How do you write a children’s book and actually get it published?
You start by knowing who you’re writing for. You build in the elements that make little eyes light up. You add illustrations that bring the story to life. And then, you choose whether to self-publish or submit to a traditional publisher.
This article will give you the tools to finally write that story that’s been tugging at your heart — the one you’ve imagined sharing with children, but never quite believed you could finish.
What’s your reason for wanting to write a children’s book?
For me, it’s this smile.
That’s what started it all.
Maybe you’ve got a story idea that won’t let go. Or maybe there’s a favorite bedtime tale your child asks for every night, and you want to give it a permanent home on the page.
Whatever your reason, now’s the time to make it happen.
I’m a multi-award-winning and bestselling children’s book author, and I’ve had the joy of ghostwriting more than 50 children’s books. I also created something called Children’s Book University®, where I help authors bring their own beautiful books to life.
What follows is a condensed version of everything I wish I’d had when I was first starting out.
Let’s get started.
Don'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!
- How to Get to Know Your Audience
- How to Choose the Right Format for Your Children's Book
- How to Narrow Down Your Book Category
- How to Name a Children's Book
- How to Choose a Writing Style
- The Most Important Elements of a Children's Book
- How to Edit Your Children's Book
- How to Illustrate Your Children's Book
- How to Create a Book Dummy
- How to Sell Your Children's Book
- FAQs on Writing a Children's Book
Questions to Consider Before Writing a Children’s Book
Will parents want to buy this book?
Here’s the truth: When you’re writing for younger readers, you’re not just writing for them.
You’re writing for their parents, too.
They’re the ones holding the credit card. They’re the ones browsing Amazon or strolling through a bookstore. So while your story should absolutely captivate children, it also needs to appeal to the people buying it.
Most children’s books are purchased by women between the ages of 30 and 44. That’s your core audience, and it’s important to understand what they’re looking for.
A few ways to do that:
- Spend time with children in your target age range (and the grownups who love them)
- Join parent or teacher Facebook groups and observe what kinds of books get recommended
- Talk to friends or family who are raising kids
- Ask questions. Even a short survey to moms in your circle can offer surprising insights
Market research can help, too. It shows us exactly what parents are searching for when looking for books their children will love. Sometimes, the results are eye-opening.
Take a look at the table below to see how much search volume varies between common themes on Amazon:
Data provided by Publisher Rocket
As you can see, certain topics are in high demand… while others may be tougher to sell. That doesn’t mean you have to chase trends or ignore your heart — but it does mean knowing where your book fits, and what kind of response it’s likely to get.
Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here.
Do you know the [basic] structure of a children’s book?
Before you start writing, it helps to understand how children’s books are built.
There is a structure to them — even the ones that seem delightfully random at first glance. Whether you’re writing a 200-word board book or a 1,000-word picture book, there are common patterns you’ll start to notice once you study enough of them.
One of the best ways to learn that structure?
Start reading like a writer.
- Study books in your target age group. Pay attention to layout, sentence length, and vocabulary.
- Take a trip to your local library or bookstore. Browse the kids’ section and flip through dozens of titles.
- Look up publishing and reading trends. Slideshare often has helpful research on what’s selling and why.
- Talk to early childhood educators or child development experts. Their insights can help you understand how young readers learn — and what kinds of stories support that learning.
Is there a template for writing a children’s book?
There are templates out there for writing children’s books, but those are just starting points. Use them to guide your process, not box it in. Once you understand the basic framework, you’ll be free to bring your own voice, characters, and ideas to life on the page.
Here are some of my favorites:
- My own How to Write a Children’s Book Template (it’s free with lots of added resources)
- Template.net’s Illustrated Children’s Book Template (not all are free, but very professionally done with lots of different choices)
- Write Kids’ Books Free Microsoft Word children’s book template (for chapter books for slightly older kids )
- Claire O’Brien’s Free Picture Book Scrivener Template (for everyone’s favorite book-writing software, Scrivener)
- Used to Tech’s Free Editable Book Templates in Word (for Microsoft Word)
Can you explain your book concept before writing?
Before you dive into writing, ask yourself this:
Can I explain what my book is about in one sentence?
If you’re talking to a parent, a publisher, or even a curious friend… you want to be able to share your idea clearly and quickly. That’s where a logline comes in — a short sentence that captures your story’s heart and hook.
Think of it like this:
If someone gave you 30 seconds to describe your book, would they walk away excited? Or confused?
If you’re struggling to sum it up, your idea might still be too fuzzy. That’s okay. This is a great chance to tighten your focus before you begin writing.
Once your concept is crystal clear, the writing becomes so much easier.
Writing a Children’s Book: Things to Avoid
Here are a few things to watch out for as you write your children’s book:
- Mixing up age categories. A board book for toddlers shouldn’t use long words or complex sentences. And middle grade books shouldn’t include content meant for teens. Each age group has its own needs — keep those in mind from the start.
- Using too many words. If you’re writing a picture book, try to stay under 800 words total. That includes everything — even the dedication and author bio. Less really is more here.
- Making the lesson too obvious. Kids are smart. If your story feels like a lecture, they’ll tune out. Let the message come through naturally by focusing on the characters and their choices.
- Choosing a bland title. Your title should catch a reader’s eye and make it clear what your story is about. A subtitle helps too — it gives your book more visibility and helps with search engines like Google and Amazon.
- Writing flat characters. Children love vibrant, bold personalities. Make sure your main character is active, curious, and capable of making decisions that shape the story.
