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The question I get the most from other KidLit writers is how do you write a children’s picture book? Because this is the type of book that most children’s book writers want to start out writing. Why do you think that is?
Because by appearances, a children’s picture book seems to be the easiest book to write. However, looks can be deceiving. Let’s look at what it really takes to write a children’s picture book and if it’s as easy as it seems . . .
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Before I can tell you HOW to write a children’s picture book, we have to start with the basics.
A picture book is defined as a book containing illustrations that is particularly designed for children. This means that the pictures, along with the words, will work together to tell your story.
And you don’t have to be an illustrator to write and publish picture books. You only need to craft a story and use notes for the agent & editor to visualize what is happening while they read.
These are books that we call baby’s first books (Although they should really be called baby’s first chew toy!). Thank goodness publishers make these durable for the lil’ chompers.
If you have a story about lullabies or basic concepts, like shapes or colors, then you may be writing a board book. At this age level, the main character is very young or even an animal but there normally isn’t a plot. For instance, Baby Billy could be understanding body parts and words/pictures would go “Billy’s Belly”, “Billy’s Toes”, etc. These can even be fun, novelty books like finger plays and pop-ups.
All of these books will use VERY simple language if there’s any language at all. If you’re not illustrating your book, be sure that your manuscript has illustrator notes so the editor can visualize your book as they read the manuscript.
**Warning: There is a difference between these and picture books when it comes to marketing. If you want your story to be sold in schools, you do NOT want a board book.
These gems are typically a 32-page layout that use illustrations to help tell a story. The main character is in preschool or kindergarten (But can be an animal) and it’s normally told in 3rd person. The plot is a simple arc where the main character MUST solve a problem themselves– no matter HOW tempted you are to have Mom/Dad/Crazy Uncle Larry/Mrs. Teacher Helperton assist the character in solving their problem. Don’t. Agents and editors will not like it.
These books are made to be read aloud, so have fun with word choice, including the use of bigger words. If the word helps move the story along and makes it enjoyable for the reader, then it’s perfect to use! The wackier the better, in my opinion 😄
If you are a non-illustrating author (Like me), you DO NOT have to have an illustrator to get published. If a publisher wants to buy your book, they will find the illustrator for you. Simply incorporate illustrator notes to help the agent/editor understand specific parts of the story you’re trying to tell.
**Warning: Older market picture books are SUPER hard to sell. If this is your jam, make sure the complex topic you choose is well-researched and that you have a stellar pitch to hook agents and editors.
The only way to create characters that kids love is to truly know your character. Who is in this story? And more importantly, what do they want?
In order to get to know your characters on an intimate level, you should ask yourself five questions. Your answers will shape the person your character is meant to be.
No matter what kind of story you’re writing, you need to have a basis for who your character is. Know the answer to these 5 points:
It’s easiest to write about someone when you know what they look like. Also, appearance can help drive the story. Like in Jory John’s Giraffe Problems, the main character has issues with his long neck.
I’m the second oldest of seven children. How I act is waaaaay different than how my youngest sister acts. And it all centers around our birth order.
The way a person’s family is built can drastically affect how they act in your story. Think about who their parents are, and whether they all live together. Consider doing research on characteristic traits based off birth order. Anything that will help you get to understand your character better.
I recently took an assessment and learned that I’m a people pleaser. This affects all my relationships and how I interact with other humans on a daily basis! And it’s also something that I have to mindfully try to curb, in order to not say yes to everything under the sun.
The same situations apply to our characters.
They may not all be people pleasers, but they all interact with others. Think about how they are with their friends versus adults. Is there anything that causes this change? Make sure that rings true in your manuscript.
When you think of characters that kids love already, most have a similar thing in common. They have BIG personalities. For instance, they can be stubborn, selfish, quiet, overly kind, etc. depending on who they’re talking to.
Use that information to bring out your character’s personality through the use of dialogue and actions in your manuscript. And do some additional research into different personalities to really make sure that your character comes across as authentic.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the words and plot, that we forget our characters are people. Instead, they act as stand-ins or props, rather than the humans we intended them to be. (In our defense, writing picture books is harder than it seems!)
