Size Matters: Who Knew? (Self-Publishing Advice)

When I was working for a small publishing company, one of my jobs was to build relationships with bookstore owners. That way I could get information about what they liked to see, and I could try to sell them the books we were publishing. I learned a lot that way about what bookstores want to buy. 

One of the things that often came up was size. I had no idea before talking to bookstore owners that size was such an issue.

It used to be that you could only publish books in certain sizes because that's what the presses could print. A typical trade paperback is either 5.5 by 8.5 or 6 by 9. Mass market paperbacks tend to be 6.75 by 4.25. 

Non-fiction books are printed in different sizes with certain genres or subjects conforming to a standard. Non-fiction books are often published in hardback, and those are usually 

Today you can self-publish books in any size, but using the wrong size will make your book stand out as self-published. Bookstores don't like that, and you will have a harder time convincing them to carry your book if it doesn't look like other books on the shelf. 

This is especially true when it comes to children's books. Many bookstore owners have told me that this is simply because of display stands. Your book has to fit. 

Board books for babies are small and square or slightly rectangular, made for little hands. 

Roughly 10 by 8 or 8 by 10 are good sizes for a read-aloud. Incidentally, children's picture books used to be a standard 32 pages. Now they can be as long or short as you like, but 32 is still a good standard to keep in mind. You want the book to be long enough to be substantial but not so long that it's overwhelming for kids or can't be read in 15 or 20 minutes. 

Square illustrated books are around 8 by 8

When it comes to beginning reader books through middle-grade, size becomes important for two reasons. Again, the books need to fit into display stands. Beginning reader books are often displayed on a revolving stand, and these stands are made for a standard size, around 5 by 8. They are usually around 32 to 48 pages long. 

Books for middle-grade are about the same size but are usually thicker. Shoot for about 64 pages for a young middle-grade audience and around 150 pages for older middle-grade reading. 

One thing to notice in middle-grade books is that the orientation has to be portrait or upright. Fourth and fifth graders do not want to read a book that looks like it is for little kids, and bookstores won't know where to put it. 

YA books may stick with the 5 x 8 size but sometimes graduate to the larger 5.5 by 8.5 of their adult counterparts. 

When you are deciding what size to make your book, visit some bookstores. Talk to the owners about what they like to see, and look at as many books as you can in your genre. Remember that when it comes to size, you don't want to stand out. If you want your book to be displayed, it has to fit the stand.