How To Self Publish A Children’s Book

If you’ve never self-published a book before,  the thought of publishing one can seem like a daunting task.

Where do you go to? What do you need? How much is it going to cost? Can I get my book published on Kindle?

By the time you get through today’s post, you’ll have all of those questions answered and so much more.

So let’s get things started with…

 

Where Can I Self Publish My Children’s Book?

While there are many places to self publish a children’s book, two that we at WriteCome recommend are the Amazon KDP store, and Draft2Digital.com. Of course, you could hire someone to do the process for you, or use other sites,  but if you want to save money and learn how to do it yourself I’ve laid out the whole process below.

But before we go further, there’s something you need to ask yourself, where do I want my book sold?

Depending on your answer there are some things you need to be aware of.

Amazon Only – If you’re happy to sell your book solely in the Amazon store, you can sign up for their KDP system. Once you do this you give Amazon exclusive rights to sell your ebook for 90 days.  But bear in mind…

• This is ebook only and doesn’t have any effect on the paperback version of your book you produce.
• If you don’t want to stay locked into the KDP system, you can leave after your 90 days have come to an end by simply unchecking a ‘tick’ box.
• Using the KDP system Amazon allows you 5 days where you can offer your book for free to readers.  This can be used to promote your book in the early days and build a little momentum and to reach readers you mightn’t have been able to reach.

Draft2Digital – If you want to go beyond the Amazon store, then Draft2Digital may suit your better. From this site, your book can go to…Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Scribd, Playster, OverDrive, Inktera, Tolino, 24Symbols, and more.  

If you go down this path you can’t be signed up to Amazon’s KDP system, but your book now has a wider reach.

Can I Self Publish A Children’s Book For Free

At this point you may be wondering what’s the cost for all of this? Do I need to pay up front? Relax.  Both sites (Amazon/Draft2Digital) allow you to publish your children’s book for free, but they both take a small commission for doing so.

Amazon – Depending on price range (0-$2.99) you get 35% of the purchase price. For books from ($2.99-$9.99) you get 70% of the purchase price.

Draft2Digital – Takes 10% commission on your book sales.

How To Self Publish Your Children’s Book

For both sites, all you need is your completed manuscript in a .doc format and a book cover in a .jpg format.  Depending on the type of book you want to create ebook/paperback, you’ll need a separate cover for each.

• With an ebook, you only need the front cover.
• For a paperback, you need the front cover, spine, and back cover all on one image.

Once you’ve got all of those it’s a simple matter of uploading your manuscript and book cover and then filling in all the required details.  If you were looking at publishing in the Amazon kindle store just follow the series of videos below.

 

How To Self Publish A Children’s Book On Kindle

As I said earlier to publish your children’s book on Kindle you need two things,  your completed manuscript in a .doc format, and a book cover in .jpg format.  Once you get to the Amazon KDP dashboard it’s a simple process of uploading your document and book cover and filling in all the details. In this series of videos, I’ll show you what to fill in and what to look out for.

 

How To Publish A Children’s Book In Canada And Elsewhere

As you’ve probably noticed from the videos, publishing to the Amazon Kindle store allows you to put your book in as many territories as you want to.  Even non-English speaking ones. Although you may be tempted to stick to the ones who do speak English,  you never know what market your book may have in other countries.

Because of that I always recommend leaving the box for ‘All territories’ ticked before you hit publish.  Once you do this, your book’s price will be tailored to that countries currency. But don’t worry, your bank will convert any payments into your country’s currency.

Finally, self-publishing a children’s book online isn’t difficult and it shouldn’t be expensive, avoid anyone who says it is.  The largest costs you’ll probably face are book covers and getting someone to tidy up and edit your text.  In both of these cases, you can lower that cost by using a site like Fiverr.com and hiring an outsourcer to do the work for you.

*If you do consider doing that, this blog post 9 things to keep in mind when hiring an outsourcer should help you greatly.

Best of luck with your book!

Want to know more about self-publishing children’s books, including how to illustrate your books yourself? If you do, you’ll love all the great content we have in the WriteCome Inner Circle. Filled with video courses on publishing, marketing, and researching books, there is no other site online like. – But don’t take my word for it, click here to find out all the details for yourself. 

 

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