- Starting too slow. Begin your book with something that sparks curiosity — a question, a moment of change, or a problem to solve. You want kids leaning in from the first line.
- Settling for weak illustrations. The pictures are just as important as the words, especially in books for younger children. Invest in illustrations that bring your story to life — they can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with little readers.
How to Write a Children’s Book in 9 Steps
You 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:
- Choose the format
- Know your target category
- Choose a title
- Find a writing style
- Incorporate important elements
- Use solid characters
- Make the story engaging
- Proofread and edit
- Illustrate your book
STEP 1. Choose the Format
Should 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 Category
To 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:
- Board books
- Picture books
- Chapter books
- Middle grade chapter books
- Young Adult books
Below is a table to show average statistics for the most common types of children’s books:
Children's Book Categories
| Category | Age | Word Count | Pages | Illustrations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board Book | 0-3 | 0 | 12-32 | Every Page |
| Picture Book | 2-5 | 200-400 | 32 | Every Page |
| Chapter Book | 6-10 | 3,000-10,000 | 32+ | Almost every page |
| Middle Grade Book | 8-12 | 30,000-45,000 | 80+ | 12+ illustrations |
| Young Adult Book | 13-18 | 60,000-85,000 | 150+ | Few if any illustrations |
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
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
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.
Chapter Books
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
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
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 Title
You 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:
- To grab a reader’s attention (or a parent’s attention)
- To clearly tell what the story is about
- An easily searchable title, hard to confuse for something else
- Keywords that match what your audience is searching for
The book The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions is a great example:
- It grabs your attention because kids usually don’t associate monsters with different moods.
- It tells parents and kids that this story is about different monsters with different emotions.
- It is one of the first results when you search “monster book for kids.”
- It has the word “monster,” a very common search term for boy’s books.
- The subtitle reads “A Story About Emotions,” and includes “emotions,” which is another common keyword parents look for in their children’s books.
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 Style
You 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:
- Rhyme: If you decide to write your book in rhyme, you need to make the rhyme very, very good. Make sure lines have the same syllable counts and rhythms. Don’t force bad rhymes or skip rhyming. Be consistent. (The Little Blue Truck and Llama Llama books are excellent examples.)
- Past or Present Tense: Kids prefer books in the present tense, actively engaging them in the story. They’re experiencing it as it happens, rather than being removed from something that happened in the past. (Maisy books are a great present-tense example.).
- First or Third Person: A third-person narrator’s voice may give you more freedom and flexibility. Children tend to prefer it to the first person. However, if it works with your theme to tell the story through a first-person narrator’s eyes, then make that choice.
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.
STEP 5. 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:
- Unforgettable characters: The best characters have strong personalities, make bold moves, and go after their dreams against all odds. Children fall in love with them and want to be like them. Children want to relate to the main character in some way. They also relate to kids that are just a bit older than them. Characters who remind kids of themselves are the most unforgettable.
- Suspenseful action/hook: Beginning a children’s book with a suspenseful action or hook is an effective way to draw in young readers. Consistent action throughout your story is vital, as it will hold the reader’s attention. Chapter books, for example, usually end each chapter with a cliffhanger to ensure the reader keeps turning the pages.
- Realistic dialogue: Children like to read stories that sound like they talk. Listen to conversations you hear around you; none of them will sound like the nicely flowing, full sentences you learned to write in school. Make sure you’re using age-appropriate language that kids will understand and relate to.
- Good storyline: A good storyline means there are always obstacles and challenges for your characters, ever-escalating the action. Note that little ones like happy endings and answered questions. If your storyline lacks a happy ending, you risk upsetting the reader or leaving them dissatisfied.
- The instant recall factor: You want your book’s character to remain in the minds of your little readers long after they’ve read your book. If kids ask to read it over and over again, you can consider your story a success.
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 Characters
You 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…
- are around the age of the child, if not a few years older
- have colorful personalities
- make bold choices that move the story along
- speak as the readers speak (dialogue style)
- have relatable wants and dreams
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 Engaging
You 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:
- In your picture book, is the caterpillar going to achieve its dream of becoming a butterfly? Is the mama cow going to find its baby calf?
- In middle grade books, is the girl going to get her first kiss? Is the boy going to convince his parents to let him get the big Nerf water gun?
- In YA books, is the protagonist going to realize she’s beautiful and save the world?
STEP 8. Proofread & Edit
When 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 Book
When it comes to adding illustrations to your children’s book, there are three options you can choose from:
- Do it yourself
- Hire someone
- Combination of both
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:
- Choose your orientation
- Plan your image sizing
- Create a storyboard/book dummy
- Combine text & illustration
- Choose an illustrator
- Pay for illustrations
- Obtain your illustrations
1. Choose Your Orientation
When it comes to picture books, there are 3 orientations to choose from:
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Square
(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:
- Vertical images are great for character-based books
- Horizontal images are best for a journey-like story
- Square images are excellent for instructional books
2. Plan Your Image Sizing
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:
- 5.5” x 8.5”
- 6” x 9”
- 6.14 x 9.21”
- 7” x 10”
- 8” x 10”
- 8.5” x 8.5”
- 8.5” x 11”
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.
3. Create a Storyboard/Book Dummy
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:
- Fold enough blank sheets of paper and staple the stack down the middle.
- Print out your manuscript on a separate paper.
- Cut and paste each block of text into the book dummy (folded paper).
