Mike Motz - Children's Book Illustration - How To Easily Publish Your Children's Book

The reason for this is that you'll be required to choose one of these methods to publish your children's book. Don't worry, I'll explain both methods here in a way that is easy to understand. After reading this, if you require more information on either of these methods, you'll be able to find it easily through most internet search engines.

1. Print-On-Demand (POD) Publishing

This the method by which an author chooses one "printing package" from a small selection of printing packages offered by a POD publisher. With some PODs the cost of the printing package covers the typesetting, design and layout of the author's children's book and partially subsidizes the cost of the book's printing. The POD publisher covers the remainder of its printing costs through sales of the author's book. The POD publisher will set a "print cost per book" (the minimum price the book can be sold for) and however much the author sells his book for above that minimum price becomes the author's royalty. For example, the POD publisher has set the print cost of the author's book at $8.00US each. Meanwhile, the author's book is being sold to the public for $10.00US each. The author is making a royalty of $2.00US for every one of his/her books sold.

Most PODs have a few different print packages with different features at different prices. Package prices can range from approximately $500.00US for a basic package to $1,500.00US for a "premier" package (for cheaper prices see the paragraph about Lulu.com below). Most of the package differences are in the design and layout of your book and the amount of paper or electronic "proofs" you'll be allowed. Children's books are generally pretty simple in their design so I find that this expensive feature really isn't worth the money, and neither are an unlimited supply of paper or electronic "proofs". You should expect the print quality of your book to be exactly the same no matter what package you decide to purchase from the POD publisher.

One POD, Lulu.com, allows you to print your own book using camera-ready artwork with NO pre-publishing fees, but at a slightly higher cost per book to cover the cost of printing. Currently, this is the absolute least expensive method I've seen to get a few copies of your printed book in your hands.

The list of features for packages offered by the different POD publishers may seem long and intimidating (there's too many to comment on here), but the illustrator that you've hired should be able to explain these features (or find out) if they have any real benefit to you. With my 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, I always make myself available for my client's questions.

Print-On-Demand Pros:

initial cost outlay to the author is less than traditional publishing
no risk of unsold books sitting in author's basement, attic, etc.
the ability to make additions to your book fairly easily and inexpensively

Print-On-Demand Cons:

author must sell his POD book to the consumer at a higher purchase price than a traditionally published book

2. Traditional Publishing

Where the POD method of publishing is kind of a one-stop shopping method of publishing, traditional publishing has the potential to require a bit more "leg work" from the publishing children's book author. In POD publishing, the publisher that the author chooses takes care of the layout, design, typesetting and printing of their book, but in traditional publishing the author has the responsiblity of hiring the graphic designer that will create the production artwork (layout, design, and typesetting) and hiring the printing company that will print the book. If things go well for the author, the illustrator may also be a graphic designer or the printer has a graphic designer on staff whose talents can be used for a fee. It is possible that an author might have a bit more decision-making (outside of their line of expertise) to do than they are comfortable with. Again, this is where the illustrator came be a big help.

When it comes to the printing, you will have to decide on the amount of books to get printed, pay the printer for that amount... and then hope that they all sell. If you consider publishing a children's book this way you should also consider pre-selling as many books as you can in advance before getting any books printed.

The more books that you get printed the less expensive each book becomes. If you pay for one or two thousand books to be printed you can conceivably see each book costing you $2.00-$3.00US. Unlike POD publishing, where the retail price of your book may start at $12.00US, you could set the price of your traditionally-published book at $8.00US or less. This works well if you are selling to resellers that will want to take your book and add their own markup (so they can make a profit) before putting it on their shelves. If you consider your competition to be the children's books that grace the shelves of the major booksellers then this may be the only way you'll be able to compete with them on price.

Traditional Publishing Pros:

because of volume purchase the cost per book is low
(if you so choose) low selling price is attractive to resellers

Traditional Publishing Cons:

large volume of unsold books could end up collecting dust in the basement or attic
potentially more effort required for management of creative professionals (graphic designer, printer)

Now that you have a basic understanding of the most common methods of publishing you can either broaden your knowledge by searching online for more information on the subject or you can contact the various publishers and printers about their printing packages and decide which package best suits your needs. After asking you a few questions I can also offer you my opinion.

Back to: Step 1 | Next: Step 3