A guideline to use as a useful starting point
Picture books are a form with a particular shape, a fixed number of spreads, a text that works in partnership with illustration, and a read-out-loud experience. That shape has a natural word count that tends to go with it. It’s not a rule so much as a yardstick, a useful guide that tells you whether your text is working within the form, or whether it might be pulling against it.
The guidelines
Most publishers and agents currently work to a guideline of around 500 words as a word count for a standard picture book. This reflects the physical structure of the form: a standard picture book runs to 32 pages, built around 12 double-page spreads of story content, with front matter and end pages making up the rest.
It’s worth knowing that 500 words is an average, not an absolute. Some publishers specifically seek out picture books at the shorter end – under 300 words, or even less – and very short texts are increasingly fashionable in certain parts of the market. What’s considered ideal also shifts with trends, so it’s worth checking the submission guidelines of specific publishers before you submit, rather than relying on any single figure.
What your word count might be telling you
The reason the 500-word guideline is useful is not only because word count matters when you’re submitting your work to agents or publishers, but also because it might help you create the right story. For instance, if your picture book text runs significantly over that figure, you might not be leaving enough room for the illustrator. A successful picture book is a perfect marriage between text and illustrations; the text does what the illustrations can’t, and vice versa. As a writer, you shouldn’t describe what the illustrations will show, but also leave room for the illustrations to do part of the storytelling. Cut what the pictures can carry.
The same logic applies in reverse: if your word count is significantly lower than 500, it’s worth checking that you’re doing enough storytelling. Is the book you envision sparse for a good reason? Will the illustrations carry enough of the story? It’s good to look at this critically.
There are, of course, exceptions
500 words is a benchmark, not a rule. If your story warrants a low word count, or a high one, by all means, go for it. Some of the most celebrated picture books in print sit well outside the standard range, and they work because the departure from convention is doing something specific and deliberate. The point isn’t to stay within the guidelines at all costs. It’s to understand why the guidelines exist, so that when you choose to depart from them, you’re making a purposeful creative decision.
A note on rhyming books
Rhyming picture books tend to run longer than prose texts, and for good reason; metre and rhyme scheme impose a structure that sometimes requires additional words to complete a line or maintain rhythm. This isn’t automatically a problem. A well-crafted rhyming text that runs to 600 or 700 words can work beautifully, and publishers who love rhyme will be happy to accommodate it.
That said, it’s worth knowing that rhyme is generally harder to sell than prose, because truly good rhyme is hard to do. Plus, rhyming texts translates harder and is therefore harder to make a commercial success. Read our full article about rhyme versus prose in picture books here.
Use the word count guideline as a check, but nothing more
The 500-word guideline is useful as a prompt to ask whether every word in your text is doing necessary work, and whether your text is leaving enough room for the illustrator to bring the other half of the book to life. But if your story needs more, or less, it’s important to follow it. Stories generally know what they need.
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