A quick post:
Check out this recent PW article about picture books: http://bit.ly/fqf3nN. It’s a more positive view of the market, written in rebuttal to an earlier, dreary NYTimes story on the same subject.
Now, if I could only write one of these dang things…Picture book stories are so much more difficult to write than novels!
And this article is a lot more thoughtful and informative than the NYT article. And of course the Truman picture is a five-star pic!
I'm of the same opinion about PB's, Liza. It's like you're building a pocket watch, and the screws are about the size of grains of sand, and you have to peer through a loupe all day. Too much teeny-tiny fussbudgeting.
Thanks for posting that article, Liza. It is far more informative than the Times one.
And yes the field is cyclical. When I started publishing pic books "they" said YA was completely dead and would never be popular.
It's the same in fine art. In the 70's "they" said drawing was useless and cut it from most art schools. Now there is a resurgence of teaching drawing again.
Important thing to remember–do what you are driven to do, no matter what the market says.