Now that you know who your story is about, make sure to incorporate their personality throughout the book. Key areas to show this:
It’s very easy in our writing to say Spot was a loveable dog who always got into trouble. However, if we show the dog tearing into the trash while the family’s away and then licking their faces when they get home, it will have a greater impact on the story.
Thumb through your manuscript and see if there are spots where you can show the readers MORE of who your character is. Get them to really feel the connection. And print out the children’s book template. This will ensure you’ve made your character’s personality stand-out in your story.
Remember, this is supposed to be fun! So get on the ground or hang upside down if it will help you become one of the characters that kids love. And once you’ve decided on your character, it’s time to create your plot.
A picture book is normally about a preschooler or kindergartener, unless you’re telling a story with an animal protagonist (Check out the different age levels you should know here).
In a picture book, there’s always one problem. Unlike a novel, where you have quite a bit of problems that intertwine throughout the story. Examples might be, running out of tacos before the big fiesta, needing to find the perfect dress to wear to the make-believe tea party, or having to build the most gigantic sandcastle far enough away from the tide.
**Check this out when you’re looking for your problem. It will help you do your research and brainstorm your plot before you write your first word.
When you plot your picture book, you can’t state the problem, then solve it on the next page. There has to be some tension and build-up to the climax before reaching a conclusion. And a suggested, practical rule is to use the number three.
Meaning, repeat words three times in a row and have three slip-ups before the main character finally solves the problem. Maybe they stop to talk to three animals along the way before finding the right one or maybe there are three dresses that are all wrong for the party before they get the perfect one. Something that will make it fun for the reader and build up your conclusion.
The biggest emphasis here is how with the main character solves the problem, NOT someone else. In a picture book, educators and publishers want to see the child solve the problem so that the readers learn to solve things themselves. Otherwise, we’d be encouraging dependency well into elementary school that could be damaging to our children’s futures. (And nobody wants that!)
When you’re plotting your conclusion, be sure to think of clever ways for the character to find the answer. Getting creative and choosing a different angle or unexpected solution is a fun way to catch the reader off guard, and bring a fresh story into the marketplace–Just don’t make it too crazy. You still want it to be marketable.😉
The plot of your picture book has the simplest structure but can take a while to get used to. Try creating an outline that includes your hook, the problem, three points along the way, and a strong conclusion.
It’s surprising that a 500-word, or less, story is so difficult to write. However, learning how to write a children’s picture book that will sell is a craft! If you haven’t picked up Ann Whitford’s book on how to write picture books, then you should definitely do that!
The Best Craft Book on Writing Picture Books!The best way I have learned about picture book writing is through the published books themselves. What is currently selling or being picked up by publishers is important to know. And it is your best tool to learn from!
Every kind of picture book has a theme–even those without words. We know we need to have comp books to know if our story already exists and to potentially add to a query letter. However, understanding the theme can help you write a picture book better.
Is it a…
Is the conflict with…
Read 3-5 newly published picture books and look for their theme. Compare those that have similar themes to your story idea, as well as, read those that are on the bestseller list.
Knowing the kind of book you’re writing versus the published book will give you an idea for how to tell a story in a picture book.
This is the most important thing to me whenever I’m practicing how to write a children’s picture book. My critique girls always ask for my character to change MORE. Which always has me wondering how can I do that for a specific story idea.
Even though this is only a 500-word manuscript, your character needs to undergo a bit of change. Whether that’s simply learning how to share better or learning that one bad thing doesn’t make an entire day bad.
Read 3-5 newly published picture books that have a main character. Some popular character-driven picture books right now are The Good Egg and Giraffe Problems both by Jory John.
We’ve all heard of the rule of 3 for picture books. But there are other common writing techniques that occur, as well.
Understanding the basic plot structure in picture books is a great way to get started. And if you can find a repetitive phrase or use a rule to your benefit, you will only make your story stronger!
Outside of the common rules, there is also a rhythm that you can find in picture books. Some are easy to spot, like a rhyming book. However, some can be hidden in the tiny details.
It will be easy for you to catch onto if you write poetry. But we can all learn a basic bit of rhythm to add interest to our story.
Learning how published authors use these tricks in their picture books will help to strengthen your manuscripts. I especially like to look for a repetition of sounds, like clink, clank, clunk.
