To publish your children’s book, you need first to write a great book, then…
This is generally how you publish your kid’s book, but you can change it up depending on your unique situation.
For instance, you don’t need a literary agent if you’re self-publishing.
This handy article talks about self-publishing as well as traditional publishing. Although traditional publishing is getting less and less popular, many still see it as the only legitimate option.
I disagree, but you can hold your own opinion.
In this article, you will learn:
There are 3 ways to publish a children’s book:
Do your research on all 3 before you decide which way to become a published author.
Get Your FREE Children's Book ChecklistDon't know where to start your children's book? We've got a checklist that will take you through the entire process, from the initial idea to the finished, polished product. Check it out!
Traditional publishing means that a publishing house will publish your book online and in brick and mortar retailers.
They pay for your editor, book cover artist, back cover synopsis, ISBN number, printing costs, and more. But they also take a chunk out of your royalties.
The big 5 traditional publishing houses are:
However, most traditional publishers require literary agents to submit manuscripts. Many never accept unsolicited manuscripts from unagented authors. If you want to traditionally publish, you will need to add a step to your publishing process: finding an agent.
Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here.
Traditional publishers offer their authors the bare minimum amount of marketing. They reserve their marketing budgets for their bestsellers. You may get mentioned in a long list or sent to book reviewers with many other new authors.
For traditional publishing, I also recommend the resource Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. It’s affordable and full of information on traditional publishing houses, literary agents, and how to write a query letter.
If you’re traditionally publishing your children’s book, you still have to do your own marketing. This may include:
Indie publishing is similar to traditional publishing, but without a lot of the stingy traditions and pointless roadblocks slowing down the publishing process.
Independent publishers usually don’t require literary agents. They accept unsolicited queries directly from authors.
These publishing houses may prefer to work with brand new authors or specific demographics of authors, offsetting the traditional publishing world’s status quo trends that many find unhelpful.
Check out these 30 Publishers that Accept Unagented Submissions.
Self-publishing is when you publish your own book. Whether it’s your first time writing or you're a perpetual self-publisher, this route is a legitimate business decision that many have made.
In many cases, self-publishing is more lucrative than traditional publishing.
Many people think that to be a real children’s book author, you have to go through the traditional publishing route. This is an outdated, offensive prejudice. It’s one of those insensitive comments your aunt will joke about.
The biggest ebook marketplace for self-publishing is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). They make it simpler to self-publish. Although they do take a portion of your profits, they take the hard work out of self-publishing.
Although traditional publishers save you money concerning editors, proofreaders, and book cover artists, they also take a massive chunk of your royalties.
Self-publishing lets you keep all the profits (after printing costs).
Don’t be fooled. Traditional publishers will only do a tiny bit of marketing for you. You would still need to market yourself at signings, on social media, and by getting high-profile book reviews.
If you’re scared of self-publishing because you have to do your own marketing, then don’t be. You’d have to do your own marketing with a traditional publisher.
Look into the Best Self Publishing Companies (retailers and aggregators).
You can also Start Your Own Publishing Company. It’s easier than you think.
With Amazon and other ebook marketplaces booming, self-publishing is easier than ever. I’ve written some great resources on getting the most out of Amazon’s self-publishing marketplace:
You should self-publish if you can afford an editor and a cover artist and are willing to do a lot of market research. You should professionally publish (traditionally publish) if that is your preference and you’d prefer partners on your publishing journey.
You can make more money in self-publishing. It takes more time, more luck, but less money to traditionally publish.
How much money can you make from a children's book? The top 1% of authors make over $200,000 a year from bestselling children’s books. You can expect to make $5,000-$10,000 on your first book.
Most authors who make more than $20,000 a year have published more than one story. It takes several books to establish a following and significant sales.
Yes, you can publish your own children’s story. I’m here to answer your questions about traditional publishing, self-publishing, marketing, literary agents, and how to become a published children’s book writer.
Check out this article on the Best Book Writing Software, with a bonus discount code!
How much does it cost to publish a children's book? If you’re traditionally publishing, it costs very little to publish a children’s book, but the publishing house takes a chunk of your royalties since they put the money in. If you’re self-publishing, you need to pay for the proofreader ($100), editor ($600), illustrators ($1800), and more. It can cost an estimated $3000 — often more.
You have to know your target audience to publish your children’s book.