- Flip through each page, read your pasted text, and think of an illustration that would go nicely with that particular text.
- Start sketching on the page of pasted text — or on the opposite page if that’s more helpful. Then you can visualize everything before you give your work to an illustrator.
4. Combine Text & Illustration
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:
- Text as part of the image
- Text and image separate
Text as Part of the Image
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.
Text and Image Separate
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.
5. Choose an 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.
| Illustrator | Specialties |
|---|---|
| Evgenia Malina | Fiction and non-fiction for children, educational, colored, or black and white. Audience age - 6+ |
| Andy Catling Illustration | Picture books, YA books, Book covers (various) |
| Jennifer Nelson Artists, Inc. | Variety of specialties – they represent 15 artists worldwide |
| Izabela Ciesinska | Adorable characters, whimsical, commercial |
| Alison Mutton, Alene Illustration | Children’s illustration for picture books, chapter books and covers, in modern, fairytale, low fantasy or historical settingschildren’s illustration for picture books, chapter books and covers, in modern, fairytale, low fantasy or historical settings |
| Dave Hill | Picture Books, Chapter Books, Cover Design, Dummy Book Production |
| Artus Creative | Cartoon Illustrations |
| Wertheim Illustration | Fiction and non-fiction children’s picture books and book covers, realistic, animals and people |
| Bill Ledger Cartoon Studio | 3D and 2D illustration for children’s books and commercial projects |
| Kristy Lankford | Specializes in early childhood and elementary-aged publications, but not opposed to YA as well. Uses mixed media materials that include watercolor, ink, color pencils, gouache, and digital software. |
| John Peter Meiring | Children book Illustration, comics, and graphics |
| Beehive Illustration | Represent over 150 illustrators worldwide. Specializing in children's illustration. |
| Dan Ungureanu | Children's book illustration, editorial illustration |
| Zoe Ranucci | Children’s picture book illustration, layout and design, and character development. Strives to infuse projects with diversity, happiness and positivity. |
| Priscilla Kim | YA covers, primarily fantasy, modern and horror |
| Marty Jones | Realistically-styled illustration |
Here’s a list of outsourcing sites and social media sites where you can choose an illustrator for your children’s book:
- Upwork
- Fiverr
- Guru
- Freelancer
- LinkedIn — artist and illustrator groups
- Facebook — artist and illustrator groups
- Goodreads groups
- DeviantArt
- Children's Illustrators
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.
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.
- Here’s a helpful vetting process to see if an illustrator is a good fit:
- Look at their profile and read through previous reviews.
- View their portfolio to get a feel for their style.
- Request a sample of their work to see how effectively they can turn your writing into illustrations and how well they follow instructions. View an example of such a request with this link.
6. Pay for Illustrations
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:
- Number of illustrations
- Complexity of the artwork
- Illustrator’s skill level and experience
- Location of the illustrator
- Delivery speed
7. Obtain the Illustrations
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.
FAQs for Writing a Children’s Book
1. Should I copyright my children’s book?
The 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?
2. 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.
3. How do I convert my children’s book into an ebook?
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!
4. Should my children’s book have a subtitle?
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:
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.
5. How do I write a children’s book description?
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.
6. What category should my children's book be in?
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:
- Board Book — 0-3 years old
- Picture Book — 2-5 years old
- Early Reader/Chapter Book — 6-10 years old
- Middle Grade Chapter Book — 8-12 years old
- Young Adult (Teen) Chapter Book — 12-18 years old
(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.
7. What is the best cover design for my 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.
8. How long should a children’s book be?
That depends entirely on the age group you’re writing for.
Board books usually have between 50 and 300 words. Picture books range from 300 to 800 words. Early readers and chapter books stretch further, typically from 1,000 to 10,000 words, depending on the level.
What matters most isn’t the word count, but whether your story feels complete and age-appropriate. Keep your readers’ attention spans in mind, and don’t add more than the story truly needs.
9. Do I need to hire a professional editor?
Yes, especially if you plan to self-publish.
A professional editor can help catch things you might miss. They’ll ensure your manuscript flows well, fits your target age group, and avoids common mistakes that can turn off young readers (or their parents).
This doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune. But if you want your book to shine, a good editor is a smart investment.
10. Can I write a children’s book without illustrations?
Technically, yes. But illustrations are a huge part of most children’s books, especially board books, picture books, and early readers.
Illustrations help bring your story to life. They give children context, color, and visual interest. If you’re writing for older age groups (like middle grade or young adult), illustrations may not be necessary. But for younger kids, they’re often essential.
11. Do I need to rhyme my children’s book?
No, you don’t have to write in rhyme, but if you do, make sure it’s done well.
Children love rhythm and repetition. But forced rhymes or awkward meter can make a story harder to read aloud (which parents will definitely notice). If rhyming comes naturally to you, go for it. If not, simple prose is just as powerful.
12. Should I include a message or moral in my story?
You can, but let the story carry it.
Children’s books with a deeper message often resonate more, especially with parents. But that message should feel natural — woven into the plot, not delivered as a lecture.
The best stories show rather than tell. If you can craft a meaningful journey without spelling everything out, that’s the sweet spot.
Now you know how to write a children’s book!
You’ve got the steps. You’ve got the tools. Now it’s time to begin.
Follow this guide, and you’ll be able to craft a beautiful story that speaks to your audience — paired with illustrations that bring the pages to life.
Remember, there’s no single way to write a children’s book. No one right way to draw, or rhyme, or share a story.