Grab 3-5 newly published picture books and look for their use in rhythm. I love to read books by Tammi Sauer to learn a lot about rhythm. Mary had a Little Glam and Wordy Birdy are two of my favorites!
There are some powerful phrases you can use in your picture book manuscript that will make it MUCH more enjoyable to read. Plus, it will make it that much more fun to write!
Read 3-5 newly published picture books and see if you can find any of the above in them. Then look back at your manuscript and see if you can add any of these to your story.
Now you know what you’re looking for when you write a children’s picture book, it’s time to put it into practice!
And for more picture book help, read these articles:
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How do you write children's books and get them published? You write a children’s book by choosing a target audience, incorporating captivating elements, and beautifully illustrating it. Children’s books may either be self-published or submitted to traditional publishers.
And this article can give you the other tools you need to write the next great children’s book that you may have been thinking about for years, but never thought you'd be able to write and share it with little ones.
What’s your reason for writing children’s books? For me, it’s that smile.
Many authors or aspiring writers dream of publishing a children’s book. Maybe you have an incredible idea that you can’t stop thinking about. Or perhaps you want to put to paper your little one’s favorite bedtime short story — the one you made up while snuggling together.
Whatever the reason, now is the time to check this dream off your bucket list.
And I'm here to help you do that.
I'm a multi-award winning & bestselling children’s book author and ghostwriter of more than 50 children’s books. And I founded a little thing called Children’s Book University®, which helps other authors create books like I have.
What follows is as much information as I could condense into a single article on how to write a children's book. Enjoy!
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!
Writing and publishing your own children’s book is no longer super challenging to achieve, nor does it take all your life savings (like it might have 20 years ago).
Unless you’re a celebrity or have a large following already, self-publishing your children’s book is a great way to get your foot in the door, even if your ultimate goal is to eventually explore traditional publishing.
If you present a well-performing book and an established author platform, your chances of landing a publishing deal are much higher than if you simply submit a query or manuscript.
How much money can be made from writing a children's book? The answer to this question greatly depends on the subject of the children's book. That's why doing our research is so important, even before we start writing our children's book.
Even for children’s books, we need to validate our book idea.
In this article, you will learn:
Get it here for FREE!Looking to find the right niche for your children's book on Amazon? Download my personal guide on increasing your book's rankings and discoverability on Amazon so you get more sales continuously!
Additionally, book series are generally doing very well with kids. Once little ones come to love a character, they often can't get enough of them and their parents continue buying the books. The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle are wonderful examples.
The roadmap below outlines what steps we’ll take to write and publish a children’s book:
For books marketed to younger audiences, you need to know that parents will want to buy this book. Children usually don’t spend the money to buy your story. Yes, make something entertaining for kids — but you need parents to buy your book first.
The primary purchaser of children’s books is between 30 and 44 years old. Females make up more than 70% of these buyers.
A few ways you could really get to better know your audience are:
Market research is also a huge tool to see what books parents are looking to buy their children. You'd be surprised at how much interest some themes get when compared to others. Take a look at this example here, showing the search volume for common children's book themes on Amazon:
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
Right away, you should see that some topics get way more interest than others- and depending on your personal goals, you might want to avoid writing a book about a topic with low searches.
Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here.
When writing a children’s storybook, it’s really important to know the basic structure of a children’s book. There are lots of templates for writing a children’s book!
To learn more about children’s books and how to structure your writing for a younger audience, you could:
Is there a template for writing a children’s book? Yes, there are many templates for writing a children’s book. Here are some of my favorites:
You should be able to explain your book concept to anyone in a single sentence and in fewer than 30 seconds.
To best explain your book concept to potential readers or traditional publishers, you should develop a logline that encapsulates the plot and the hook.
If you’re not concisely explaining your book’s concept, you might lose potential readers and publishers because it’s too confusing.
These 7 writing tips may help you avoid common issues when writing a children’s book:
Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market. Help your book now
Get Rocket NowYou want to make a children’s book. Below is every resource you’re going to need.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write a children’s book:
STEP 1
. Choose the FormatShould you publish an ebook or paperback? You should consider publishing your children’s book in both ebook format and paperback format.
Paperback is still the most popular format for children’s books. If you’re looking to sell your children’s book on Amazon or in brick-and-mortar stores, you should invest in a high-quality paperback format.