If your picture book best suits 2-5-year-olds, but you market it towards infants, you’ve got a problem. If you market your YA novel as middle grade fiction, you’ve got a problem.
Kids like to read about main characters who are their age or a few years older.
Research what different target audiences expect. Find out:
When looking for an editor or an agent, demonstrate that you understand your book’s target audience. This reflects your understanding of the biz — something editors and literary agents want in an author.
What are the age ranges of children’s books? Generally speaking, children’s books are divided into 5 categories (age ranges):
Note: Over half of the readers of YA books are adults over the age of 18. Although YA is meant for 12- to 18-year-olds, they often have a broad appeal to adults.
Refining your manuscript is a critical step to prepare your children’s book for publishing. Improve your book until you can’t think of any other way to improve it.
Read this article about How to Write a Children’s Book, including essential story elements, formatting, and illustrations.
When you refine your manuscript, this makes an editor’s job more effective. If an editor is editing your best possible product, it will be even better than your best. (Say that 5 times fast!)
Spelling and grammatical errors will lead to unhappy readers and negative reviews. Or it may lead to underwhelmed editors who need to focus on simple mistakes instead of style and word choice.
Refining your manuscript also means improving your story. You might realize that it takes 6 pages to get interesting, then move the “hook” to the first 2 pages.
You can’t get past it. You have to proofread and edit your book, even if you think it’s perfect. Every professional author has to do this.
If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will probably provide all those services for free in exchange for a chunk of your later profits. If you’re self-publishing, you will have to pay for proofreading and editing services.
Once you finish your final draft, proofread it. Have your significant other proofread it. Have a close friend, or family member proofread it.
Only after someone in your personal circle has read your book should you pay a professional proofreader and editor.
Before you send your manuscript to a professional, run it through the best proofreading software.
Since most editors and proofreaders charge by word count, editing picture books and short chapter books can be pleasantly affordable.
A professional editor can:
Even if your target audience is children, you should still get feedback from readers — just like with a novel for adults. You might ask children in their family or neighborhood to read your manuscript.
Kids can be useful beta readers because they’re so honest.
Their parents also offer great feedback. Remember, they are who actually buys your book. Parents’ reactions tell you if your children’s book is appropriate for the market and attractive to other parents.
There are also online children’s book communities, from which you can get feedback from parents, young readers (with parents’ permission, of course), and other authors.
Check out the following online children’s writing communities:
You don’t want to work on or pay for illustrations if you’re querying literary agents. Most of the time, if you get an agent, they will find an editor who will find a preferred illustrator.
Submitting illustrations or guidelines for images along with your manuscript may work to your disadvantage. Literary agents and editors may not want to tell you that you wasted your time on them before hiring a professional they prefer to work with.
Of course, this is another matter if you are a professional illustrator, and that’s part of your marketability.
If you’re pursuing traditional publishing, you probably need to find a literary agent. Traditional publishers seldom accept unsolicited manuscripts from unagented authors.
You’ll want to seek a literary agent specializing in children’s literature if you’re looking to publish a children’s book. Do not waste your time and theirs by querying an agent who doesn’t represent children’s books.
Most independent publishers don’t require an agent to submit a manuscript. However, a few might. And having an agent can improve your submissions and inform which indie publishers you should submit your manuscript to.
If you’re self-publishing, you don’t need an agent.
What does a literary agent do? A literary agent negotiates the best publishing deal possible for the author. They may also manage film and merchandising rights. Literary agents don’t make money until you do. Don’t pay an upfront fee for an agent.
To find an agent, you must query an agent. With few exceptions, you need to submit your manuscript and query letter (like a cover letter) to agents accepting unsolicited submissions in your genre and age category.
A query letter “queries” whether a literary agent is interested in representing your work. It should be a one-page “elevator pitch” that explains how your book is unique and why you are marketable as an author.
Only submit your children’s book to literary agents who handle children’s book authors.
How do you submit a children's book to a publisher? You submit your manuscript to a publisher by querying a literary agent who negotiates the best deal for you or submitting your manuscript to publishers who accept unsolicited submissions from unagented authors.
Is it better to self-publish a children's book? For many authors, it is better to self-publish their children’s books for both the level of work required and the income potential.
In 2021, eBook self-publishing is a larger market than ever before — primarily on Amazon. As long as you’re willing to pay for an editor and an illustrator, self-publishing is often more lucrative in the long run.