What matters most is that it comes from you.
Your voice. Your vision. Your way of seeing the world.
That’s what children connect with. That’s what makes your book stand out.
So don’t hold back.
Tell your story. The world is waiting for it.
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:
- Format Your Paper & Ebook Versions of Your Book Step-by-Step
- Publish Your Paperback and Ebook
- Market Your Freshly Published Children’s Book
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.
Wonderful post Eevi ???? Thanks for sharing this article.
Animal Characters in Children’s Literature comprises various bodies of work made especially for children. This consists of picture books and easy-to-read stories for the entertainment and development of children. Children love books not only…
Please read my blog: Animal Characters in Children’s Literature
Have a wonderful day!
Thanks so much for your kind words and for sharing, Caroleann!
Hi Eevi,
Thank you for all of this great information. Does your article or website include how to reach out to publishers once you have your ‘prototype’ book?
Forever grateful,
Habiba
Thanks so much for reaching out and for your question, Habiba! I mainly share information about publishing your children’s book independently. If you would like to try to reach out to traditional publisher, I would recommend the book “Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market (https://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Writers-Illustrators-Market-2020/dp/1440301239). They have a updated edition out about every year, so this would be a great way to start, as it includes publishing houses, agents, as well as a short section on how to write your query letter. As for any publishers that are not listed in this book, please be sure to do your due diligence when it comes to deciding whether or not to approach them. Hopefully, my quick article on how to find out whether or not a publisher is trustworthy right here is helpful as well: http://www.eevijones.com/vanity-vs-hybrid-vs-traditional-publishing/. I hope this helps, Habiba!
this was so helpful, quick question, should the story be told by the child, 2-5 years is target book age, or by the adult
It can be. That’s more of a stylistic choice. Just make sure that you vernacular is of a 2-5 year-old level.
Great read thank you kindly.
I’m wanting to find out how illustrations are done and then put into digital print? I have found an illustrator and written a handful of books. We are both new to this so trying to find the best way of transforming the illustrations and text together to look like a professional book.
Thank you for giving me a great start to writing, publishing and selling children’s books.
Glad we could help!
We’re so excited to see what you come up with, Chris!
Hi Chandese! Please feel free to check out my book “How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book” or visit my website. I share a number of resources on just that. I so hope this helps!
Hi Eevi,
Great content, superb article. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
This is Dr. Fauzia from Pakistan I would be really grateful if you can share information about vocational books for children, like skill based books for kids, like planting, flowering, kitchen gardening, crafts making etc. Another request is I really want to write small books on skill development in children but need guidelines.
Hope you will respond.
Thanking in Advanced.
Best Regards
Dr. Fauzia Mushtaq
Lahore Pakistan
Hi Dr. Fauzia Mushtaq! Thanks so much for your kind words! Please feel free to check out my book “How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book” or visit my website, where I share a number of resources on just that. I so hope this helps!
Thanks for this great article!
Writing for children involves a lot of considerations: consider what children like; what they would feel; how they would read your book; and more.
Absolutely!
Yes! I so love that you’re thinking this way! That’s why it is so very important to know what age group you’re writing for and what you’re trying to achieve with your beautiful book! Thanks so much for your wonderful comment, Janet!
Thank you for this article, it has very helpful information. I have a question though… Are there any rule changes for an ESL story book? My wife is an English teacher and wants me to use my art and poetry to write language books for her students learning the language. Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond!
Hi Chris! Thanks so much for reaching out. You’d create your ESL book the same way. The way I’d go about it is to go and see what other ESL story books look like. Look at commonalities, such as the size and the format. Perhaps even purchase a few, so you figure out your own preferences. I hope this helps, Chris! Good luck with your book!
This was so informative! it answered questions. I didn’t know I had, a great resource. I cannot wait to start writing my children’s book 🙂
I cannot thank you enough for all of this information. I have been working on a book intended as a personal present and I’ve almost finished. The only trouble is when I do any mock-ups for printing, my borders are all wrong, so your information on how much to allow for trimming is wonderful. Thank you again!
How wonderful, Tracy! And what a thoughtful gift. I’m so glad I was able to help!
I’m so happy to hear you found this so informative, Yvette! I wish you so much fun with the creation of your very own children’s book!
Great article! It was very simple to read and answered all of the questions I had. You took a very intimidating process and broke it down in a clear way that now makes me excited to start. Thank you!
I’m so excited to hear this, Linda. Thank so much for your kind words. Here’s to a wonderful and creative journey!
I am happy for great guide I will start my children book soon thank
Awesome and best of luck!
We can’t wait to see what beautiful story you’ll come up with, Peter!
This is a wonderful article that contains so much helpful information. I am writing a story about two grandmothers and an adventure they have with animals in a foreign country. I know that usually a child is the protagonist, but I think our two colorful grannies and their adventures will hold a child’s attention…. But would I be making a mistake to write a picture book for children from 4-8 or so that does not have a child in it? How hard fast is the rule about needing a child to be a main character in the book?
Thanks so much for reading the article and for reaching out, Pam. Given that your book is written and meant for children, I would try to include a character little ones can identify with. I so can’t wait to see what you create, Pam!
Eevi, you have definitely place all the “need to know” information together in one place. Publishing a children’s book series to leave as a legacy to my grandkids has been a dream and goal of mine, and now I’m pursuing this goal. Thank you so much for this “how to guide”, it is saved, bookmarked and will be used as a reference for my step by step into this new venture. Thank you so much and congratulations and prayers for your continued success.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Verna! I’m so happy to hear you found this article so helpful. I just know your grandkids will love your children’s book, and can’t wait for you to get started!
