Formatting a children’s book can feel a little overwhelming at first.

You’ve got words, illustrations, page layouts, trim sizes, fonts… and you want the final book to look good in the hands of a child who’s ready to explore it. No pressure, right?

The good news is, once you understand what goes where (and why) it becomes much less mysterious. There are standards in children's publishing, and if you follow them, you’ll end up with a book that prints cleanly, reads smoothly, and feels professional to parents, librarians, and teachers.

Whether you plan to publish a print edition, an eBook, or both, the process works better when you know the formatting basics ahead of time.

That’s what this guide is here for. We’ll walk through key things to prepare before you format, common layout considerations, and some tools that can make the job easier.

Let’s get into it.

Formatting Requirements for the Types of Children’s Books

Before we dive into layouts and software, let’s make sure we’re talking about the right kind of children’s book.

“Kid’s books” cover a big range, and the formatting needs aren’t the same for all of them.

1. Middle Grade and Young Adult

If you’re writing for older kids or teens, and your book is mostly text with only the occasional illustration, you can format it the same way you would a standard novel. Font choices, margins, chapter headings… that world applies to you.

Most of the tips in this guide are geared toward books with heavy illustration needs, so you may not need all of them.

If you're looking for guidance specific to chapter books and novels, I have a full walkthrough on formatting you can use instead.

2. Picture Books

This guide is aimed at picture book authors — the folks dealing with full-page artwork, text placement, trim sizes, bleed settings, and all the visual details that make children’s books so fun (and sometimes frustrating) to produce.

So if your book relies on illustrations just as much as it does on words, you’re in the right place.

What You Should Have Done Before Formatting

When authors talk about “formatting,” they sometimes mean very different things. To be clear, this guide isn’t about preparing a manuscript for an agent or traditional publisher. That’s its own process.

Here, we’re talking about book layout (bringing your finished text and illustrations together for print or digital self-publishing).

With picture books, that work actually starts long before you open any design software. The clearer your vision is, the smoother the computer stage will be. Trying to “figure it out as you go” almost always leads to frustration and extra back-and-forth.

Before you begin formatting, you should already have a few things in place.

Edited Text

Your story should be final at this point. Ideally, an editor has looked at it, or you’ve done several careful passes yourself. Picture books rely on very tight language, so even small changes later can throw off spacing and layout.

Can you fix text mid-format? Sure. It just slows everything down, and you’ll end up re-doing pages you already placed. Better to lock the words first.

Illustrations

Formatting is the marriage of text and art. That means you need your illustrations ready before you start laying out pages. Waiting on artwork while trying to format always turns into a bottleneck.

If you're working with an illustrator, hold off until all files are delivered in the proper resolution and dimensions. If you're creating the art yourself, make sure everything is finalized and consistent before moving forward.

A Book Dummy (Mockup)

A book dummy (sometimes called a storyboard) is a simple mockup of your book. Nothing fancy. Folded printer paper works fine.

You sketch where the art goes, where the text sits, and how the story flows page to page. Many authors do a rough dummy before hiring an illustrator so they know exactly which images are needed (and don’t accidentally commission extra artwork).

Once the final illustrations come in, update the mockup. This becomes your guide as you format. It’s a lot easier to rearrange paper scraps on a table than to shuffle pages around inside a design program.

Side Note: I recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read my review here.

Children's Book Formatting Tips

There are many ways to format a children’s book, and plenty of tools for doing it. Some folks use InDesign. Some use Affinity Publisher or Apple Pages. There are even brave souls who do it in Word.

The specific software matters less than the fundamentals. If you follow the basics below, you’ll avoid the big mistakes and end up with a book that prints cleanly and reads well for young kids and their grown-ups.

1. Page Count

Most picture books run 32 pages. That number didn’t come from magic (it came from printing requirements), but it stuck. Stores, librarians, and parents are used to it, and it’s a smart target for a first book.

If you need a different length, keep your total page count in multiples of eight (24, 32, 40, 48, etc.). Print books are made in page signatures, and those multiples keep everything binding-friendly and cost-efficient.

2. Word Count

Think short. Under 500 words is typical for modern picture books. A little above is fine, but if you’re drifting far north of that, it’s worth stepping back to see if the story can be tightened.

Fewer words often means clearer pacing, easier page turns, and a smoother read-aloud experience.

3. Trim Size and Orientation

Pick your trim size before you hire an illustrator. That decision affects layout, composition, and how your art is created.

Picture books generally come in:

• Landscape
• Portrait
• Square

Common traditional sizes work well, but if you're using print-on-demand, check what formats are available. KDP and IngramSpark don’t offer landscape picture books, so plan for portrait or square if you're going POD.

Available POD trim sizes include:

Portrait

• 7″ × 10″
• 7.25″ × 9.25″
• 8″ × 10″
• 8.5″ × 11″

Square

• 8″ × 8″
• 8.5″ × 8.5″

Choose before you draw, not after. It saves headaches.

