To publish your children’s book, you need first to write a great book, then…
This is generally how you publish your kid’s book, but you can change it up depending on your unique situation.
For instance, you don’t need a literary agent if you’re self-publishing.
This handy article talks about self-publishing as well as traditional publishing. Although traditional publishing is getting less and less popular, many still see it as the only legitimate option.
I disagree, but you can hold your own opinion.
In this article, you will learn:
There are 3 ways to publish a children’s book:
Do your research on all 3 before you decide which way to become a published author.
Get Your FREE Children's Book ChecklistDon'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!
Traditional publishing means that a publishing house will publish your book online and in brick and mortar retailers.
They pay for your editor, book cover artist, back cover synopsis, ISBN number, printing costs, and more. But they also take a chunk out of your royalties.
The big 5 traditional publishing houses are:
However, most traditional publishers require literary agents to submit manuscripts. Many never accept unsolicited manuscripts from unagented authors. If you want to traditionally publish, you will need to add a step to your publishing process: finding an agent.
Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here.
Traditional publishers offer their authors the bare minimum amount of marketing. They reserve their marketing budgets for their bestsellers. You may get mentioned in a long list or sent to book reviewers with many other new authors.
For traditional publishing, I also recommend the resource Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. It’s affordable and full of information on traditional publishing houses, literary agents, and how to write a query letter.
If you’re traditionally publishing your children’s book, you still have to do your own marketing. This may include:
Indie publishing is similar to traditional publishing, but without a lot of the stingy traditions and pointless roadblocks slowing down the publishing process.
Independent publishers usually don’t require literary agents. They accept unsolicited queries directly from authors.
These publishing houses may prefer to work with brand new authors or specific demographics of authors, offsetting the traditional publishing world’s status quo trends that many find unhelpful.
Check out these 30 Publishers that Accept Unagented Submissions.
Self-publishing is when you publish your own book. Whether it’s your first time writing or you're a perpetual self-publisher, this route is a legitimate business decision that many have made.
In many cases, self-publishing is more lucrative than traditional publishing.
Many people think that to be a real children’s book author, you have to go through the traditional publishing route. This is an outdated, offensive prejudice. It’s one of those insensitive comments your aunt will joke about.
The biggest ebook marketplace for self-publishing is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). They make it simpler to self-publish. Although they do take a portion of your profits, they take the hard work out of self-publishing.
Although traditional publishers save you money concerning editors, proofreaders, and book cover artists, they also take a massive chunk of your royalties.
Self-publishing lets you keep all the profits (after printing costs).
Don’t be fooled. Traditional publishers will only do a tiny bit of marketing for you. You would still need to market yourself at signings, on social media, and by getting high-profile book reviews.
If you’re scared of self-publishing because you have to do your own marketing, then don’t be. You’d have to do your own marketing with a traditional publisher.
Look into the Best Self Publishing Companies (retailers and aggregators).
You can also Start Your Own Publishing Company. It’s easier than you think.
With Amazon and other ebook marketplaces booming, self-publishing is easier than ever. I’ve written some great resources on getting the most out of Amazon’s self-publishing marketplace:
You should self-publish if you can afford an editor and a cover artist and are willing to do a lot of market research. You should professionally publish (traditionally publish) if that is your preference and you’d prefer partners on your publishing journey.
You can make more money in self-publishing. It takes more time, more luck, but less money to traditionally publish.
How much money can you make from a children's book? The top 1% of authors make over $200,000 a year from bestselling children’s books. You can expect to make $5,000-$10,000 on your first book.
Most authors who make more than $20,000 a year have published more than one story. It takes several books to establish a following and significant sales.
Yes, you can publish your own children’s story. I’m here to answer your questions about traditional publishing, self-publishing, marketing, literary agents, and how to become a published children’s book writer.
Check out this article on the Best Book Writing Software, with a bonus discount code!
How much does it cost to publish a children's book? If you’re traditionally publishing, it costs very little to publish a children’s book, but the publishing house takes a chunk of your royalties since they put the money in. If you’re self-publishing, you need to pay for the proofreader ($100), editor ($600), illustrators ($1800), and more. It can cost an estimated $3000 — often more.
You have to know your target audience to publish your children’s book.
If your picture book best suits 2-5-year-olds, but you market it towards infants, you’ve got a problem. If you market your YA novel as middle grade fiction, you’ve got a problem.
Kids like to read about main characters who are their age or a few years older.
Research what different target audiences expect. Find out:
When looking for an editor or an agent, demonstrate that you understand your book’s target audience. This reflects your understanding of the biz — something editors and literary agents want in an author.