I am in the process of writing a children`s book age group 1-3 year old is there a minimum page count for books, regardless if it is a cloth book, touch and feel book or hard copies.
Hi @sarahrok ! If you’re planning to publish your book with KDP, then the current minimum page count would be 24 for your paperback. I hope this helps!
So good….I’ve hd this children`s story inside of me for 12 years. Now I am finally beginning to “sketch”it out. This was so helpful to begin. I wish I could illustrate !!!Signed, In gratitude, A retired Episcopal priest who has been telling stories for many years–even to my own children.
I’m so happy this helped and inspired you! I cannot wait to see what you create!
Thank you.
Thanks so much for asking. I’m currently not hosting any live workshops, but if you need more help, please feel free to visit me over on my website http://eevijones.com/
I lived in Georgetown for 23 years and now (as of 2017) live near the Washington National Cathedral. Do you ever hold workshops / presentations in the greater Washington area?
This is a great write up. Am going to hit this goal in 2020:Write Great books for Kids.
Thanks so much, @obiohagodspowerlivingstone ! I’m excited to hear that you’re making the writing your own children`s book one of your 2020 goals!
Hi Eevi! Awesome blog you’ve got here It is very detailed I love it! I’m a freelancer myself I love to blog or write I just got my job through this
Thank you for your kind words, @ynaisabelleflores ! I’m so happy to hear you loved reading it!
Love this article.. I’ve been thinking about writing a children`s book for my 3 yr old just as a fun exercise but this article opened my eyes to writing it for all kids.. Thank you sooooo much Eevi..
I’m so happy to hear you loved this article, @shravangowrishankar . Writing for this age group is my absolute favorite, so I’m excited to hear that you’d like to give it a try!
Hello, is there anyway of having a private conversation with you? I have so many questions.
Hi @jadiraserrano ! I do offer Ask-Me-Anything sessions every once in a while. Feel free to check for available times right here: http://www.eevijones.com/co…. I hope this helps! Thank you so much for asking!
Thanks so much for this article! I started thinking this morning about writing a baby book after realizing how much my own baby likes books. She has a favorite page or two from a couple of her books that contain some type of exaggeration when being read, she loves it. She’ll give me a book over and over and over to reread to her and quickly flip the book to her favorite pages. I’d love to write something where she loves every page, not just a few.
Absolutely and It is even better when they realize you wrote it – brings a big smile to both faces 😉
Oh, I love hearing that your little one loves reading books! And being able to read her your very own would be so, so very special! Thanks so much for sharing this!
I’m an artist wondering if I can write the story to go with my illustrations and some characters I have created. This is a great article, thanks. I am dyslexic too, so the words will be harder than the illustrations.
Oh, absolutely! Just be sure to have a specific age group in mind before you’re writing your story, and try to stick to the industry`s standards that I shared in the article, such as the word count. And be sure to have an editor look over your finished script, especially since you mentioned that the writing part might be a bit trickier for you.And thanks so much for your kind words. I’m so happy to hear you found this article helpful!
Thanks for getting back to me Eevi. I used to volunteer to give reading lessons at our primary school. The books had far less words than those recommended in the standards. I guess that was because they were written for early reading. I will have to increase the number of words I was planning on.
Hi all
I’m starting to write my first ever fiction book and I’m looking for guidance from experienced writers on how best to construct the story.
I’m currently brainstorming with ideas and logging them, as well as inventing characters, locations and back stories etc.
I’ve also started to write the first few chapters through eagerness.
What is the prescribed or accepted way to construct the story? Is it to start by to write the story which is in my head and introduce characters, lands and other requirements as I go, or get everything written down in more detail and then start to write?
Please help.
Paul
Hi @OB1429 ! I’m so happy to hear you’re writing your first fiction book for children! First, I’d try to get clear on the age group you’d like to write for. That will help greatly with the overall layout of your book, as you’ll know how long your story should be word-count wise.Other than that, there are no real rules on how to go about this. When writing my middle grade chapter books, for example, I like to divide my story into 10-12 short chapters. Knowing my overall word count (see table above), I then divide that word count by the number of chapters.Then I create the outline of my story, using my chapters and the approximate word count within each chapter as my guide.But again, it is entirely up to you how you go about writing your story. Just make sure you know your target audience BEFORE you start writing your book. I hope this helps! Happy writing, Paul!
bruh
Dear Eevi, this is a great guide specially for people like me who are planning to dip their toes in the field of writing books. For first timers like me, this is an excellent step-by-step guide. I wanted to know, whether it makes sense to show my content to someone in the beginning, to know whether it makes sense for a book?
Hi! I’m so happy you found this article so helpful! Getting feedback on your story is definitely something I would recommend. During the 1-on-1 feedback sessions I offer, for example, I let my clients know whether or not the word count as well as the difficulty level of the used vocabulary are appropriate for the age group they wish their story to be for. And we work on how to improve the story to make it as beautiful as it can possibly be. When booking such a feedback session, just make sure you’re working with someone that has worked with children`s books before, as they are very different from other genres! I hope this helps, Poonam!
