Self Publishing Child Book - How to Self Publish a Children's Book

My granddaughter has written a book and insists on having it published. What do I need to do?

Although you haven't given me much to go on, I will give you some general information to point you in the right direction. First of all, you didn't mention if you intend to go forward with self publishing this child's book or if you want to send it for consideration to mainstream or small publishing houses.

Authors who choose the self publishing route do so because they want to create copies of their books for themselves and to give to family members as gifts or as legacy gifts for future generations. Other self-published authors fully intend to promote, market and distribute their work to the public.

Knowing which direction you want to take is important in terms of choosing the right people to help you create a self-published book.

Is your granddaughter's book a chapter book or a picture book? Picture books, especially those that will be created with a four color process, are much more expensive to print than black and white. If the book is a picture book, will your granddaughter illustrate it with pencil drawings, color drawings or will you hire a professional illustrator? All these answers depend on what you want the final product to look like and your intention in terms of whether you will try to promote and sell the finished book.

Self Publishing Child Book Steps to Take:

No matter which direction you decide to take, you should have an illustration for the front cover of the book. Ask your granddaughter to draw a picture of a scene that is significant from the story. She can draw it on paper or use a computer art program. If she draws the cover picture on paper, you'll need to scan it into your computer. Next, use a book cover art design program to give the book a polished and professional-looking cover. Although the old saying goes, "Never judge a book by its cover," everybody does.

Next, type the text into your computer and format it so it has an even edge on the right as well the left margin. Add page numbers. Microsoft Word is not a book layout program, but it does have some layout features. Add a header to each page so the book title is on the top left of every page. If the book is a chapter book, you can put the name of the chapter in the header on the top of the right page. Completing these small steps will give the book more of a professional feel.

Edit your work to make sure there are no mistakes, then save it. Next you'll need a program to make the Microsoft Word file into a PDF file. The best and easiest program we have found to do this is Ebook Gold

Once you're finished making the PDF file, you'll have an ebook. This ebook file can be sent to relatives via email to read or print out on their computers, uploaded to a web site and downloaded by those who wish to read the book or submitted to a printer to print physical copies of the book. Digital Print-on-Demand printing houses can can print a paperback perfect bound copy of the book (we're talking black and white, not color) for about four dollars per copy. I'm sure you and your granddaughter will be very proud once you hold a printed copy of her self-published book in your hands. Self publishing child book will be a bonding experience with your granddaughter that you will cherish for the rest of your lives.