How to Self Publish Children’s Books?

Self-publishing a book allows you full artistic control and makes you responsible for writing, editing, formatting, and marketing it. While book publishers offer professional advice and can help speed up the process of publishing, self-publishing a children’s book requires an investment of time and effort. It helps to have a clear understanding of the process to ensure that your book is properly published. To get started, our experts have prepared a 7 step guide to help you self-publish your children’s book successfully.

Prepare the Story in a Compelling Way

Like any novel, it’s the story that will hold the readers captive. You need to finish your manuscript and ensure the story connects with your audience.

General tips for writing the manuscript:

• Take the time to study the market trends and know what your audience likes.
• Focus on developing interesting characters.
• Keep the main message simple and understandable.
• Try to stay on track with one goal.
• Be mindful of the book-length and the word count.  

Hire an Illustrator to Make a Unique Cover Art for Your Book

Now that you have a manuscript ready, you need to focus on creating illustrations. Hiring an illustrator is an essential part of having a successful children’s book. You can work with an illustrator from a reputable and experienced book publishing company to create captivating artwork.  Then, consider the following aspects:

• Font Style: You need to select the right font to match your illustrations. Although eye-catching typography can help boost the sales of the book, you need to ensure it is easily readable. 

• Size of the Font: The size of the font should be consistent throughout the book. Also, ensure that the font is paired well with other illustrations and other objects in it.

• Illustration Board: You can develop a storyboard to portray all your ideas and identify what suits the personality of your book.

Hire a Professional Editor and Gather Feedback

Feedback is considered to be a writer’s best friend. An honest opinion can help recognize the shortcomings in your story and lets you make appropriate changes to the copy.

After rewriting your script, now it’s time to send your work to an editor. A professional book publisher can help you edit your book by considering the minute details and provide valuable insights into your children’s book.

Careful Selection of the Children’s Book Layout

The design and layout of the book also need significant attention. Using improper colour pallets, variations in the fonts of the book, and other dissimilarities can result in a poor reading experience. Be sure to plan the layout and the design of your children’s book to avoid such experiences.

Format Your Book

With the help of professional book publishers, you can format your book as per the requirements and make the final changes to achieve the desired result.

Prepare for Marketing the Book

Leverage the marketing skills of expert children’s book publishers to promote your book. Formulate a marketing strategy with the experts and be open to different ideas for the book launch.

Protect Your Work by Copyrighting Your book

To prevent any infringement issues, copyright your book. Once the formatting and the printing process of your book are over, you can apply for the legal copyright of your book to protect your work from imitators.

Let Us Help You Publish Your Dream Book in Toronto!

Indie Publishing Group is one of the best self-publishing companies in Toronto and has helped various aspiring writers establish their careers. Our publishing services can help you with book formatting, deciding children’s book layout, book printing, and several other aspects of publishing children’s books. We value your work and want it to reach as many people as possible.

Reach out to us at +1-548-688-8696 or write to us at info@indiepublishinggroup.com to learn more about our self-publishing services.

Important Tips for Creating Book Illustrations

For young readers, creative illustrations are fascinating. Book illustrations help get a message across to the readers and transform a simple story into an interesting one. If you have an engrossing story to tell but have no idea how to get started with good illustrations, then you have come to the right place. Here are some essential tips for creating attention-capturing illustrations!

5 Things to Remember When Creating Book Illustrations!

Look at the Bigger Picture

Every book has a concept. It’s easy for writers and illustrators to get lost in the details and forget to look at the bigger picture. Understanding the story concept will inspire ideas for the illustrations to help you work better for the theme. Good illustrations are those that encompass the meaning behind the story and enhance the extent of your words. Hence, ensure that the text is aligned with the pictures and doesn’t work against the text as it can confuse the young reader.

Decide on an Illustration Style

The style and technique that you choose should blend well with the story. Decide whether you want to keep your children’s book illustrations modern or classic for a proper flow. Modern illustration techniques use gradients, geometric patterns, colour blocking, and more advanced methods to make your book illustrations edgy and appealing. On the other hand, classic illustration techniques such as pencil drawings, black and white, watercolour, and more, are ideal for depth and detail.

Create a Moodboard

Whether you are doing the work yourself or thinking about hiring a professional, a mood board is a great way to explore design concepts and ideas. It is a collection of images, material samples, colour palettes, and more that will guide you in your work. Before you start your artwork, having a mood board will effectively help you collaborate with the design team. It will act as a prototype piece that shows the structure and visual hierarchy of all your book illustrations in one place.

Focus on the Book Cover

The cover of your children’s book in Toronto is the focal point of your story. Hence, you have to brainstorm for better ideas. Let’s dive into how you can create the perfect illustrations for your children’s book front and back cover:

• Consider the book layout. Choose whether you are going to opt for an ebook or a traditional paperback. The printing and illustration process of both formats can be different.

• Figure out what needs to be emphasized. The front cover and back cover should include the focal element of your story. It may be the main characters or an abstract idea.

• Decide on the dimension and fonts of the cover. Getting your typography right with a good resolution is critical to send your message across.

Remember that Less is More

Some illustrators get carried away and over-complicate the concept for your readers. One of the most fundamental design philosophies is to opt for simplicity. If you look at all the characters that children love, you will find they have simple shapes. Look at Winnie the Pooh, Dr. Suess, Hello Kitty, and more. They all have simple silhouettes that are relatable. Hence, for the best children’s book illustrations, ensure that the drawings are simple and relate to the audience.