It sounds cliché, but writing and illustrating my first children's book was like a childhood dream come true. When I was a child, I loved to draw. I drew every day, and sometimes all day. I made characters, comics, and a number of other pieces of art. One thing was for sure: I wanted to be a children's book illustrator for the rest of my life.
It seems that music and music teaching "got in the way" of that dream, but it just goes to show that if you prioritize things, they get done--they happen! My hopes in writing this post is that you will be given the know-how or that extra push to be able to produce your own children's book. Now, you may not be able to illustrate your own book like I did, but there are ways around that.
My Journey
Of course, many of you know that I began my publishing journey with Rock Coach. I self-published it under my, then, brand new publishing company, Steve's Music Room Publishing. Also for your sake, I wrote a series of blog posts chronicling my adventures in getting that book published. Since then, I've published many other books and resources for music teachers including a commission from the prestigious Oxford University Press called, "Technology for Unleashing Creativity: Practical Tips and Tools for Music Educators."
How to Create a Children's Book
It All Starts with an Idea
The idea for "Mikey's Place" came to me a couple of years before I did anything about it. I was out for a run and thought, if I were to write and illustrate a children's book, what would it be about? The concept was developed right there. A couple of years later, I decided that it was time to put this thing together. I sat down to come up with an overall macro form and had made a bit of progress. I ended up using AI chat bot, ChatGPT, to develop my ideas for "Mikey's Place" into something more tangible. It was able to give me some suggestions to help give me focus. Using AI definitely helped make the process move quicker. I didn't use ChatGPT's words at all (it is notoriously bad at rhyming), but I did use the form it gave me as a starting point.
What motivated me to write "Mikey's Place"? I had been reading a lot of children's books to my young kids at the time. There are some really good ones out there, but, to be honest, it was the really bad ones that said to me, I can do better than this, if this [insert terrible book] book is published through a major publisher, then surely a book I write will be better than this. Oddly enough, I was inspired to finally do it by the bad books.
Here's how you can create a children's book so that you don't have to take hours and days figuring it out.
Writing Process
Once I had a form and the idea set, I began writing. I wanted to model the rhyming and style off of Nick Bland's children's books, mostly "The Very Hungry Bear." I used this as a mentor text, of sorts, throughout the writing process. It is still one of my favourite children's books.
I kept the original drafts in a Google Docs file so I could work on it at any time. If I had 10 minutes where I felt inspired, I could whip out my phone and go to town.
Rhymezone
I used a site called Rhymezone to help find good rhyming words and phrases. Words can be grouped by meaning, rhymes, or a number of other variables. It's a great site to help with writing songs, poetry, or rhyming children's books!
Editing
Once I was done of a "final" draft of "Mikey's Place," I asked my Facebook, and other social media friends if they wanted to look through it and give some advice or constructive criticisms. The response was overwhelming. I had folks from all over the world who wanted to help out. I made separate copies in Google Docs so I could review their feedback separately without the risk of their opinions being swayed by another reviewer. Their input was monumental in putting together the actual final draft of the manuscript. Once the book was complete, I sent each of them a complimentary copy of the book.
Illustrations
Character Development
While I was waiting for some constructive feedback, I began the character development phase. It was an...um...interesting process. I went through some truly awful designs before settling on the Mikey we know and love.
Once the Mikey design was finalized, all of the other characters were modelled after that one. The design was partially inspired from the Jory John and Pete Oswald series of books (The Bad Seed, The Couch Potato, The Sour Grape, etc...).
Some things to note when designing characters:
They should have consistent design. It's all in the eyes. All of the the Mikey characters have round eyes with oval pupils. Some of the eyes, Bass for example, are smaller and farther apart to accommodate the length of the strings on that particular instrument, but not small enough to change the design.
Some folks who are designing characters or illustrations for their own children's books use clip art. Clip art can be a quick and inexpensive way to make illustrations without having to pay an illustrator, but it is incredibly important that they all come from the same clip art pack or have similar design features. Even to the untrained eye, if something is from different packs, folks might not be able to tell what's off about the design, but will know there is something off.
You might know a friend or a relative that can draw. This can be a good way to get some of your people involved in the project. And, you would be able to get an inexpensive illustrator to work on your project. I was asked, recently, to do the illustrations for a relative's book. It's called, "We Were All Together." Another option, if you don't have access to an illustrator can be Fiverr or another similar site.
