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The Essential Guide to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book
Generally speaking, anything designed to entertain or educate children through illustrations and text fits the definition of a children's book. To create a children's book, you should first consider your ideal readership.
It's all too easy to try to appeal to all types of children. Focus on one topic: perhaps you'll tell a story that simplifies maths, explains how planes fly or teaches children empathy. The goal of your story extends to defining your readers: if you're writing a maths book, your readers are children who struggle with maths.
Children's books should be easy to understand, with clear language and engaging stories. Avoid complex words or sentences. Your goal is to convey the story as simply as possible, focusing on the illustrations.
Children's books can be targeted at specific age groups, such as ‘toddlers’ and young readers. In general, children's books are appropriate for younger children. As children get older and their reading skills improve, middle grade books will contain more text and have more appropriate storytelling elements. Middle grade readers will focus on helping older children hone their reading skills and develop reading habits. Above the middle grades, young adult stories are chapter books or novels for young adults.
To help make writing and publishing picture books easier for you, here are three story elements to pay special attention to when writing children's stories.
- Characters
- Education
- Design
Characters
Weak, forgettable characters can sink even the most imaginative story—especially in early reader books. Young audiences need protagonists who grab their attention and spark an instant emotional bond. If kids don’t feel connected to the characters right away, they’ll quickly lose interest.
When crafting your story, pay close attention to how you develop your characters. Without that crucial reader-character connection, even the most creative plot will feel dull and unengaging.
Since children’s books are shorter and simpler than novels, this emotional link must happen fast. One of the best ways to learn? Analyze bestselling kids’books and study how skilled authors bring their characters to life with charm, relatability, and depth.
Education
Nearly every successful children's book serves an educational purpose, whether it's teaching important values or academic concepts. Try finding a kids' book that doesn't offer some kind of lesson—you'll have a tough time!
But here's the magic: education doesn't have to mean boredom. The most beloved children's stories skillfully blend entertainment with enlightenment. The key? Make your tale so engaging and delightful that young readers absorb the lesson without even noticing they're learning.
Design
Children's books are illustrated first. For a story to be engaging, the text and illustrations must complement each other.
Consider how the book will be read - is your children's book geared towards children who will read on their own? Then the text will need to be slightly larger and attention will need to be paid to the complexity of the words and sentences.
Or are you aiming for younger readers who will be read by parents or teachers? Now you should make the text comfortable for adults to read and keep it completely out of the way of the images - parents need to be able to show their children your illustrations easily!
You need to make the illustrations informative and clear, and accompany them with easy-to-understand text. If you are an artist, you may be able to create your own illustrations. If not, you might consider hiring an illustrator to help realise your vision.
Self-Publishing Your Children’s Book
Can it be difficult to self-publish a children's book? Yes, it takes some effort. But it can also be a rewarding experience and you can help children learn valuable lessons.
Keep your audience in mind, focus on concise and clear text, and invest in high-quality illustrations and design. Pair this with a high-quality printer like Hemei Printing who can ship worldwide, and you'll be a published author in no time!
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