Ebooks are not a very popular medium for children’s books. However, children’s ebook usage is continuously increasing.
Most parents still prefer their kids to read print books, but the number of parents who prefer ebooks or who have no preference is growing.
Ebooks also come in handy during promotions and review requests. Giving away an ebook for review is a lot easier and more cost-effective.
With a little research, you can determine how well books are selling in your desired format. Here's an example of five competing paperback books on Amazon showing for the keyword “Children's Books About Puppies”, which should give you an idea of how well that format is performing. You can even see how many pages these books are, so you can calculate your estimated costs!
Price, Earnings, and Pages Data provided by Publisher Rocket
It’s worth noting that a study out of the University of Michigan found that storytime with ebooks is not as effective. Compared with physical book storytime, parents spent more time talking about the technology, instead of the book’s content, during ebook storytime.
So physical children’s books won’t go away anytime soon.
STEP 2
. Know Your Target CategoryTo write a children’s book, you need to know your target category — that is, the age of your target audience.
When publishing on Amazon, you will be asked to list what ages your book is for. So it’s important to add the most appropriate age range. Otherwise you may receive lots of negative reviews from parents and other caregivers that thought your book to be unsuitable for their little ones.
Depending on the kids’ age reading your book, you will want to adjust the number of illustrations, word count, writing style, and more.
Most children’s books fall into one of these 5 categories:
Below is a table to show average statistics for the most common types of children’s books:
Short words and short sentences are critical for the youngest children, so readers don’t feel overwhelmed. Colorful illustrations and fun characters are more necessary in children’s books than in adult fiction. Where adults can mentally grapple with ambiguity, kids prefer resolved stories and answered questions.
Each stage of development in a child’s life requires a different story structure and book setup. Adapting to each stage and its cognitive ability is essential if we want our book to be meaningful, educational, and fun.
Board Books are considered the youngest category — including on Amazon’s marketplace. They are for kids aged 0 to 2.
A Board Book is printed on thick paperboard. Often, it contains all pictures or fewer than 100 words.
In most of these categories, but especially these Board Books, marketing to parents is probably more important than appealing to kids. Of course, you want your book to be fun and intriguing to children. But make sure you give parents what they’re looking for: a good message and subtle, effective education.
Picture Books are the next category of children’s books. They are for 3- to 5-year-olds.
Children’s picture books contain up to 400 words, but there should still be vibrant illustrations on every page.
Suggested reading:Also called the “Early Readers” category, Chapter Books are just what they sound like — the first books that children will read with the story split up into chapters.
Though some children will be excited to start reading chapter books, others will be reluctant. The broad age range for basic Chapter Books is 6 to 10.
Middle Grade books are for children 8 to 12 — a step up from Chapter Books.
These books typically feature a protagonist aged 10 to 13, slightly older than the reader. They should contain no profane language, no violence, and no romance outside of a first kiss or an innocent crush.
Common themes include friendship, acceptance, good conquering evil, and the importance of family.
A Middle Grade book is longer than a Chapter Book but shorter than a YA book. It usually contains between 30,000 and 45,000 words.
Young Adult books are targeted towards readers aged 13 to 18. Abbreviated as YA, Young Adult is meant to appeal to teenagers, although it’s important to note that more than half of YA books sold are read by adults older than 18.
Some people also use “Young Adult” to mean a genre where the protagonist doesn’t fit in, the parents are absent, they live in a post-apocalyptic world, and a coming-of-age story takes center stage. These are tropes and don’t necessarily apply to every YA story, but you get the picture.
YA books won’t always be considered children’s books. But some traditional publishers may classify “Young Adult” as a children’s book category.
STEP 3
. Choose a TitleYou need to choose a winning title for your children’s book. You could do this after it’s written, but having a title in mind may guide you in your writing. You can always improve and change the title after the story is written.
A creative title lets your story’s personality shine through. But you also want readers to actually find your book. This could be difficult if you don’t name your children’s book correctly.
Fortunately, Dave at Kindlepreneur wrote excellent articles on How to Title a Book and Book Title Generators. They will definitely help you craft that perfect title.
To title a children’s book, you need:
The book The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions is a great example:
Speaking of subtitles: It’s important to include a subtitle underneath your title. This helps the marketing of your book by including additional keywords that parents can search for.
