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A Brief and Nerdy Analysis of 100 Picture BooksRecently I've been tracking data for PBs I read, including:
-Tense
-Point of view
-Rhyming / prose
This thread presents the data. I hope you find it interesting!
#amwriting #PictureBooks #kidlit #WritingCommunity #WritersCafe
First some necessary background on what books I documented.
* Limited to one book per author.
* Character-based narrative stories only.
* No 2nd person or meta books.
* With multiple tenses, I documented the more prevalent tense. If it wasn't clear, I skipped that book.
* Limited to one book per author.
* Character-based narrative stories only.
* No 2nd person or meta books.
* With multiple tenses, I documented the more prevalent tense. If it wasn't clear, I skipped that book.
...and some background on why I did this.
I've seen comments from CPs, e.g.:
"Why is the ms in past tense? Shouldn't it all happen in real time?"
"I've heard publishers prefer PBs to be written in third person."
These surprised me. I wanted data on what's typical in the market.
I've seen comments from CPs, e.g.:
"Why is the ms in past tense? Shouldn't it all happen in real time?"
"I've heard publishers prefer PBs to be written in third person."
These surprised me. I wanted data on what's typical in the market.
Starting with a straightforward chart: what percentage of picture books are rhyming?
We know many aspiring PB authors think they need to rhyme.
Well, the truth is only 2 in 10 narrative PBs are rhyming.
We know many aspiring PB authors think they need to rhyme.
Well, the truth is only 2 in 10 narrative PBs are rhyming.
How about point of view and tense?
75% of PBs are written in 3rd person POV*.
More than 75% of PBs are written in past tense.
(* Reminder this dataset only considered books in either 1st or 3rd person POV)
75% of PBs are written in 3rd person POV*.
More than 75% of PBs are written in past tense.
(* Reminder this dataset only considered books in either 1st or 3rd person POV)
How about the combination of POV and tense? This chart shows how prevalent each combination is in the dataset.
Two thirds of all picture books are written in 3rd person + past tense.
Two thirds of all picture books are written in 3rd person + past tense.
If we look separately at the sets of rhyming or non-rhyming books, the prevalence of each POV+tense is roughly the same.
For both rhyming and prose, 3rd person + past is used in 2/3 of books.
Maybe notable:
-3rd+present is more common in rhyme
-1st+past is more common in prose
For both rhyming and prose, 3rd person + past is used in 2/3 of books.
Maybe notable:
-3rd+present is more common in rhyme
-1st+past is more common in prose
That's it! I really hope some people find this helpful or interesting or at least amusing. It was a fun and quick little project for me.
A couple more notes to follow:
A couple more notes to follow:
1. The books were effectively "randomly selected". I made no preference for rhyming or prose or any other factor when selecting the books to read.
2. None of this is intended to say "this is the right way to write your book". This is just showing you what happens to be out there
2. None of this is intended to say "this is the right way to write your book". This is just showing you what happens to be out there
In case you're curious, this chart shows the pub year of the books considered (grouped in 5-year bins).
(If you want to see the actual book list, it's pasted here: https://controlc.com/b058b216 )
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![In case you're curious, this chart shows the pub year of the books considered (grouped in 5-year bins).(If you want to see the actual book list, it's pasted here: https://controlc.com/b058b216 )[/end thread]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjZbAR4XcAE2MmQ.png "In case you're curious, this chart shows the pub year of the books considered (grouped in 5-year bins).(If you want to see the actual book list, it's pasted here: https://controlc.com/b058b216 )[/end thread]")
(If you want to see the actual book list, it's pasted here: https://controlc.com/b058b216 )
[/end thread]