What are the age ranges of children’s books? Generally speaking, children’s books are divided into 5 categories (age ranges):
Note: Over half of the readers of YA books are adults over the age of 18. Although YA is meant for 12- to 18-year-olds, they often have a broad appeal to adults.
Refining your manuscript is a critical step to prepare your children’s book for publishing. Improve your book until you can’t think of any other way to improve it.
Read this article about How to Write a Children’s Book, including essential story elements, formatting, and illustrations.
When you refine your manuscript, this makes an editor’s job more effective. If an editor is editing your best possible product, it will be even better than your best. (Say that 5 times fast!)
Spelling and grammatical errors will lead to unhappy readers and negative reviews. Or it may lead to underwhelmed editors who need to focus on simple mistakes instead of style and word choice.
Refining your manuscript also means improving your story. You might realize that it takes 6 pages to get interesting, then move the “hook” to the first 2 pages.
You can’t get past it. You have to proofread and edit your book, even if you think it’s perfect. Every professional author has to do this.
If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will probably provide all those services for free in exchange for a chunk of your later profits. If you’re self-publishing, you will have to pay for proofreading and editing services.
Once you finish your final draft, proofread it. Have your significant other proofread it. Have a close friend, or family member proofread it.
Only after someone in your personal circle has read your book should you pay a professional proofreader and editor.
Before you send your manuscript to a professional, run it through the best proofreading software.
Since most editors and proofreaders charge by word count, editing picture books and short chapter books can be pleasantly affordable.
A professional editor can:
Even if your target audience is children, you should still get feedback from readers — just like with a novel for adults. You might ask children in their family or neighborhood to read your manuscript.
Kids can be useful beta readers because they’re so honest.
Their parents also offer great feedback. Remember, they are who actually buys your book. Parents’ reactions tell you if your children’s book is appropriate for the market and attractive to other parents.
There are also online children’s book communities, from which you can get feedback from parents, young readers (with parents’ permission, of course), and other authors.
Check out the following online children’s writing communities:
You don’t want to work on or pay for illustrations if you’re querying literary agents. Most of the time, if you get an agent, they will find an editor who will find a preferred illustrator.
Submitting illustrations or guidelines for images along with your manuscript may work to your disadvantage. Literary agents and editors may not want to tell you that you wasted your time on them before hiring a professional they prefer to work with.
Of course, this is another matter if you are a professional illustrator, and that’s part of your marketability.
If you’re pursuing traditional publishing, you probably need to find a literary agent. Traditional publishers seldom accept unsolicited manuscripts from unagented authors.
You’ll want to seek a literary agent specializing in children’s literature if you’re looking to publish a children’s book. Do not waste your time and theirs by querying an agent who doesn’t represent children’s books.
Most independent publishers don’t require an agent to submit a manuscript. However, a few might. And having an agent can improve your submissions and inform which indie publishers you should submit your manuscript to.
If you’re self-publishing, you don’t need an agent.
What does a literary agent do? A literary agent negotiates the best publishing deal possible for the author. They may also manage film and merchandising rights. Literary agents don’t make money until you do. Don’t pay an upfront fee for an agent.
To find an agent, you must query an agent. With few exceptions, you need to submit your manuscript and query letter (like a cover letter) to agents accepting unsolicited submissions in your genre and age category.
A query letter “queries” whether a literary agent is interested in representing your work. It should be a one-page “elevator pitch” that explains how your book is unique and why you are marketable as an author.
Only submit your children’s book to literary agents who handle children’s book authors.
How do you submit a children's book to a publisher? You submit your manuscript to a publisher by querying a literary agent who negotiates the best deal for you or submitting your manuscript to publishers who accept unsolicited submissions from unagented authors.
Is it better to self-publish a children's book? For many authors, it is better to self-publish their children’s books for both the level of work required and the income potential.
In 2021, eBook self-publishing is a larger market than ever before — primarily on Amazon. As long as you’re willing to pay for an editor and an illustrator, self-publishing is often more lucrative in the long run.
Whereas large publishing houses don’t usually consider unagented authors, small independent publishers are more likely to accept and respond to unsolicited submissions.
Can I protect my work when submitting a manuscript? Yes, you can protect your work when submitting the manuscript of your children’s book. Even though your text is copyrighted as soon as you write it, you can further protect your work by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
This helpful article was written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US.
You can find niche imprints of larger publishers who may accept unsolicited submissions. This can offer you the benefits of traditional publishing without querying a literary agent.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has an imprint called Clarion Books. It accepts submissions from unagented authors.
Penguin has a niche imprint called Dial Books for Young Readers. Authors may submit to this imprint directly.