As you can see, some kids book genres have decent money coming into them, with less competition. So, make sure you do your research beforehand and see what possible types of kids books you can create. One way you can quickly see the competition of a genre is checking out your book's Amazon categories, and seeing how many sales it takes per day to become a bestseller. That should give you a good idea of the competition in that genre.
For example, take a look at the competition difference here for several children's categories about specific animals. Many young children have a favorite, and making a high quality book in a lower competition category can help your book be discovered by readers.
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
By writing a quality book for a category with low competition, but significant interest, your children's book will stand out from the crowd. If you decide to target a high competition category, just know there are publishers and authors with high experience already in that space, and you will have to work harder to capture a customer's attention.
STEP 4
. Find a Writing StyleYou need to find a writing style that fits the age group you are writing for, the associated word count, the story you’re telling, and your own preferences.
You may be an excellent writer, an engaging blogger, maybe even an already accomplished author of adult fiction or nonfiction. But when it comes to writing style for children, you have to adopt a new mindset and an appropriate writing style.
Here are some writing styles you should consider:
There is no right or wrong approach; it’s merely a question of style. Once you have chosen your style, you will need to stick to it throughout the book.
. Incorporate Important Elements
When you write a children’s book, there are important elements that you need to incorporate, such as an appropriate theme, memorable characters, and relatable dialogue.
Your inspired story idea is only as strong as how you tell it. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are actions, scenes, and emotions. Be sure to be clear about your core message.
The 5 most important elements in a good children’s book:
While the sequence and rhythm of events are significant, keep in mind that not all stories have the same structure. There is no one formula because following a formula would rob stories of their true potential.
Yes, it’s crucial to have an intentional structure. But if it doesn’t fit perfectly, don’t force it.
STEP 6
. Use Solid CharactersYou have to use solid characters in your children’s book. Interesting, unforgettable characters are a must, especially when helping kids recall your story and core message.
The best characters in children’s books…
It's also important to research a character's surface level attributes before starting to write your book. Children will often ask their parents for a specific type of character such as a train, or a pig, or any other current interest they may have. For example, take a look at how much bestselling books earn for these character types, as well as the level of competition become a bestseller:
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
STEP 7
. Make the Story EngagingYou need to make the story engaging in your children’s book.
First, you need a good ending. Younger kids need a happy ending that satisfies them. You don’t want to make a kid cry because your story ended sadly. That doesn’t mean slightly more realistic conclusions are pointless, but your audience may struggle to understand complex topics.
Next, make sure your main character is making deliberate choices to move the story forward. If they aren’t making any decisions, they probably shouldn’t be the main character.
Any good story needs suspense, no matter your age category. Cliffhangers are a great way to engage your reader. In a younger book, a cliffhanger may be as simple as writing “Peek-a-” on one page, then “BOO!” on the next.
Here are some examples of suspenseful questions that different age ranges should ask throughout the story:
STEP 8
. Proofread & EditWhen you finish your first draft, you need to proofread and edit your children’s books.
Check out Kindlepreneur’s useful article on the Best Proofreading Services You'll Ever Find.
You should wait to hire a professional editor until you have self-edited your book. But you need a pro to look at your work before publishing.
Editing is a valuable and necessary investment, particularly for anything longer than 600 words. A professional proofreader or a line editor can help with spelling and grammar. For chapter books and beyond, you may want to hire a developmental editor to look at the big picture.
A good editor is instrumental in making your book a success because poor spelling, grammar, and book structure will reflect poorly on you as a children’s book writer, leading to negative reviews and fewer sales.
Your book and its message might be fantastic, but too many errors will be noticed by your readers. They may voice their opinion in a review like this, which ultimately lowers your overall rating.
So if your book is more than 600-800 words long, you should send it off to a professional editor for proofing.
Yes, you can go over it yourself and let your significant other read through it. But letting an unbiased, independent professional look over it will make your manuscript as good as it can be.
To find a great editor, read Kindlepreneur’s handy article Selecting The Best Book Editor.
STEP 9
. Illustrate Your BookWhen it comes to adding illustrations to your children’s book, there are three options you can choose from:
The best option for you will depend on your budget, time, skill level, and trust you’re willing to put into someone else's interpretation of your story.