I’ve never written something and finished it or have not written a child`s book
i do not get it I”m writing a book for my high school assignment i do not even know what vocabulary to use or how to start ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Hi Chris,
The first thing I would ask myself is what age group I’d like to write for. Being clear on your target audience will determine every subsequent step you’re going to take. So let`s say you’re planning to write a story for 4-8 year olds. Based on my table above, your story should then be about 400-800 words long.Once you’ve written your story, I would highly recommend ‘testing’ it on someone your target age, in order to see how a little one that age reacts to it. I hope this gets you started, Chris. Good luck with your assignment!
I have written two middle grade books so far but hardly any sales. After reading this post I realized I have to adjust my content and Illustration to make my books more compelling. Thanks for the input.
You’re so very welcome, @georgegijo . I wish you the very best for your two middle grade books!
Eevi, Thank You so much for a thoroughly informative to-do list for the journey!!
You’re so very welcome, @kathleenmccabe !!! I’m so happy to hear you found this helpful!
This is perfect. I ‘m just starting my first children ‘s book and the information is perfect thank you so much.
I’m so happy to hear you found this helpful.
Original children books for free download, in PDF versions or read online, great kids stories for entertainment.
http://www.storyberriesfree…
I’m new at this but I have a great story in my head. Little unsure of the age group but I’m wondering if I go for a Chapter Book vs Middle Grade book how many chapters should be made of those 32+ / 82 pages? Is there a tip on this. I mean should a chapter not be longer than this or that amout of words? And also: How many chapters are standard or best or recommended in those two age cathegories I’m reffering to?
Also, since I’m green at this, my logis says I must first structurize every chapter briefly, include the forward going plot and have all that finished before I write the story for every chapter. Am I right? Do you have tips or links for this structurization process? Am I at the right track with my thinking? I do not wanna kill the flow in the writing process but sure there must be some structure, forwardgoing basic plot, chaptersetting and wordlength first?
Hi Inga!
Thanks so much for reading this article and for reaching out! The answer would depend on the age group you’re planning to write for! I’d suggest you go and check out some current chapter and middle grade books to see what would best for you. A chapter book, for example generally has around 10 chapters. With a total of 3,000 – 10,000 words, that’d be 300 – 1000 words per chapter.If you’d like more guidance, I do have a chapter book structure template in my book How to Self-Publish a Children`s Book. You can download the template here: http://www.eevijones.com/book-downloads/Wishing you all the best, Inga! And happy holidays!
Great info, thank you! You say that for an 8.5 x 8.5 book, add 0.125 to the top, bottom, and one side. Image size with bleed should be 8.63 x 8.75 (w x h)… is that something the illustrator needs to add to the drawing, or the author when I upload the book?
Hi Chelsea! It is something the illustrator needs to already add to the drawings. That way It is ready to go when it comes to formatting your book. I hope this helps, Chelsea! Good luck!
I definitely want to start a children ‘s book . I have lots of learning to do after I type it out . I ‘m so determined.it has a great meaning behind it .
These types of stories are the best! I’m so very excited for you! Let this drive and determination push you into fulfilling your dream of writing and publishing your beautiful children`s book!
Thank you for the info. I want to write a book for my 4year old daughter. I actually have 4 stories to put into books. They’re about her, things she loves, has done etc. I have the titles, pictures, picture ideas and know the stories etc. My struggle is writing the the books in words etc that that suits her age.
Hi @sinniekyliecurrie ! I love that you want to write a book for your daughter! My suggestion would be to look at books that are similar to the ones you want to write. Either look at those that your daughter owns already, or look in bookstores or libraries. You will want to make sure you’re looking at books for her age group. Pay special attention to the overall length of the text. What is the overall word count? How long are the sentences and paragraphs? How descriptive is the language.Use words and phrases your daughter and her friends are using. One thing I always suggest to my students and clients is to take your finished story and read it to the age group your book is for. Kids usually ask if they do not understand something, which in turn provides you with the opportunity to adjust your wording and/ or vocabulary in your story.I so hope this helps, Sinnie. I’m so very excited for you!
Hi,
May I know when this article was written? I need to cite it for my thesis,thank you.
Jan 16, 2018 @ 05:00
Thank you.
Absolutely and glad to have helped. Good luck with the thesis!
Brilliant article Eevi, lots of strategy tips and solid info. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re so, so welcome, Barbara! Thanks so much for your sweet comment!
What a great article. Thanks for laying it out so clearly. I’ve been wanting to write and illustrate a children`s book series for a long time. I thought it would be a picture story book but now I think it might make a better chapter book.
Awesome – yeah, she`s a really good writer.
Thanks, Dave 🙂
Thanks so much, Lisa! I’m so happy to hear that this article provided some clarity! A chapter book series sounds fantastic!
Fabulous article. I’ve been toying with a children`s book series idea and even have an illustrator lined up. But I’ve never published fiction before and felt a bit overwhelmed about what to do. This is perfect.
Thank you so much for saying so, D.! I love hearing that you already have an idea for your children`s book series in mind! 2018 might just be the year to bring it to paper! I’m so excited for you!
Fabulous article. I’ve been toying with a children’s book series idea and even have an illustrator lined up. But I’ve never published fiction before and felt a bit overwhelmed about what to do. This is perfect.
Thank you so much for saying so, D.! I love hearing that you already have an idea for your children’s book series in mind! 2018 might just be the year to bring it to paper! I’m so excited for you!