Similar to agents, no publisher should ask you to pay money to publish your book. They make money when you do.
Vanity presses are looking to prey on inexperienced authors with lots of aspirations. Don’t fall victim to vanity presses who ask you to pay before you publish.
Below is a list of children’s publishers accepting unsolicited submissions (at the time of writing) and links to their submission guidelines:
Here are some must-do steps to take when self-publishing your children’s book:
CreateSpace, an Amazon company for authors, is dead. You may see this mentioned in other articles on self-publishing, but it’s no longer an active company. (More on that below these 3 tips.)
When self-publishing, you need to purchase an ISBN number and barcode.
(When traditionally publishing, they will obtain the ISBN and barcode for you.)
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit code used to identify your unique book. In many countries, it is free — but not in the US or UK.
To get an ISBN + barcode in the United States, visit myidentifiers.com, run by Bowker, the only company allowed to give out ISBN numbers in the US.
Outside the US, visit isbn-international.org to find your country’s agency.
If you self-publish your children’s book and do illustrations by hand, you need to scan your illustrations at a high resolution.
You will need access to a large format printer. Call around to different places and see who can print high-resolution images off of a thumb drive.
You should copyright your children’s book to protect your intellectual property.
Under U.S. copyright law, you own your work as soon as you write it down (or type it). However, you may want to further protect your copyright by registering it with the US Copyright Office.
Check out this article written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US.
You may see outdated articles mentioning CreateSpace, alongside Amazon, templates, and printing services for self-publishers. However, CreateSpace is dead. Don’t waste your time with research on CreateSpace.
CreateSpace was a print-on-demand (POD) service, mainly for self-publishers.
Amazon acquired CreateSpace in 2005 and merged it with Amazon’s KDP service in 2018.
Whether you’re self-publishing or traditionally publishing, you need to do your own marketing. But don’t worry — I’m coming in clutch with the handy writing tips.
Here are 4 ways to market a children’s book:
When choosing a title (and subtitle), you need to select your keywords carefully. If you pick certain keywords, parents are more likely to find your children’s book.
For example, “dragon,” “superhero,” and “ninja” are popular keywords for boys’ books. “Princess,” “unicorn,” and “kitten” are popular keywords for girls’ books.
This is a valuable marketing tool. You should compile a list of words associated with your book and check how often parents use those associated words to buy children’s books.
Keywords can also help potential buyers know if a book is age-appropriate, interests their child, or has a specific story type.
Book reviewers can get the word out about your book to untapped potential readers. You need to get reviews for your children’s book from high-quality reviewers.
Check out this Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs.
Note: Traditional publishers often send your book to a list of reviewers. This is super helpful. But you should still send your book off to other reviewers.
Make sure you’re not sending a children’s book to be reviewed by someone who doesn’t accept children’s books. Some reviewers only accept specific categories of children’s books.
Who can review my children’s book? Here are 8 children’s book reviewers you can submit your work to:
Remember to always follow submission guidelines (linked above). Never submit a book for review without permission.
Also, submit books for review 2-3 months before your release date. It takes most of these reviewers that long to get to your book.
Social media isn’t just suitable for connecting with other authors, illustrators, and book reviewers. You can use Facebook, YouTube, Quora, etc., to connect directly with potential readers.
To build an audience on social platforms, you need to start long before you publish your book. It takes time to get a following — whatever social media platform you use.
6 ways to build an audience on social media:
These are particular examples. You can tailor your social media presence to your preferences, target audience, and personal skill set.
You could also work with social media influencers who get paid to promote your book. Promotion may not directly recoup your investment. But an influencer can get your name out there for long-term sales and get you in touch with other authors and readers with similar interests.
Today, parents of young kids are millennials. They’re looking to the internet and social media for children’s book recommendations, parenting tips, and ways to relieve stress.
Take advantage of this and make your presence known to build an audience of potential readers on social media sites.
It might sound hard, but planning school visits to market your book can be simple and very rewarding. Not only do many schools welcome author visits, but they also set aside an annual budget for them.
Get in touch with a school administrator or a librarian. Some visits are for free, but some may pay.
Even if you don’t get any money for visiting a school, you can read your book to get feedback from children, you can get your book’s name out there, and you could even offer signed copies with a take-home slip.
This handy article has prepared you to publish your children’s book. Bookmark this page so you can reference it in the future!
Personally, I self-publish my books. I knew I could afford to pay for an editor and cover design artist, and I knew I’d have to do my own marketing either way. I wanted to be able to keep all my royalties, so I went the self-publishing route.
However, if you prefer traditional publishing or indie publishers, no shame! You do what’s right for you.
Please, comment below on what you learned from this blog post or what else you want to know. I keep up to date with my comments.