Illustrating your book may take almost as much time as — if not more time than — actually writing the words of your children’s book.
I’ve broken up the illustration process into 7 steps:
Your book cover is a particularly important illustration. Make sure it attracts the right readers! Services like 100 Covers can really make it shine with special typography.
When it comes to picture books, there are 3 orientations to choose from:
(This doesn’t apply to chapter books or books for older children. Those usually feature the classic 5½” x 8” format.)
You should choose your book’s orientation early on since it will inform virtually every decision about illustrations down the road.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but here are general reasons to choose each:
Whether you hire an illustrator or create the illustrations yourself, you’ll want to make sure you plan your image sizing correctly. This way, once you upload your artwork, everything runs smoothly.
Below are the most common sizes for children’s book images:
If you plan on having your images cover the entire page, make sure to add 0.125” to the top and bottom, as well as one side. This accounts for trimming (sections to be removed in printing).
Amazon offers handy templates to plan your image sizing. But remember that you’ll still have to add the bleed allowance yourself.
Here are great inches-to-pixels and pixels-to-inches converters. These help you know how large your image should be, depending on your selected trim size. Be sure to choose a DPI (dots per inch) of 300 when using the mentioned converter.
A storyboard or book dummy helps you decide what to include in each illustration and how the text will match up with the images.
This is meant to help you determine which illustrations you want to include, better informing your quest to find and hire an illustrator. This step is extra helpful if you are planning to create your illustrations yourself.
The storyboard creation process doesn’t have to be perfect. Be expressive, and have fun. In the end, you’ll probably create a few different versions, each being an improvement over the previous one.
How to create a storyboard or book dummy:
How you combine your text and illustrations is entirely up to you.
However, it's a crucial element on how to write a children's book. Whatever you choose, be consistent throughout.
There are two ways of combining text and illustrations:
Having the text as part of the image makes your book format much more straightforward,, and looks consistent across all devices.
However, you decide to include the text in the image itself, this will have to be done by your illustrator. This method makes editing the text a bit harder — any changes or corrections have to be made within the image itself.
Below (left) is a page from my book The Garbage Trucks Are Here, and on the right is a page from my book A Gemstone Adventure.
The other option is to have the text and image separate. The text sits below or above the illustration or on a separate page.
Below is a double-page spread from my chapter book series, The Amulet Of Amser. It has an image on the left-hand page and the text on the right-hand page.
You can arrange this layout by yourself. You don't have to involve your illustrator.
I've started gathering individual authors and agencies into one big list to help with your search. Check them and their sites out below. Keep in mind that I haven't used these services myself.
Here’s a list of outsourcing sites and social media sites where you can choose an illustrator for your children’s book:
These outsourcing sites provide you with reviews from the artist’s previous clients and may even include information about previous completion rates. Most importantly, these sites are cost-effective.
On most outsourcing sites, you’ll post your project (similar to a job offering), and children’s book illustrators will bid on it.
To get an idea of how much you should be offering, browse some of the platform’s current projects. Know that your bid sets a baseline only, as each illustrator will bid individually on your project if he or she is interested in working with you.
: To get you started with your illustrator search, I’ve created swipe files that you can use to post your Illustrator Project Description into any of the previously suggested sites. You can download it here
After the initial bidding process (usually a couple of days), you will have to go through each illustrator’s profile and portfolio to decide who would — or wouldn’t — be a great fit.
You’ll need to pay for illustrations. An illustrator is more critical than an editor for picture books — the illustrations are what the reader will be most focused on.
To get a feel for acceptable prices for a project, browse websites to find postings for similar projects. Actual prices differ significantly from service provider to service provider and change drastically over time.
Payments are generally released based on milestones that you set, such as the completion of the storyboard. The milestone setup will depend on the scope of your project and the platform you are using to hire your illustrator.
The cost of your illustrator depends on multiple things:
Once you choose the best-fitting illustrator for your project and they’ve completed their work, you need to obtain the illustrations.
You want high-resolution images (300 dpi) with the proper sizing and the raw files of all images. This will enable you to make changes directly to your illustrations if need be.