Thank you for this excellent article. I have two different children`s books, Tenshoes and the Skittyfoot for the younger ones about 4 – 6 or so and a little older ones – 6 – 8, That dog, Liver! At least that is how I have figured the age groups in the past. After reading this article, I can make some changes in both books with my idea for illustrations and some of the writing to make them more saleable. Thank you so much. Both my books have positive life lessons for children. This is a great help for sure.
Oh, I love hearing this Anne! Thanks so much for sharing your takeaways and what steps you’re going to implement. I wish you nothing but the best for your children`s books!
Thank you for this excellent article. I have two different children’s books, Tenshoes and the Skittyfoot for the younger ones about 4 – 6 or so and a little older ones – 6 – 8, That dog, Liver! At least that is how I have figured the age groups in the past. After reading this article, I can make some changes in both books with my idea for illustrations and some of the writing to make them more saleable. Thank you so much. Both my books have positive life lessons for children. This is a great help for sure.
Oh, I love hearing this Anne! Thanks so much for sharing your takeaways and what steps you’re going to implement. I wish you nothing but the best for your children’s books!
Thanks, Eevi – what a great article! Very comprehensive and informative; so much easier to make a decision now:-)
I’m so happy you found this article informative, SciFi_Fantasy Girl! I hope it nudged you toward writing your own children`s book 🙂 I know you can do it!
Thanks, Eevi – what a great article! Very comprehensive and informative; so much easier to make a decision now:-)
I’m so happy you found this article informative, SciFi_Fantasy Girl! I hope it nudged you toward writing your own children’s book 🙂 I know you can do it!
Eevi, this is awesome! My children ‘s books is 99% ready for Kindle and definitely going to use this info for the printed version…
That is amazing, Gil! I’m so excited for you! Thanks so much for your kind words!
Eevi, this is awesome! My children’s books is 99% ready for Kindle and definitely going to use this info for the printed version…
That’s amazing, Gil! I’m so excited for you! Thanks so much for your kind words!
Eevi, What an absolutely excellent guide to write children books.
Brilliant! Thank you for so generously sharing your expertise!
These are the kindest words, Lorraine! Thank you so very much!
Eevi, What an absolutely excellent guide to write a children books.
Brilliant! Thank you for so generously sharing your expertise!
These are the kindest words, Lorraine! Thank you so very much!
What an excellent article for aspiring children`s book authors! My husband and I just joined Self Publishing School today to get the guidance we need to write and publish a successful children`s book for our brand. Just this article alone has so much valuable information, and knowing it is coming from a successful children`s book author gives me even more confidence in the content. Thanks Eevi! 🙂
I’m so happy you find this information valuable, Shearin! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you and your husband are coming up with for your wonderful children`s book!
What an excellent article for aspiring children’s book authors! My husband and I just joined Self Publishing School today to get the guidance we need to write and publish a successful children’s book for our brand. Just this article alone has so much valuable information, and knowing it is coming from a successful children’s book author gives me even more confidence in the content. Thanks Eevi! 🙂
I’m so happy you find this information valuable, Shearin! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you and your husband are coming up with for your wonderful children’s book!
Perfect timing … as I am finishing the adult version of my book and see an excellent opportunity to create a children`s book to accompany or stand alone. I have written and published three adult non-fictions so far all have been international best seller and two have been internally awarded …children books are very different so this is fabulous. thank you
You are so welcome! What a wonderful concept, Jo! I cannot wait to see what you come up with! Congratulations on your international best sellers! These are incredible achievements!
Perfect timing … as I am finishing the adult version of my book and see an excellent opportunity to create a children’s book to accompany or stand alone. I have written and published three adult non-fictions so far all have been international best seller and two have been internally awarded …children books are very different so this is fabulous. thank you
You are so welcome! What a wonderful concept, Jo! I cannot wait to see what you come up with! Congratulations on your international best sellers! These are incredible achievements!
An excellent article. I have been working as a children`s illustrator for over 30 years and I’m occasionally approached by self publishing writers interested in me illustrating their books. What I think the article misses is the relative importance of the illustrations and how collaborating with an illustrator from the start as an equal partner would improve the quality of the final book considerably.Most self published children`s books look awful because the writer has no understanding of how good art is created, that it takes time and costs real money. I now collaborate with my writer friend in a wonderful equal partnership where we plan books from the start together and share the money we make. It is great because we both feel fully invested and I am motivated to do my best work.
I so appreciate your valuable feedback, Leo! Collaboration between the illustrator and writer is essential.I think being able to come together to plan a book in its entirety from the very start would be the ideal setup for a successful children`s book. It is wonderful to hear that you’re working with your writer friend in an equal partnership to both accomplish your very best.
too much.
An excellent article. I have been working as a children’s illustrator for over 30 years and I’m occasionally approached by self publishing writers interested in me illustrating their books. What I think the article misses is the relative importance of the illustrations and how collaborating with an illustrator from the start as an equal partner would improve the quality of the final book considerably.
Most self published children’s books look awful because the writer has no understanding of how good art is created, that it takes time and costs real money. I now collaborate with my writer friend in a wonderful equal partnership where we plan books from the start together and share the money we make. It’s great because we both feel fully invested and I am motivated to do my best work.
I so appreciate your valuable feedback, Leo! Collaboration between the illustrator and writer is essential.
I think being able to come together to plan a book in its entirety from the very start would be the ideal setup for a successful children’s book. It’s wonderful to hear that you’re working with your writer friend in an equal partnership to both accomplish your very best.
Wow! This post is excellent. I cannot believe how much powerful information is jammed into this free article. You’re great, Eevi!
