2 answers
Halima
Student
Wheaton, Illinois
1
Question
Updated
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How to write and publish and children’s book?
Pages, story line, and most importantly find an illustrator for the picture book
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2 answers
Andre Bonatti
Security Solutions Architect
3
Answers
Pilar do Sul, SP
Updated
Andre’s Answer
If you have an idea and creative characters and would like to produce a children's book, there are many websites that help authors create, write, obtain illustrations, and publish books.
Most of the sites are FREE and may offer services from other people such as illustrators, proofreaders, and graphic designers who can help with publication.
After all the work is done, you can decide how many volumes the first edition will have and you can look for an e-commerce site like Amazon to sell your books.
If you really believe in your story, I also suggest registering your character to ensure that no one will steal it from you.
Most of the sites are FREE and may offer services from other people such as illustrators, proofreaders, and graphic designers who can help with publication.
After all the work is done, you can decide how many volumes the first edition will have and you can look for an e-commerce site like Amazon to sell your books.
If you really believe in your story, I also suggest registering your character to ensure that no one will steal it from you.
Carina Rampelt
Marketing
2
Answers
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Updated
Carina’s Answer
Love that you're interested in writing a children's book!
I'm assuming if you're asking this, you have an idea that you want to write down. So the first step is (theoretically) the easiest, but also the hardest to do: write it! If you struggle with this, set a timer and try to write it all down in one go—or at least a messy outline of your story. It doesn't have to be perfect. That's what editing is for.
Once you have a rough draft, it's time to polish. Read it over yourself, get your friends and teachers to look over it. Put in it a drawer and come back to it in a month with fresh eyes. Only once you're **absolutely sure** it's the best it can be, move on to the next step.
Now it's time to decide whether you want to try to publish traditionally or self publish.
Traditional publishing means publishing with an established publisher (there are big ones like HarperCollins or Penguin RandomHouse, but also lots of smaller ones). They'll take care of everything, from finding an illustrator, to doing layout, to printing it, to doing the advertising and marketing. The flip side is, they get a lot of submissions and it's hard to get in.
Self publishing means doing everything yourself, or hiring people to help you. This might mean finding an illustrator, doing the layout in a software like Adobe InDesign, and finding printing companies in your area to print paper copies. Of course, you can also just publish it as an ebook, which is much cheaper, though will still take a lot of work!
If you want to try to publish traditionally, you'll typically need to find an agent, because a lot of publishers don't take manuscripts directly from writers. You can do some research online to see what kinds of agents work with children's books, or look up some of your favourite books and find out what agent the author had when they sold their manuscript. Agents usually have a submissions process where you'll need to send them a cover letter explaining what your book is about and who it's for, as well as a sample of your writing (for children's books, this is often the whole thing—which is why you spent the time to write and polish at the beginning). This is called "querying." It can take a long time to find the right agent, so don't get discouraged, be persistent and take any feedback you get to make your story better.
If you want to self publish, think about what parts you'll need to put the book together. Hiring people to do this can get expensive, so you'll either want to figure out a budget of how much it will cost and save money towards it, or do a lot yourself. You mentioned illustration, so that's a key step—maybe you have some talented artist friends who could illustrate, or maybe that's a skill you could start to teach yourself. You'll also need to create the layout of your book. This is something you could try to do yourself in Canva, or you could see if your school has Adobe software you can learn on. Once it's put together, you can see if you have enough money to physically print some copies, or whether you want to publish it as an ebook.
Then, the fun part begins—sharing your story with the world! Good luck :)
Write and edit the story
Decide whether to publish traditionally or self-publish
(If publishing traditionally) Submit to children's book agents
(If self-publishing) Make a list of everything you need and how much it will cost. Make a plan to do the work yourself or save money to pay for things like illustration, printing, etc.
Tell everyone about your book!
I'm assuming if you're asking this, you have an idea that you want to write down. So the first step is (theoretically) the easiest, but also the hardest to do: write it! If you struggle with this, set a timer and try to write it all down in one go—or at least a messy outline of your story. It doesn't have to be perfect. That's what editing is for.
Once you have a rough draft, it's time to polish. Read it over yourself, get your friends and teachers to look over it. Put in it a drawer and come back to it in a month with fresh eyes. Only once you're **absolutely sure** it's the best it can be, move on to the next step.
Now it's time to decide whether you want to try to publish traditionally or self publish.
Traditional publishing means publishing with an established publisher (there are big ones like HarperCollins or Penguin RandomHouse, but also lots of smaller ones). They'll take care of everything, from finding an illustrator, to doing layout, to printing it, to doing the advertising and marketing. The flip side is, they get a lot of submissions and it's hard to get in.
Self publishing means doing everything yourself, or hiring people to help you. This might mean finding an illustrator, doing the layout in a software like Adobe InDesign, and finding printing companies in your area to print paper copies. Of course, you can also just publish it as an ebook, which is much cheaper, though will still take a lot of work!
If you want to try to publish traditionally, you'll typically need to find an agent, because a lot of publishers don't take manuscripts directly from writers. You can do some research online to see what kinds of agents work with children's books, or look up some of your favourite books and find out what agent the author had when they sold their manuscript. Agents usually have a submissions process where you'll need to send them a cover letter explaining what your book is about and who it's for, as well as a sample of your writing (for children's books, this is often the whole thing—which is why you spent the time to write and polish at the beginning). This is called "querying." It can take a long time to find the right agent, so don't get discouraged, be persistent and take any feedback you get to make your story better.
If you want to self publish, think about what parts you'll need to put the book together. Hiring people to do this can get expensive, so you'll either want to figure out a budget of how much it will cost and save money towards it, or do a lot yourself. You mentioned illustration, so that's a key step—maybe you have some talented artist friends who could illustrate, or maybe that's a skill you could start to teach yourself. You'll also need to create the layout of your book. This is something you could try to do yourself in Canva, or you could see if your school has Adobe software you can learn on. Once it's put together, you can see if you have enough money to physically print some copies, or whether you want to publish it as an ebook.
Then, the fun part begins—sharing your story with the world! Good luck :)
Carina recommends the following next steps: