send one line on one page, one line on a new page, etc. That is definitely weird, bad advice.