Self-Publishing a Picture Book by Megan Pighetti

By: Megan Pighetti

You have a wonderful idea for an adorable picture book!  Now what?  Sadly, this is where too many authors stop.  Don’t be one of those people.  You can do this!  I am not going to lie to you and tell you it is easy.  I am not going to sugar coat it and tell you it’s free.  But I will tell you if you have a vision you want to see come to life it is possible.

The downside to traditional publishing

Before we get into the self-publishing aspect let’s briefly touch on traditional publishing.  I am sure you all have thought…it would be easier and more lucrative to go the traditional route.  It is true, self-publishing is not for everyone.  There is no right or wrong answer, and there are pros and cons to both roads.  When considering the traditional route, you can think about this:

• The odds of landing a Literary Agent are 1 in 6,000
• Even then you still need to land a publisher
• Even then you still need to have a fully edited to perfection piece of work
• You will not have control of the illustrations
• You will wait YEARS to see anything in print
• You are still in charge of most of the marketing
• Commission? You will split 10% with the illustrator leaving you with about 5% commission in the end.  That is after the advance is paid back, of course.

The other option is self-publishing.  The royalties are higher and you get to see the book in print much faster.  There is more work up front and more of an investment financially.  My thought process was:  Who is going to put more care and have more motivation to make your vision come into reality than you?   If you can’t see your vision, if you aren’t willing to put a little money into it…then why would you expect someone else to?  That is exactly what you are doing when you are seeking an agent.  You are asking them to put time and money into your vision.  You are asking them to then sell the vision to a publisher to put their time and money into your vision.  Why not believe in it yourself and make your own investment!

Your vision

Once you have an idea the problem is many people don’t know where to go next.  It is simple, just start writing.  It can be terrible as long as you start.  Writing it down will give you new ideas and new directions to take the story.  It will make you realize where you need to change things and places you should research new techniques.  Remember that little thing called the internet that is at your fingertips.  If you get stuck, just look something up.  Find out new ways to develop the story.  READ picture books and see what is new and what other authors are doing as well.  This doesn’t mean you have to do it the same way but it can give you some new ideas.

Using a developmental editor

Now that you have something on paper that you are relatively happy with what comes next?  I recommend using a developmental editor.  I found one at a reasonable price on Fiverr.  It is a great site that I used to produce my book on a budget.  This will give you feedback and new ideas for your story and a new set of eyes looking it over.  You may want to do this a couple times or/and find a critique group or/and honest family and friends to help you from here.

Illustrations

At this time, you can start looking through your manuscript and begin thinking about where you would envision page breaks to take place and what sort of illustrations you would like to see.   Take a look online to see how many pages your book should be.  Typical picture books are 32 pages, however when you self-publish you can have more flexibility.  For me, this is something I began from the start.  As I write I also picture it in my head.  I illustrate at the same time…even though I am not an illustrator.  The next editor you will pay for is a content editor.  This is all the details and grammar.   I paid for a couple different ones and you will get differing opinions sometimes on a comma or certain wording.  There will come a point where you may just have to make a decision on your own.

Copyright

Once I thought the manuscript was where I wanted it to be, I submitted it to copyright.  This is not a service you should pay someone else for.  You can do this on your own.  It doesn’t take long and isn’t expensive (around $40) and can be done here.

I read that even after it is approved you can change a word here and there as long as overall it retains the majority of what was submitted.  This was important to me because I found that with the illustrations a few of my wording choices changed.

At this point I found three illustrators I liked, and met my very low budget needs.  I hired them for a small job and submitted the same description for my main character to each of them and waited to see what they came back with.  All three were so different.  I wanted to make sure I liked the final product before I hired them for the whole book.  One clearly was better than the others and I fell in love with her designs.  I was investing a lot in the illustrations and I did not want to be disappointed in the end.

The unique part of self-publishing is you get to add as many illustrative notes as you want.  I had my manuscript divided into page breaks and had very detailed descriptions of each page spread and how I wanted it done.  I also had some areas where I was allowing the artist to use her creativity.  I didn’t want to put too many constraints that it made it difficult to please me.  The end product took my breath away.

Inserting the text

Many picture book authors I have worked with ask about inserting the text.  Whose job is this?  The illustrator usually offers to do this.  I did this myself for my book, and I’ll tell you why:

• I wanted control over being able to make small edits.
• I wanted to be able to translate to another language if I wanted to
• I wanted to make sure it was placed just so and not slapped in there and didn’t pop
• Overall, I wanted control.

How did I do this?  I found a great video online while doing my research on how to put the images into PowerPoint and then insert the text yourself.  This helped me to place the text along with the illustration during the revision process and make sure the illustrator was leaving enough space.  I was also able to make sure the background was plain enough to make the text pop.  This is also how I saved it into a PDF to upload to Amazon.  Simple.

I choose to publish using my own ISBN number purchased on Bowker.  There are pros and cons to using Amazons free provided one or buying your own.  Basically, if you think you will ever publish anywhere besides Amazon you should buy your own.  If you know you will only ever publish on Amazon, then the free one is just fine.  Get online and do some research.

Marketing

My last tip for today would be to start your marketing early on.  This is helpful for not just marketing but also for advice and beta readers.  Start a Facebook page and join author groups.  Start a Twitter account, the writing community is strong and supportive.  If you are planning on going strong then you definitely need a website.  I used wix for mine and found it very user friendly.  You can take a look at mine here:  www.FairyTailedWish.com.  I did pay for mine but, there are a lot of free options as well.

About Megan Pighetti

I hope you find this information helpful as you begin your journey to self-publishing your first picture book.  I know it is a scary road, I know because I have traveled it myself.  I have recently published my first picture book, Fairy-Tailed Wish.  Which is currently available on Amazon in e-book, Kindle Unlimited, and print form.  I learned by researching, talking to others, reading picture books, and trial and error.  I wanted to share my knowledge with you.

If you want to check out my completed project you can view it here:  Fairy-Tailed Wish, by Megan Pighetti 

Happy Reading,

Megan Pighetti

Check out my book review of Fairy-Tailed Wish and interview with Megan Pighetti here!

Buy it!

Buy a copy of How to Self-Publish a Children’s Picture Book here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.

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