Why write about dinosaurs? Choosing popular book genres for children.

My debut book “The Scariest Dinosaur” is, as the name suggests, all about dinosaurs. Why? Because my research showed that dinosaurs are really popular with children. Don’t believe me? Just think back to how successful Jurassic Park was and similar films like Godzilla. There is something otherworldly and captivating about dinosaurs and, for a children’s author, they are adaptable: dinosaurs can be scary or funny or both at the same time.

Research, research and research some more

I didn’t just happen upon dinosaurs as the topic for my first book. I spent a long time carrying out research on the most popular children’s books and I used Google, Pinterest, and Instagram to try to find out. I also looked at libraries to find out which books were loaned out most often. It didn’t take too long to see that dinosaur stories and illustrated stories specifically, were the most popular.

Read lots of books

My next step was to get hold of as many illustrated children’s books about dinosaurs as I could. Why? Because I had never written or illustrated a book before (I like a challenge) and the only way to know what is acceptable and likely to be bought by parents is to look at what has already sold and sold well.

Now, I am also a scientist and a top tip to get scientific papers published is to obtain the last 10 papers previously published in your chosen journal. The reason is simple: you will have more chance of having a paper accepted if your submission looks and feels like every other paper in the journal. I go through the papers and count the average number of words in the titles; determine the number of sections; the average number of paragraphs per section; the average number of pages; the average number of images or illustrations. I think you get the idea.

What do publishing scientific papers have to do with writing a children’s book? Quite simply, regardless of whether you intend to try to get traditionally published or you decide to self-publish, you need to create something that agents, publishers, and parents instantly recognise and find acceptable. For example, there is no point in publishing an illustrated children’s book with 100 pages and only 5 images - no matter how captivating you might think your story is! An extreme example but the point is clear.

Keep to the industry standard for book size

Most illustrated children’s books are either 24 or, more often, 32 pages long and are illustrated with full-bleed images (go right to the edges) or are vignettes or a mix of both. Some books have the text within the imagery (so remember to leave space!) or have the text in an area outside of the images. Both are acceptable and you should choose what works best for you. I tended to use a bit of both.

Why write about dinosaurs?

So, why write about dinosaurs? It makes sense to not only write about something that is popular but it should also be something you enjoy. If you enjoy creating the story and imagery (if you are self-illustrating) it will show in your final product. I discovered that I like writing in rhyming verse and didn’t even know that I could do it until I tried. Admittedly, there was a lot of trial and a lot more error but my book, The Scariest Dinosaur, is steadily and consistently selling so I guess I got something right!

Although I am also a successful artist in my spare time I had never created illustrations. I must admit, I found it very challenging at the start but I think each image got better as I went along and my second book, I Saw a Dinosaur (coming soon) has much better illustrations as a result of constant practice. The key thing is that I enjoy sketching and really love sketching dinosaurs and I hope this shows in my work.