Whereas large publishing houses don’t usually consider unagented authors, small independent publishers are more likely to accept and respond to unsolicited submissions.
Can I protect my work when submitting a manuscript? Yes, you can protect your work when submitting the manuscript of your children’s book. Even though your text is copyrighted as soon as you write it, you can further protect your work by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
This helpful article was written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US.
You can find niche imprints of larger publishers who may accept unsolicited submissions. This can offer you the benefits of traditional publishing without querying a literary agent.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has an imprint called Clarion Books. It accepts submissions from unagented authors.
Penguin has a niche imprint called Dial Books for Young Readers. Authors may submit to this imprint directly.
Similar to agents, no publisher should ask you to pay money to publish your book. They make money when you do.
Vanity presses are looking to prey on inexperienced authors with lots of aspirations. Don’t fall victim to vanity presses who ask you to pay before you publish.
Below is a list of children’s publishers accepting unsolicited submissions (at the time of writing) and links to their submission guidelines:
Here are some must-do steps to take when self-publishing your children’s book:
CreateSpace, an Amazon company for authors, is dead. You may see this mentioned in other articles on self-publishing, but it’s no longer an active company. (More on that below these 3 tips.)
When self-publishing, you need to purchase an ISBN number and barcode.
(When traditionally publishing, they will obtain the ISBN and barcode for you.)
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit code used to identify your unique book. In many countries, it is free — but not in the US or UK.
To get an ISBN + barcode in the United States, visit myidentifiers.com, run by Bowker, the only company allowed to give out ISBN numbers in the US.
Outside the US, visit isbn-international.org to find your country’s agency.
If you self-publish your children’s book and do illustrations by hand, you need to scan your illustrations at a high resolution.
You will need access to a large format printer. Call around to different places and see who can print high-resolution images off of a thumb drive.
You should copyright your children’s book to protect your intellectual property.
Under U.S. copyright law, you own your work as soon as you write it down (or type it). However, you may want to further protect your copyright by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
Check out this article written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US.
You may see outdated articles mentioning CreateSpace, alongside Amazon, templates, and printing services for self-publishers. However, CreateSpace is dead. Don’t waste your time with research on CreateSpace.
CreateSpace was a print-on-demand (POD) service, mainly for self-publishers.
Amazon acquired CreateSpace in 2005 and merged it with Amazon’s KDP service in 2018.
Whether you’re self-publishing or traditionally publishing, you need to do your own marketing. But don’t worry — I’m coming in clutch with the handy writing tips.
Here are 4 ways to market a children’s book:
When choosing a title (and subtitle), you need to select your keywords carefully. If you pick certain keywords, parents are more likely to find your children’s book.
For example, “dragon,” “superhero,” and “ninja” are popular keywords for boys’ books. “Princess,” “unicorn,” and “kitten” are popular keywords for girls’ books.
This is a valuable marketing tool. You should compile a list of words associated with your book and check how often parents use those associated words to buy children’s books.
Keywords can also help potential buyers know if a book is age-appropriate, interests their child, or has a specific story type.
Book reviewers can get the word out about your book to untapped potential readers. You need to get reviews for your children’s book from high-quality reviewers.
Check out this Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs.
Note: Traditional publishers often send your book to a list of reviewers. This is super helpful. But you should still send your book off to other reviewers.
Make sure you’re not sending a children’s book to be reviewed by someone who doesn’t accept children’s books. Some reviewers only accept specific categories of children’s books.
Who can review my children’s book? Here are 8 children’s book reviewers you can submit your work to:
Remember to always follow submission guidelines (linked above). Never submit a book for review without permission.
Also, submit books for review 2-3 months before your release date. It takes most of these reviewers that long to get to your book.
Social media isn’t just suitable for connecting with other authors, illustrators, and book reviewers. You can use Facebook, YouTube, Quora, etc., to connect directly with potential readers.
To build an audience on social platforms, you need to start long before you publish your book. It takes time to get a following — whatever social media platform you use.
6 ways to build an audience on social media:
These are particular examples. You can tailor your social media presence to your preferences, target audience, and personal skill set.
You could also work with social media influencers who get paid to promote your book. Promotion may not directly recoup your investment. But an influencer can get your name out there for long-term sales and get you in touch with other authors and readers with similar interests.
Today, parents of young kids are millennials. They’re looking to the internet and social media for children’s book recommendations, parenting tips, and ways to relieve stress.
