[Franzilla Posts: 1,144 Status: Offline Gah! WWW]

Is the standard page size 8 by 10 inches or 8 by 11.5 inches? I've read several sources each saying that one of these is the 'standard' which is clearly not quite right! I know they can come in all shapes and sizes but if I'm trying to make my PB dummy very 'normal', should I go for 8 by 10 or 8 by 11.5?!

[Artemesia Posts: 4,544 Status: Offline WWW]

I think there are several standard sizes, probably based on standard sizes of a signature sheet (the sheet that gets folded and cut into multiples of 8, which is why PBs come in 24, 32, or 40 pages). This is such a hard question to answer at the dummy stage, as if you look at pubbed PBs there are SO many different sizes and page orientation. I think 8x8 and 9x9 are also fairly standard. If accepted it's going to change most likely anyway depending on house style. When I was creating dummies I just chose if it should square, landscape or portrait (what worked best for the story and illos) and then kept it somewhere within 9x11 or less (the size of my sketchbook!), most times basing it on the dimensions of a similar pubbed book. But it's been so long since I've been able to think about PBs I'd totally take with a grain of salt.

[Franzilla Posts: 1,144 Status: Offline Gah! WWW]

Thanks, Arte! I'll go with 8 by 11 I think.

[Stephanie Ruble Posts: 1,990 Status: Offline author/illustrator WWW]

I do my dummies as 8x10. For my recent book, the publisher just kept it that size. The drawings went through changes to make it a better book, but the dimensions stayed the same.  It was one of the standard sizes, so they didn't want/need me to alter the size and shape. As a bonus, the size is easy for me for sketching, scanning, and printing, while I'm figuring out the dummy.

Good luck with your dummy!

[Cynthia Kremsner Posts: 729 Status: Offline Author / Illustrator WWW]

I've been measuring so many of the PB's in my collection with the same sort of question as right now I'm rendering images to put a book dummy together and landscape seems to suit this text the best. What was funny was I attended a conference in April where an AD and a established producer disagreed on a few things and dimensions of PBs came up as well. They agreed that a pretty good standard is 8 x 10" in portrait or landscape . . . but 8 1/2 x 11 was not very well accepted. And those were the exact dimensions specified for a contracted work I did . . . so it depends on the publisher. I think if you are contracted for illustrations only, the dimensions tend to be within their specifications. However, if it's an author/illustrator Picture Book, there is more of an acceptance of the dimensions presented. (With the exception of extremely oddball proportions as those can be quite costly to produce).

[Franzilla Posts: 1,144 Status: Offline Gah! WWW]

Well, I think my illustrations for this book could easily go bigger or smaller, page-wise, without much trouble... It sounds like there's enough variation that as long as I'm not doing it 2 inches by 20 or something ridiculous like that, I'll be okay!


Thank you!