Many, many thanks, dear Candyce! I’m beyond happy to hear how powerful you find this article!
Give it to Eeviiiiii! Fantastic guide!
Wow! This post is excellent. I cannot believe how much powerful information is jammed into this free article. You’re great, Eevi!
Many, many thanks, dear Candyce! I’m beyond happy to hear how powerful you find this article!
This is such an excellent article! Now, no more excuses not to write a children ‘s book. All the steps and tips have been generously provided. Thank you, Ms. Eevi JonesðŸ‘
Thanks so, so much for saying so, Elsa! Your words truly mean so much to me!
This is such an excellent article! Now, no more excuses not to write a children’s book. All the steps and tips have been generously provided. Thank you, Ms. Eevi Jones?
Thanks so, so much for saying so, Elsa! Your words truly mean so much to me!
Must pull out that children`s book. Thanks for a very clear useful outline!
YAY! Love hearing this, Jaye! I so cannot wait to see what beautiful story you’ll come up with!
Must pull out that children’s book. Thanks for a very clear useful outline!
YAY! Love hearing this, Jaye! I so can’t wait to see what beautiful story you’ll come up with!
Eevi, this is wonderful! You’ve made it so easy to write a children`s book, step by step. Thanks so much!
Thanks SOOO much for saying so, Tracie! I’m so very thankful for your support!
Eevi, this is wonderful! You’ve made it so easy to write a children’s book, step by step. Thanks so much!
Thanks SOOO much for saying so, Tracie! I’m so very thankful for your support!
Wow! What a fantastic article – so much helpful information here, thank you for sharing, this will help so many people!
Thank you for your kind words and for checking it out, Emma!
Wow! What a fantastic article – so much helpful information here, thank you for sharing, this will help so many people!
Thank you for your kind words and for checking it out, Emma!
Incredibly detailed and comprehensive article. cannot wait to buy the book.
Thanks so much, Magnus!!!!
Incredibly detailed and comprehensive article. Can’t wait to buy the book.
Thanks so much, Magnus!!!!
Great, Eevi! It is def on my bucket list to write a children`s book. Thank you for laying it out so clearly!
Oh, I love hearing this, Amy!!! I cannot wait to see what you’ll come up with! Thank you so much!
Great, Eevi! It is def on my bucket list to write a children’s book. Thank you for laying it out so clearly!
Oh, I love hearing this, Amy!!! I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with! Thank you so much!
What an excellent informational article! I’m definitely bookmarking for when I’m ready to take that step. Thanks, Eevi!
I’m so happy to hear this, Cindy! Thank you so, so much for having taken the time to read and comment!
wow – excellent write up! Obviously a professional and so ready to share..awesome combination. I see a string of bestsellers in your future!
You’re too kind, Susan! Thank you so, so very much!
wow – excellent write up! Obviously a professional and so ready to share..awesome combination. I see a string of bestsellers in your future!
You’re too kind, Susan! Thank you so, so very much!
Such a wonderful and comprehensive post! I love the creativity that goes into crafting a children`s book… It is almost like a short film.
I love how you’re describing the creative process, Jeffrey! Thank you so much!
Such a wonderful and comprehensive post! I love the creativity that goes into crafting a children’s book… it’s almost like a short film.
I love how you’re describing the creative process, Jeffrey! Thank you so much!
Great detail with the information! Thank you so much for getting all of this information in one place!
Thank you SOOO much, Jessica! I’m so grateful for your incredible support!
Great detail with the information! Thank you so much for getting all of this information in one place!
Thank you SOOO much, Jessica! I’m so grateful for your incredible support!
This is a great article, the information is invaluable, i definitely am looking forward to your next book as i have value you as an author!
I’m so humbled by your incredible support, Kelly! Thank you so, so much!
This is a great article, the information is invaluable, i definitely am looking forward to your next book as i have value you as an author!
I’m so humbled by your incredible support, Kelly! Thank you so, so much!
Eevi, this is awesome material! Makes me think even I could publish a children`s book. Such great detail and content. Thanks for sharing.
How amazing would this be for you and your kids, Paul?! I know you could so do this! Thank you so, so much!
Eevi, this is awesome material! Makes me think even I could publish a children’s book. Such great detail and content. Thanks for sharing.
How amazing would this be for you and your kids, Paul?! I know you could so do this! Thank you so, so much!
Excellent how-to steps! My sister has been wanting to write a children`s book for years — this will be very helpful for her. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Bento! That is wonderful to hear! I cannot wait for your sister to start writing her own children`s book!
Excellent how-to steps! My sister has been wanting to write a children’s book for years — this will be very helpful for her. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Bento! That’s wonderful to hear! I can’t wait for your sister to start writing her own children’s book!
This is incredible info. Thank you so much for putting this all together!
You’re so very welcome, John! I’m so happy to hear you find this valuable! Thanks so much!
This is incredible info. Thank you so much for putting this all together!
You’re so very welcome, John! I’m so happy to hear you find this valuable! Thanks so much!
Wow! I never knew there was so much detail that went into writing books for children! What a wonderful article sharing your expertise on the entire process! You really have presented an immense amount of valuable information. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words, Jim! I’m so happy to hear you find this information valuable.
Wow! I never knew there was so much detail that went into writing books for children! What a wonderful article sharing your expertise on the entire process! You really have presented an immense amount of valuable information. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words, Jim! I’m so happy to hear you find this information valuable.