🌟NEW TITLE!🌟 How I Independently Publish Picture Books Now Available

I’m really excited to say that I launched my new book How I Independently Publish Picture Books this week! The book is available as a downloadable PDF on Etsy and as an ebook on the Kindle Store and tells you all about my own path to indie publishing my stories.

I’m entirely self taught and it has taken me several years to learn about the different steps and processes that are required to publish. I hope that sharing what I’ve learnt will help you to have a go at publishing your own picture books too.

I see the book as an ongoing project so please do get in touch and let me know what you think and if there’s anything else you would like to see included.

Meanwhile, I plan to share some excerpts here and am also currently working on my third picture book so will share some more insight into that too. But first I’m going to treat myself to a cup of tea and a mince pie to celebrate : )

Switching from Createspace to KDP

This week I've been moving on to the next stage on my journey of independently publishing picture books and have switched my printing process from Createspace to Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP. Joanna Penn has been talking on her podcast recently about how Createspace is due to close down and recommended moving over to KDP. As my ebooks are already published on Kindle this made sense to me and means that my books are in the same place (with the exception of iBooks).

I looked for advice online to show me how to complete the process and found this very helpful video which describes the steps clearly. It was super easy and took minutes.

Once I'd received the approvals from KDP, I ordered a copy of each book to have a look at the print quality. I chose the gloss cover and matte pages and I'm really pleased to find that the finish is exactly the same as Createspace. I also love the fact my books are still print on demand which ensures I am not being wasteful and saves me from having an apartment full of boxes!

Switching will also hopefully allow me to be seen more easily on Amazon by using their marketing services. I’m excited to see what effect this will have on my sales and will write more about this in a future post once I've experimented a bit!

A Super Helpful Podcast from The Creative Penn: How To Self-Publish And Market A Children’s Book

As an independent children's publisher, I've had to navigate a lot of the journey myself. I've spent many hours trying to fathom out design and print processes and working out how to get my books listed and seen alongside traditional titles. I'm very passionate about my creative projects so have been interested to understand every step of the process and I feel a great sense of achievement (and relief!) when I work it out bit by bit. It  can, however, be a bit of a lonely world. So it was fantastic to see that The Creative Penn recently released a podcast on the subject, an interview with Karen Inglis who has been publishing her own children's titles for the past seven years.

I was particularly interested to hear how Karen has been using Amazon Marketing Services to boost her sales and to help her titles to be seen alongside traditional publishers. When I started this path, I remember asking a speaker at a self-publishing conference how I could distribute my own books and at the time, it just wasn't possible. It's amazing to see how far things have come in less than 10 years.

How To Self-Publish And Market A Children's Book

Self-publishing books for children can be challenging because of higher printing costs and difficulties in marketing to your target market. In today's show, Karen Inglis explains how she sells thousands of copies of her books for children and tips for how you can do it too.

An Amazing Alphabet of Cake Now Available From Waterstones

I'm really pleased and excited to announce that An Amazing Alphabet of Cake is now available to order from Waterstones. It's been such a learning curve working out how to get the book into shops so this feels like a real milestone. Only a few years ago, there wasn't really a route for independents like me to be seen. And now, thanks to Ingram Spark, I've been able to upload the book to their system and it's now started to become more visible across book stores online. My next step is to approach Waterstones with a copy to see if they will hold stock in their bricks and mortar shops. It's so lovely to see something that was once just a spark in my mind existing out in the wild!

Celebrating My Cake Book

This week I received my first confirmation of sales figures for An Amazing Alphabet of Cake from Amazon. The numbers may be modest but I'm so chuffed that people are buying and enjoying the book. Lots of friends have been sending me photos and videos of their little ones reading about cake. One of the little poppets is even trying to eat the cake from the page : ) Every review and note I receive makes me feel a little bit emotional and encourages me to create more. Thank YOU.

From Sketchbook to Sales

So after a year of sketching, illustrating, proof-reading, designing, tweaking and tidying, it's finally here! An Amazing Alphabet of Cake was published on Thursday 30 November. A very special date for me as it would have been my Dad's birthday. The book is inspired by an A to Z game we used to play on car journeys. A game I still play often with the little ones in my life.

This time last year, I sat down in a cafe with a sketchbook and set myself the challenge of coming up with 26 ideas for 26 pages of a book about an alphabet of cake. I loved the idea of my second picture book coming from something that was so close to my heart. I scribbled anything that came to mind, brainstorming words that might work, remembering cakes that the little ones had come up with when we had played the game. I slowly started translating my thoughts on to Photoshop, one letter at a time, sketching and layering, trying out different colours and building the illustrations slowly but surely.

As I've mentioned before, I only started drawing about three years ago. Creating this book has given me a project to really practise with. Working independently has meant I only have my own deadlines to work to so I fitted drawing around my day job. Slowly ticking all the letters off the list.

By June I had drafts of all 26 pages and was ready to start working with my book designer. I had worked with Sarah Goodwin on Angel's Great Escape so knew we worked well together. Although I had figured out the composition of most of the pages, Sarah helped so much by suggesting fonts, tweaking the palette to ensure consistency and creating the files in InDesign ready to publish. I also engaged a proofreader to check through the wording for me. She really helped by suggesting edits that would help the rhythm of the text.

I absolutely love working with my small team. I love the independence of being able to make our own decisions. I love how I can quickly tweak an image if I need to. Although this is the second picture book I've published, it's the first one I've illustrated and I'm very much feeling my way. Seeing the reviews start to come through on Amazon, seeing how the book is resonating with people, really makes me happy. I'm already starting to sketch book number three. Building my tiny empire one picture at a time.

"What a brilliant book. Beautiful illustrations, very quirky, and would keep a child entertained for ages, whilst learning their alphabet. A great stocking filler too. Highly recommended."

"This book is such a sweet treat (pun intended). The characters are full of life and mischief and you basically want to sit with them and join in the fun. Inventive, colourful and joyful. Each turn of the page brings a smile. Wonderful!"

"What's not to love? The joy of choosing your favourite cake without the guilt of the calories. Such a beautifully illustrated book and one that I'm really looking forward to sharing with my young nephew".