Cheers,
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Today’s post is by author and indie publisher Darcy Pattison (@FictionNotes). This post has been edited and adapted from a presentation delivered at the SCBWI’s Big Five-Oh! Virtual Conference.
Let’s talk about making money as a self-publisher of children’s books.
I bet you think that I’ll start out with something like running a Kickstarter campaign. This year, I did indeed run a campaign for The Plan for the Gingerbread House, but it was my first Kickstarter campaign ever, and it was a minor project for my company.
Instead, I’d like to walk you through some of the issues of self-publishing by looking at one of my books, Nefertiti: The Spidernaut, which was published on October 16, 2011.
During the summer of 2010, I heard a radio interview with Astronaut Sunita Williams, Captain U.S. Navy about a live animal experiment on the International Space Station (ISS). She was the astronaut who dealt with Nefertiti, a jumping spider who was sent to space.
Most spiders spin a web to catch food. But jumping spiders actively hunt, leaping to catch their prey. What happens when a jumping spider jumps in the microgravity of the ISS? It’ll float away. Would Nefertiti be able to adapt and hunt? Or will it die?
Williams said, “It was a suspense story for me as it happened. I didn’t know if she would survive when I unpacked her for the first time, or when I packed her up and sent her back home to Earth.”
I knew it would make a suspenseful book for kids to read, too.
Here’s the question, though: why self-publish THIS book?
One reason I decided to publish Nefertiti is that I already had the makings of a successful picture book series of animal biographies.
Self-publishers know that publishing in a series makes a lot of sense. You don’t have to recreate the audience for each book. If a reader liked a previous book in the series, they are more likely to like this one, too.
So, I decided to publish the book.
I decided early on to simultaneously publish hardcover, paperback, ebook and audiobook versions of each title. Because I use print-on-demand services, instead of offset printing, I made about the same profit on each version. I decided to let the customer decide on the format they preferred.
I also distribute widely, refusing to limit my books to any exclusive agreement. Readers can find the books wherever they are accustomed to shopping, in whatever format suits them best.
I also send books for reviews, just like any other publisher. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of discrimination in the industry about self-publishing, but I ignore all that, and my publishing company submits books anywhere the book belongs. However, sending books out for reviews is risky!
School Library Journal gave Nefertiti the worst review I’ve ever read: “Skip this bland treatment and share the news clippings instead.”
I don’t know. Maybe the reviewer’s opinion really was that the writing was bland. Perhaps she just hated spiders. Or maybe she knew this was a self-published book and slammed it for that reason. Who knows?
I was upset. But not very upset—yet. I knew the conversation wasn’t over.
Publishers live and die by their opinions. I once talked with a Dial/Penguin editor who said that for their fall list of 25 titles, they knew that half of them wouldn’t earn out. The problem? They just didn’t know which half would perform? The professionals—the publishers with a long track record of producing children’s books—they didn’t know what would succeed and what would fail.
The editor said, “In this business, you live or die by your opinion.”
In my opinion, Nefertiti was a great book. Ultimately it was named a 2017 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book. One judge told me later it was his favorite book of the year.
Now, here’s what I know. If I’d been traditionally published, the book would never have won the award. First, it likely wouldn’t have been accepted for publication. Second, it would never have been submitted for that award. Traditional publishers will only submit a season’s lead book from their most popular authors. Mine wouldn’t be submitted!
My book would’ve failed because it was ignored.
The only reason it received the NSTA recognition is because I care more about my work than anyone else. I submitted. And the book did its work.
Because Nefertiti was named an NSTA book, when I attended the Arkansas Reading Association convention later that fall, I contacted the NSTA representative to tell her I’d be attending. I stopped by her booth and visited. She recommended that I meet Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry, who were working on Picture Perfect Science workbooks, which provided elementary teachers with lesson plans for teaching science using picture book texts.
A couple weeks later, Emily and Karen were presenting at a school district just an hour away, so I attended and stayed to eat dinner with them.
The result was that two of my books, Nefertiti (space & spiders) and Burn: Michael Faraday’s Candle (light and fire), were included in their next volume of Picture Perfect Science STEM Lessons, Grades 3-5.
I was thrilled when the NSTA decided to create a book bundle of all the books recommended in the Picture Perfect series. They ordered thousands of copies of Burn and Nefertiti to include and sell to teachers and school districts in the book bundle.
Special orders are an important addition to a self-publisher’s income. These sales came from networking. (Don’t you dare call it luck. I networked!) But you can also go looking for special sales. In fact, traditional publishers have whole departments dedicated to special sales.
