Dummy books are books that we create to get a better idea of what our book is going to look like
Illustrators and author-illustrators make them all the time. Picture book authors rarely do. I didn't think they were important either, until I began studying with two wonderful mentors, Mike Malbrough and Harold Underdown. Both stressed the need for picture book authors to create their own book dummies.
Book dummies help authors see whether the manuscript they are working on has pacing, whether it flows from left to right, whether there is enough 'room' for the illustrations and whether the story lends itself to the 32- or 40- page format of most picture books. I now dummy up my stories on a regular basis.
Picture Book Dummy Composition
And how fortunate that I am co-founder of a platform that lends itself to picture book dummy-composition. After all, you can create a page-flipping ebook in minutes, which can then be updated and revised and shared. Perfect for authors who want to create and edit dummy books easily. We've even created a separate home page with explanations and more.
Here is the link:
Dummy Books Workshop
To make a long story short (picture book writers need to!), I've been invited to give an international workshop for authors on making dummy books. It will take place on Dec.9th and I'm super excited.
For more details:
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