Storyboard
Once I had a character design, it was time for the storyboard. An illustration storyboard is sort of like a comic strip. It shows the story all on one or two pages with illustrations depicting the story with space for text. This is the point where planning of the layout begins, but also what size and shape the book was going to be. I knew I wanted it to be rectangle. I was modelling that off the successful series of books by Robert Munsch, which are all 8 x 10 rectangles. Here is an example of the second draft of the illustrations storyboard for "Mikey's Place":
Illustrations
Before I began the first illustration of "Mikey's Place," I had to decide how to colour the characters. I tried a few rough attempts before settling on the colour scheme of each character. Once that was settled I began the illustration process.
Something really important to know before going into this process is the trim size. Trim size is the final dimensions of the book. The final dimensions for "Mikey's Place" is 8 x 10, so my illustrations had to match that exact same aspect ratio. Depending on where you get your book printed, they will have different options for trim sizes. Be sure to find out which trim sizes are supported before getting into this step.
An 8 x 10 trim size is a 4:5 ratio, so my illustrations had to match that. I have found that it is a good idea to make the illustrations slightly bigger than the final trim size because that gives you a bit if wiggle room in the final design stage. This means you could make things smaller or slightly bigger without any distortion or pixelation. The sketch pad I was using was a 9 x 12 which is a 3:4 ratio so I found this aspect ratio calculator to determine the size my illustrations had to be. I knew my width was 9 inches so I put that in to reveal what the height had to be to keep it at 4:5. If my width is 9, then my height had to be 11.25. I marked that on my page and went from there.
Some of the illustrations changed from the original storyboard, but that should be expected.
Digitizing Illustrations
Once I had all of the illustrations completed (which, honestly, took longer than writing the thing) I had to digitize them so I could turn them into a printable book. If you have access to a modern photocopier like at a school or library, this part is simple--albeit a bit tedious. I am lucky that my local public library has free photocopier access for digital scans (if I were printing, it would cost per page). I just had to provide my own jump drive. When scanning, be sure to scan as a multi-page colour PDF at at least 600 dpi. If this just made your eyes glaze over, the library should have someone on staff to help with this process. Do a few test scans to see if it is printing properly. It's a good idea to choose a custom size that is a couple of inches bigger than the original.
Upload to Canva
I used Canva for the interior design of "Mikey’s Place." I set the page size to 8x10 and began uploading the PDF files to the site. Once they are in Canva, there are many things you can do to manipulate them as needed.
Choosing a Font
It's important that you choose a Serif font that is easy to read. Print books often use Serif fonts while digital resources and websites will often use Sans Serif fonts. These are each designed for their respective formats and platforms. Look at other books and resources and try to notice the patterns in the font styles used.
Cover Design
I could have made a brand new design for the cover, but I decided to use an illustration from the book that featured all the characters and gave an idea of the plot.
Depending on who is doing the printing, they will have different requirements. Use their templates because they are based on page count and trim size. Here are Kindle Direct Publishing's (KDP) requirements, which is what I use to publish my print resources. The cover, spine, and back are all designed in one file.
ISBNs and Barcodes
An International Standard Book Number and bar code is essential if you want your book to look professional. In Canada, securing an ISBN is free and can be done through the Libraries and Archives Canada website. In the United States, authors must pay private companies for a single or batch of ISBNs. If buying is not an option, Amazon can assign their own ASINs to the books, but they are only valid inside Amazon. Every country would have their own process for acquiring ISBNs, so you would have to look at the requirements for the country in which you reside.
Something important to note about ISBNs is that, for every version of the book that exists, each would require a different ISBN. So for example, "Mikey's Place" is available in French, but also digitally with sound effects and narrations. Each one of these versions require a different ISBN.
Barcodes can be generated at a number of places online. One of my favourites specifically for ISBNs is Kindlepreneur's ISBN Barcode Generator.
Imprint
My main publishing company is Steve's Music Room Publishing specializing in resources for music teachers. The children's book imprint for that company is Steve's Music Room KIDS Division. I went through many iterations before settling on this because this just seemed like the most logical choice. This is your time to be creative about what your publishing name will be. It could be your name, the street you live on, something personal to you--anything!
Publishing
Depending on which company you are using to print and distribute your books, each will have different requirements and many lead you through the steps to publication. I use Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for my softcover books. They have begun doing hard cover as well, so that could be an option for you.
Ask for Help
If you're unsure, please ask for help. Contact me and we can collaborate on your project. I love coaching new writers and teachers in how to get their work published.
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