Self-Ended vs. Separate-Ended Picture Books

by Myrna Foster
published September 17, 2019

In our Storyteller Academy classes, we get a lot of questions about pagination of picture book manuscripts and dummies that usually stem from the difference between self-ended and separate-ended picture books, so I’m going to share the best explanation I’ve heard.

In the following Writing Picture Book Manuscripts highlight, Jim Averbeck shows examples of published picture books, so that you can tell whether or not you’re looking at a self-ended or separate-ended picture book. This will make it easier to study mentor texts and plan your own.

Favorite Quotes:

“The book block is the pages that the book’s printed on. And you can take that book block—which is a bunch of folded pieces of paper that are all sewn together—and you can either glue it directly to the board, to the hardcover, or you can glue it to a piece of paper, which you glue to the board.”

“Glued to a piece of piece of paper and glued to the board is separate ends. Glued directly to the board is self ends.”

Now for the important part: we care which type of ends a book has because it determines the number of pages that we have to tell our story.

“If it’s a 32-page book and it’s separate ends, you have all 32 pages to tell your story. If it’s self-ended, the first page (number one) and page thirty-two are glued down, and you can’t use them.”

With self-ended picture books, you lose four more pages to end pages, so that’s a total of six pages that you’re not using to tell your story.

Understanding picture book design gives you a lot more flexibility when it comes to planning your page turns.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

Myrna Foster

Myrna Foster writes and edits content for Storyteller Academy and the WriteRiders Newsletter for SCBWI Nevada. She has spent a lot of time teaching and coaching children, including five years as a preschool teacher. She's also worked as a journalist, and Highlights High Five has published six of her poems.