4. Bleed

Bleed just means artwork runs off the edge of the page instead of stopping inside the margins. Most picture books use bleed because it feels full and immersive.

If any page uses bleed, set your whole file to bleed.

KDP requires a print-ready PDF for bleed books, and you'll need to increase your page size slightly:

Page Height = Trim Height + 0.125 × 2
Page Width  = Trim Width + 0.125

So, for an 8″ × 10″ trim:

• 10″ + 0.125 × 2 = 10.25″
• 8″ + 0.125 = 8.125″

Your document would be 8.125″ × 10.25″.

5. Margins

Margins protect your art and text from getting swallowed by the binding or trimmed off the sides.

• Inside (gutter): ~0.375″ for picture books
• Top, outside, bottom:
  • With bleed: 0.375″ or more
  • Without bleed: 0.25″ or more

I like 0.5″ on the three non-gutter sides. Gives breathing room and avoids near-edge surprises.

6. Placing Text and Images

Once you’ve set trim, bleed, and margins, bring in your art and text. Use your dummy book as your map.

A couple notes here:

• Keep text well inside the safe margins
• Avoid covering important parts of the art
• Don’t crowd edges (breathing room matters)
• Pick a font that’s readable for young kids (Times New Roman isn’t your friend here)

Clean text layout helps children focus and helps parents reading aloud too.

7. Image Files

Picture books live and die by image quality.

• 300 dpi is standard
• Ask your illustrator for high-resolution files and the originals
• If you draw your own art, scan at full resolution
• Keep layered files if edits are needed later

Whether you work in Photoshop, Procreate, or pencil and paper, start with quality files now so you don’t regret it later.

8. Export to PDF

When everything looks right, export your print file as a PDF with the correct page size, bleed, and margins. That’s what you’ll upload to KDP or IngramSpark.

Double-check:

• Bleed settings
• Trim size
• Page order
• Color profiles if applicable (CMYK vs RGB depending on printer)

It’s much easier to catch mistakes here than after your proof copy arrives.

Options for Formatting a Children's Book

Picture books take more layout work than text-only novels. Images, spacing, bleed settings, page turns… it’s a different world than formatting a chapter book.

The good news is, you don’t have to start from scratch. Here are the main tools authors use, along with where they shine (and where they don’t).

Pages

Pages is the Mac equivalent of Word. If you already use it and want something familiar, it can handle simple layouts. But picture books rely heavily on image control, and Pages gets clumsy fast once you start juggling illustrations and precise spacing.

It works in a pinch. Not ideal.

Microsoft Word or Google Docs

Word and Google Docs fall into the same category as Pages. Great for writing and basic formatting. Not great for visual books.

You can technically lay out pages in Word, but you’ll likely end up fighting the program more than working with it. You may need another tool like Photoshop for images anyway, so most authors skip Word for full picture-book design.

Adobe InDesign

This is the gold-standard for picture book layout. InDesign gives you control over every pixel, which is exactly what most illustrated books need.

Downside: it has a learning curve. If you’ve never worked in design software before, expect some time spent watching tutorials or experimenting. Worth it if you want full control.

Atticus

Atticus is fantastic for authors writing chapter books, middle-grade, or YA. It supports images and full-bleed chapter openers, maps, and decorative elements.

But for fully illustrated picture books, Atticus isn’t the right tool yet. It’s improving fast, but at the moment, dedicated design software still handles heavy illustration work better.

Pay a Designer

If layout isn’t your thing — or you’d rather spend your energy writing the next book — hire someone who specializes in children’s book design.

There are plenty of talented designers who know picture book standards, color profiles, bleed settings, and all the little details that save headaches later. You can find them through platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or illustrator communities.

Just make sure they have picture book experience. It’s its own skill set.

Don't Forget Kindle Create

Amazon used to have a free tool called Kindle Kids' Book Creator, but it's been all but retired. Today, Amazon recommends Kindle Create for converting your children’s book layout into a Kindle-friendly format and publishing it via Amazon KDP..

While print remains the playground for many picture books, e-reader and tablet reading are growing. Offering both a print and digital version increases your reach.

Kindle Create supports fixed-layout and image-rich books, helping you create an e-book that looks good on devices and retains your design integrity.

Final Thoughts on Formatting a Children's Book

Formatting a children’s book isn’t something you tack on at the end. With picture books, the layout is part of the storytelling. Words, illustrations, pacing, page turns… they all work together, and the earlier you think about those pieces, the smoother the whole process goes.

Start with a solid story and a clear plan. Know your word count goals, page count, trim size, and whether you’ll use bleed before you ever place your first image. From there, take your time building the pages so the text and art support each other and nothing gets lost in the margins.

It may feel like a lot at first, but once you understand the fundamentals, it becomes a creative part of the process, not a technical chore.

Follow the steps above, stay patient, and you’ll end up with a book that looks professional and reads beautifully in little hands.