Self-Publishing a Picture Book
How long should your book be?
One of the first things to know is how many pages you want your book to be. The total number of pages needs to be a multiple of 8. Most children’s books are 32 or 40 pages long. The multiples of 8 have to do with the printing process and how printers put books together. The standard children’s books of 32 or 40 pages usually contain 300-400 words, and the standard now is closer to 300 words. Editors will follow this, and it often makes a book tighter and cleaner, but if your story absolutely needs more words, you may have to go outside this box.
The Boy and The Shark has over 1,400 words in it. It would probably have never been published or would have had to undergo tremendous cuts that I believe would have compromised the story.
Illustrating your book
After writing the story, you will need to find an illustrator to illustrate it unless you are a writer/illustrator. You will need to determine whether you want color or black and white illustrations. Cost may be a factor. Color may cost two to three times more. One website that contains much useful information on self publishing and illustrating is mikemotz.com. He is an illustrator. I have never had contact with him, but his website is full of information. There are probably many others on the web. You can search them out. If there are any children’s writers in your area, you could ask them for names of illustrators they may like. Look at children’s books to see if there is an illustrator whose style you like and contact them.
After you have the story and the pictures I would recommend using a professional desktop publisher to design your book, unless you personally have these skills. This person can help you choose interesting fonts that go with your story, position text on the page with the illustrations, create the title and cover, guide you in giving your book its unique “look,” and help you with the many details that go into creating a book.
Printing your book
We learned that any changes one makes with the printing company that differ with the original book estimate must be in writing since verbal arrangements may be misunderstood, or the person with whom you made the arrangement may no longer work at the company in a few months when you actually go to press.
You can also go on the web to research book printers. One website that appears useful is bookmarket.com, which lists 101 book printers.
We used Bang Printing in Minnesota, who did an excellent job of producing our book. However, over the course of a year I worked with three different people and there were quite a few miscommunications, which was frustrating at times. Part of the issue may also have been that I knew very little about the process of publishing and printing a book so I needed some explanation of each step in the process. However, every person I worked with was cordial, helpful, and respectful throughout the process. In the end we were all proud of the book that resulted from the process.
Advantages and disadvantages of self publishing
The major advantage you have in self-publishing is that you have the power to make the final decisions on what your book looks like and what it is. You can take your time and do the best job you know how. You can choose the title, the cover, and make decisions on every detail in the book. However, you may not want to make all those decisions. You might rather write!
The advantage of getting a publisher is that the publishing house has its own professionals to do the various jobs it takes to create a book. However, as the writer, you will probably not have an opportunity to tell any of those professionals what you want. More than likely, you will have no contact with the illustrator or the art director. You will have contact with an editor who will be the one with the power to make decisions. You can make suggestions, and you can inform the editor of something in an illustration that is woefully, objectively inaccurate. Then again, it might take you several years for you to find a publisher for your story, and you might never find one.
And finally, you will have to pay for everything to self-publish your book whereas the publisher will pay you for your manuscript. However, you may only need to sell 300–400 books to break even with the first 1,000 books that you print if you’ve chosen to print them in black and white.
Marketing
There is also the issue of marketing. The publisher will help market your book, but you will have to do a lot of the work yourself, especially on your first children’s book and maybe also your second and third. There is wide variation on the amount of marketing dollars different publishers may be willing to spend on your book.
One of the most important things you need in order to market your book is an ISBN—a number assigned to the book to identify it—and a bar code, which contains the ISBN as well as the price of the book so any retailer or wholesaler can scan and sell the book effortlessly. Without a bar code no one will sell it . . . except you, personally.
You can find out more about ISBNs and bar codes, and apply online, at www.bowker.com and www.isbn.org.
How much time and energy do you have to market your book? What kind of commitment are you willing and able to make? Be realistic with yourself.
Resources
One valuable resource for self publishing is the book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Self Publishing, by Jennifer Sander. It contains a wealth of information on most genres of books from the original idea through printing and marketing.
Use the web. Use the web. Talk to everyone you know about what you are doing. Talk to others who have self published. A lot of ideas you may throw away, but now and then, an idea can inspire you or give you exactly what you need.