The key is to learn the basic business of the sales process from purchase orders to invoices, not something I can teach you here. But something to investigate and learn.
Nefertiti also caught the attention of the subscription box service Little Passports. A box service offers a monthly box filled with—in this case—children’s books about traveling the world. Their flagship box promised a tour of the world for kids. But they decided to add STEM boxes, too.
They contacted me first about CLANG! Ernst Chladni’s Sound Experiments because it was an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, for a box about sound experiments. But they quickly became interested in Nefertiti as a fun way to talk about space.
They asked if it was possible to change the trim size from 8.5” square to 8” square, and they wanted to co-brand the books. That is, they wanted their logo on the book cover’s corner. That meant I couldn’t sell these books anywhere else. Apparently, some traditional publishers stumbled over that request, but it made sense to me. I was glad to accommodate them. I negotiated a reasonable price, did offset printing for the special orders, and received a nice profit on each book. In return, I’ve sold tens of thousands of copies of both books to Little Passports.
Bulk or volume sales is thinking like a publisher. An author says, “I want to do school visits and sell books to kids afterward.” There’s nothing wrong with that idea in the early years. In the first few years of your business, do anything you must to stay afloat. But eventually, you’ll learn that you can’t scale up author visits. Your time is too limited. You may sell a couple thousand books in a year that way. If you really travel and work it, it could be very lucrative.
But that meant you weren’t home writing the next book. And eventually, you run out of days in the year to present. After a certain point, you can’t scale up.
Instead, think like a publisher. I want to wholesale the books to someone like Little Passports because they work to acquire the end customer, not me.
So far, the Another Extraordinary Animal series hasn’t received any solid offers for international translation deals. I’ve done well with the Moments in Science series, which sold a four-book deal to Dandelion Children’s Books in China, and a six-book deal to Dabom Publishing in Korea.
The feedback, however, on Another Extraordinary Animal has been that the series is too focused on American animals. Calaveras County, California holds an annual frog jumping contest based on Mark Twain’s short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Over 30 years ago, Rosie the Ribeter set the world-record for the longest triple-jump, a record that still stands. Yes, it’s an American story.
But next year, I’ll add a new title to the series, Diego: The Galapagos Giant Tortoise. This is the amazing true story of saving a species from extinction. Sixty years ago, scientists thought the tortoises from Española Island were extinct. They only found 14 individuals, 2 males and 12 females. And then, they found one more in the San Diego Zoo, whom they named Diego. For 60 years, the scientist worked on a breeding program, figuring out what the tortoises needed in a breeding ground, protecting the hatchlings until they were big enough to survive on their own, and eventually reintroducing the tortoises to their home island.
In 2020, they declared the breeding program a success, with over 2,500 tortoises now on Española Island. And in June 2020, they loaded up the original 15 tortoises and returned them to the island of their birth. After being gone for about 100 years, Diego came home.
I am hopeful that this book will expand the series into a stronger international focus and will find interest in other markets. In other words, Nefertiti remains part of that series has a bright future!
As a self-publisher, I know the value of my copyright. Each right (hardcover, audiobook, merchandising, etc.) has potential for income. I didn’t sign away all my rights in a single contract.
A website that teaches reading to kids needed some solid nonfiction texts. They licensed the right to display on their website Nefertiti and another book, Pollen. Both contracts were for text-only and for a five-year period. After that, they would have to come back and negotiate a new contract.
Traditional publishers’ contracts ask for all rights, which limits my ability to make money on a project. As a self-published publisher, I can extend my income by marketing each right separately.
Nefertiti has sold successfully in these formats.
What formats will sell in the future?
OK, some of these are far-fetched. I’m not sure who would buy a plush toy of Nefertiti. But you never know!
One main reason my income has topped $100,000 is that I now have 55+ books out. Each book needs to contribute something to my income. But this year, the highest grossing book may be Nefertiti and next year, it might be When Kittens Go Viral. On average, each book needs to pull in less $2,000 per year for me to earn $100,000. That’s vastly different from having only two books out and each book would need to contribute $50,000. The math tells you, publish more books!
With such a strong backlist, it’s also easier to be found. There are 55 chances for my publishing company to be noticed, instead of just two. Once a reader visits my website, will they purchase other books? Some will!
I never apologize for the business decision to bring a book to market yourself.
My goal for the future? Watch me!
I’m going to win a Newbery or a Siebert. Or both.
Children’s book author and indie publisher Darcy Pattison writes award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her works have received starred PW, Kirkus, and BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book, two Junior Library Guild selections, two NCTE Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, and a 2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Books. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature. She blogs about self-publishing children’s books at IndieKidBooks.com. Find her books at MimsHouse.com