Take advantage of this and make your presence known to build an audience of potential readers on social media sites.
It might sound hard, but planning school visits to market your book can be simple and very rewarding. Not only do many schools welcome author visits, but they also set aside an annual budget for them.
Get in touch with a school administrator or a librarian. Some visits are for free, but some may pay.
Even if you don’t get any money for visiting a school, you can read your book to get feedback from children, you can get your book’s name out there, and you could even offer signed copies with a take-home slip.
This handy article has prepared you to publish your children’s book. Bookmark this page so you can reference it in the future!
Personally, I self-publish my books. I knew I could afford to pay for an editor and cover design artist, and I knew I’d have to do my own marketing either way. I wanted to be able to keep all my royalties, so I went the self-publishing route.
However, if you prefer traditional publishing or indie publishers, no shame! You do what’s right for you.
Please, comment below on what you learned from this blog post or what else you want to know. I keep up to date with my comments.
Cheers,
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Good morning! I hope you all are having a wonderful week. I can’t believe that summer break is starting to wind down and school it about to start. This summer sure has flown by.
Today I wanted to do a little blog post on what we use for photo books. Over the years we have gotten asked on a pretty regular basis how we print all of our photos and what we recommend. I use two different types of books and they each serve a different purpose. I use Blurb books for my “real camera” pictures and then I use Chatbooks for my cell phone photos. There’s a bit difference in both price and quality but there’s a reason I use both. We store all of our photo books here in our bookshelves. You can see our Chatbooks stored here between the pineapple bookends. At the end of the post there’s a further back shot where you can see more Chatbooks on the other side as well as our Blurb books.
First let’s start with our Blurb books.
The Specifics:
We use the 10 by 8 size and go with the Hardcover Image Wrap. We’ve been making these for about 7 years now so I just keep them uniform. If I were starting fresh today I would probably still use that same size but would consider going with the linen hardcover option with the dust jacket. I actually don’t remember which paper I use. I tried to find my last order but couldn’t…if I can find it I will update that here.
Pros:
Quality – First and foremost, the quality is in my opinion fabulous! I think the colors print very true and overall it looks very professional. They are beautifully put together and I have been thrilled with each and every one that we have ordered.
Program and Page Customization – I also love how you download their program and can create your book offline and then you just upload it when you are finished. They have lots of different templates you can use for each page but also can customize and create your own. I use the full bleed option for all of my favorite photos and then fill in other pages with the different formats that work best for the different sets of photos. They also have lots of different text options although I don’t really use much for text in my Blurb books. I use them more for my favorite photos visually – I use the text more in chatbooks for memories and funny little things like that.
Sizing and Other Overall Options: Along with quite a few different options for the size of your book you can also control a wide array of page options and so many other details. You can print books up to 440 pages long which I love! But you also can print as few as 20 pages. Initially I did ours yearly. I would try to add in the photos at the end of each month (although there were plenty of times I’d get behind and have to do several months at once) and then January 1st get the book printed. When my girls were younger I took enough photos each year for make a very full book. Now that they are older I don’t take nearly as many “real camera” photos so now I make a book every 2-3 years.
Cons:
Cost: They are pricey. I am okay with the expense though because I consider them an investment and something the girls can treasure forever. I print a copy each year for their grandparent’s as well and figure someday those can be passed down to the girls so they will each have a set of these books.
Time: They take some time and effort to put together. Again, because these are something I really value I don’t mind that they take a bit of time to compile. I find the software to be quite easy to use but overall it does require some effort to import all your photos and get the overall look how you want it! This may sound silly but if our house was burning down and I could only save one material thing it would most likely be my photo albums. I love having these visible tangible reminders of our life and my girls growing up! So for me, the cost and time is heavily outweighed by the importance of these books to me.
Now onto some photos and layouts I use in our Blurb books:
Here is the first page of our book. I do this even on the years that the whole book is just from one year so it’s uniform. It’s more handy though on the books where two or three years are combined into one book.
Here’s some color pages. (Sorry, I took these photos on a day it was pouring rain so they are blurry, but I also am purposely having them that way as I really don’t like sharing personal photos on here anymore, but for this post it was relatively unavoidable so I prefer they are a little blurry). The actual prints in the book are not blurry at all – they are very crisp!
Here are some of the black and white pages. I love giving a dedicated page to my favorite photos:
Before Chatbooks came out and I started using them for my candid shots taken with my phone I would put them in groupings like this in my Blurb books.