A signed art release form is relevant if you decide to hire an illustrator directly. Any art attained via outsourcing sites should automatically make the illustrations your intellectual property.
Take my full featured video course on how to select the best keywords and categories for your book.
Take the CourseThe answer to whether or not you should copyright your children’s book is entirely up to you. Just know that under U.S. copyright law, you already own your work the instant you write it down. However, you can protect your copyright by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
Read Kindlepreneur’s handy article written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US
What should I not do when writing a children’s book?
You should try not to sound too preachy or instructional about your themes and morals. Kids are very perceptive. They smell an agenda miles away.
You should not leave a story unresolved or a question unanswered. Depending on the age group you’re writing your children’s book for, you need to provide a satisfying ending — particularly for smaller kids.
You should not break patterns. Children love a routine. The key to routines or patterns is to not break them. In your children's book, once we’ve established a pattern (rhyme, repeating phrase, character behavior, etc.), try your best to stick to it.
One of the easiest ways to convert your children’s book into an ebook is Amazon’s Kindle Kids’ Book Creator.
While I use other methods, I love working with and recommending this simple yet powerful tool. It’s FREE and helps you create an ebook version for your illustrated children’s book. You can import artwork, add text, and create Kindle Text Pop-Ups.
And the best part is that there’s no HTML/CSS knowledge required!
Yes, your children’s book should have a subtitle, mainly for marketing purposes.
As I share in my book How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book, making use of a subtitle can be very beneficial for connecting with potential readers.
Giving your children’s book a subtitle provides you with an additional opportunity to use keywords, key phrases, or synonyms that potential readers might be using when searching for a children’s book like yours.
Using a subtitle also allows for more creative freedom than with your actual title. So if your title itself doesn't fully communicate the topic of the book, you’ll have the subtitle as a backup.
Figure out what is trending in children's books using Publisher Rocket. Use this info to develop an effective subtitle.
Just type in a children's book idea, and you can quickly see how many people are searching for those books on Amazon, the average amount of money made by the top books, and even the competition:
This data was created using Publisher Rocket.As you can see, some kids’ book genres have decent money coming into them with less competition. Make sure you do your research beforehand and title/subtitle your children’s book accordingly.
You write a children’s book description (blurb) by looking at similar books’ descriptions. Pay special attention to length, word choice, and the style they are written in. That’s usually a great way to see what your audience expects and is used to.
Like books of other genres, your book description is fundamental to your children’s book’s success.
While your book cover and title help with your book’s discoverability and grabbing a potential buyer’s attention, your description is often the reason a reader decides to buy (or not to buy) your book.
To help you with your blurb format, be sure to check out Dave’s amazing Book Description Generator that takes care of all the text formatting for you.
Amazon has over 450 paperback and 260 eBook categories for children’s books. Your children’s book should be in the category that best describes your audience:
(These categories are how Amazon’s marketplace categorizes children’s books.)
During your children’s book setup, you may have noticed that not all children’s book categories are offered as an option. That’s because some of Amazon’s categories need to be unlocked before being selected.
However, if you set up your children’s book correctly by adding age ranges, you will be able to add your book quickly and easily to any of these hidden categories by following Dave’s steps in his article How To Choose the Best Book Categories. This is a game-changer for you and your children's book.
The best book cover design for your children’s book is one that entices potential readers, looks professional to parents, looks fun to kids, and communicates what your book is about.
To get the best cover design you can for your children’s book, follow this guide for making standout book covers. Then create a book mock-up for your book marketing efforts.
Follow this guide, and you’ll craft a beautiful story tailored toward your audience. And you’ll have the illustrations to make your children’s book eye-catching, and intriguing.
Children value creativity and individuality. There is no one way to draw. No one way to paint. No one way to write. It’s about being uniquely you, lending your unique voice to your unique story.
That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of the way you write, and you draw because that’s what sets you apart. Diversity is important. Tell your story.
Check out my book, How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book – Everything You Need To Know To Write, Illustrate, Publish, And Market Your Paperback And Ebook.
It will teach you how to:
Writing a children’s book is one thing; writing a children’s book that sells is another. Check out Kindlepreneur’s video on How to Write a Children's Book: 8 EASY STEPS!
Want more videos like this? Then click HERE to subscribe to Kindlepreneur’s YouTube channel.
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