Now onto my Chatbooks.
The Specifics:
I use Chatbooks to print all of my candid iPhone photos. I do the Series Subscription option that prints a book after 60 pictures are added that is linked to my personal Instagram account. I have the Softcover 6 by 6 format and use a photo from that album for the cover to it’s easy for my girls to know which book they are looking at. I also have done some individual books which are fun – I made a book for each of the girls after a special trip we went on which was so much fun. Individual books make a great gift. If you don’t want to use a picture from your book as the cover, they have some really fun cover options you can choose from including some from Rifle Paper Co., which I LOVE! If I make any gift books this summer I will definitely use one of those choices for the cover. If you are busy and the thought of making a photo album completely overwhelms you then I highly recommend these.
The Pros:
Incredibly Easy: This is literally the easiest possible way to have your photos printed in a book! Seriously – you spend about two minutes downloading the Chatbooks app to your phone, then linking your Instagram account and filling out your billing and shipping information and that’s it! You literally don’t need to do anything again and after every 60 photos you post on Instagram a book is printed and sent to you! It doesn’t get much easier than that! If you want to you can go into the app and remove some photos or add some in manually that you didn’t post to Instagram and I often do that if I want to make it so a trip we went on isn’t broken up oddly between books or if I want to add in some photos that I didn’t post. You also get an e-mail alert once you’ve hit 60 and have three days to go in and alter anything before it goes to print. I like this feature because it’s a nice little reminder to go in and check on the book before it prints but if I forget it’s not a big deal.
Cost: These are relatively inexpensive. When I first started using them they were $5 a book and free shipping although I think now they are $10. In my opinion $10 is a little expensive for what it is, but they are so easy and my kids LOVE them and $10 still isn’t bad.
Kid’s Love Them: This is a huge pro for me. My girls LOVE them. I find them sitting on the couch and looking through different ones at least 2-3 times a week. They love looking through them and getting a kick out of not only the photos but also the captions – it’s a great way to keep track of funny things kid’s say and do! I wish these had existed when they were learning to talk because I would have loved to have had more of the funny things they used to say written down as memories! We have over 60 of them now and I love having so many of their day to day childhood memories captured!
The Cons:
Quality: In my opinion the printing quality of these is not great. I hate to say that, but they are usually pretty grainy and I haven’t been impressed with the overall quality, especially recently. That’s probably the only con though in my opinion. The fact that they don’t take up any time at all for me and that girls love them and it’s such an easy way to document so many memories helps balance that out for me.
Originally they printed with a square in the middle and the caption below:
That is still how they print automatically but you also have the option to have the photo fill the whole page and have the caption on a separate page or no caption at all. For photos that don’t need a caption I often choose this option.
You can see the size difference in the books here. (Blurb ones are on the left and Chatbooks on the right).
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And here they are in our bookshelf in our family room – within easy reach for my girls to go through.
That’s it for today! Here are some source lists for the two rooms featured in some of the photos:
Dining Room Source List:
JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.Wallpaper – Schumacher’s Feather Bloom in Two Blues
Trim – Existing but planning on painting it Simply White eventually
Door Color – Mopboard Black by Benjamin Moore in Semi-gloss Finish
Beadboard Wallpaper (below chair rail) – can be found here
Gold Bowl – Kate Spade
Sideboard – Found at a Consignment Shop years ago (painted with some leftover paint, was a custom mix but similar to Kendall Charcoal)
Lamps – Bassett Furniture
Mirror – Joss and Main
Vase with Gold at Bottom – World Market
Bust – Antique from Family – very similar one here
Books – Vintage
Marble Board – Sur La TableChandelier – Shop Candelabra – Chandelier can also be found here (we spray painted the beads white using this spray paint)
X Back Wood Chairs – Wayfair
Gold Trimmed Dinnerware – Contempo Luxe by Lenox
Source List for Family Room:
JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.Wall Color – Simply White by Benjamin Moore in Eggshell
Trim Color – Simply White by Benjamin Moore in Semi-Gloss
Door Color – Mopboard Black by Benjamin Moore in Semi-Gloss Finish
Lower Coffee Bar Cabinet Color – Wrought Iron by Benjamin Moore in Semi-gloss
Mantel and Other Woodwork – custom by a local builder
This post was not sponsored in any way but there are affiliate links used throughout. Have a fabulous day!
Warmly, Jenni