How to Self-Publish a Children’s Book for Free, Part I

Since I published my first children’s book, many people have asked me to walk them through the process. I have also seen a lot of misinformation out there, from Facebook groups to mailing lists to click-bait web articles. So I wanted to write a fresh view on this topic.

First things first: I know this is a how-to guide. However, I want to start with a more important question: Why. If you are set on self-publishing and just want to know the how, then jump to Part II of this article and skip the why. For everyone else, read on.

Why Self-Publish a Book versus going Traditional?

Before I begin, I will make the following assumptions:

You want to publish your very first book. In other words, you are an unproven author. If you are a proven author, then I assume you know why you want to self-publish.

You want to publish fiction, for children. Most of what I will discuss applies only to fiction. If you want to publish years of research you have done, perhaps as part of your masters or doctorate’s dissertation, this article is not for you. And if your fiction is for adults, things may be slightly different (but continue reading).

Now, to the why. There are only three reasons to skip the traditional process of finding a publisher or an agent, going through an editor and the whole nine yards. The three reasons are: lack of market fit, personal or vanity project, and time to publish.

Lack of market fit. By lack of market fit I mean your book is something completely unusual for which there is no publisher, no agent, no editor who will ever take your manuscript. This is extremely rare. Let’s say you want to write a children’s book on some controversial topic that most publishers find of bad taste or not suitable for children. For example, let’s say you wrote adult themes in your book, maybe sex, maybe drugs, maybe something else. Then, you are probably out of luck going the traditional way. Maybe there are publishers out there that will take you, but they are likely small, few and far between, and possibly might not be interested in your particular manuscript. Tough luck? No, self-publish if you really want to get your story out.

Personal or vanity project. If what you have is of interest only to yourself and maybe your family and close friends — say, for some special occasion like a wedding or an anniversary — then you can safely self-publish.

Time to Publish. The only other reason to self-publish is because of the time involved in the publishing process. That is, if you want your book to see the light of day sooner than two to three years from now. That is right, it takes two to three years or more to go the traditional way. This is not something I am making up. Two-plus years (often three or more) is what several professional organizations and publications state as the average time to publication in the children’s picture book market. And that is after you get into contract with a publisher. The time to find a publisher or agent can run into several months.

Where does that time go? Publishing houses have greatly downsized since the advent of self-publishing, so they can work on only a handful of projects simultaneously. Editors, designers, art directors, and the like work on several publications in parallel, but there is a limit to how many books they can have up in the air at the same time. Then there is the time to illustrate your book, if you are not the illustrator (and if you are not, you should not hire an illustrator yourself). There are also marketing and budgeting restrictions that publishers often have to follow that have nothing to do with their capacity to pump out titles; maybe they reserve all their efforts to only publishing one Christmas-themed book a year, for example.

So, if you want to publish sooner than two to three years from when you are done writing the book, you should self-publish.

Now, let’s look at some wrong reasons to self-publish. If you have used any of these justifications in order to convince yourself that you need to self-publish, then you are in for a rude awakening and you should reconsider self-publishing.

You don’t like being told no. You will still be told no if you self-publish. Grow some thick skin and move on. Who will tell you no? All those people not buying your book. When you tell 100 friends your book is out and exactly three of them buy it, those 97 ones who did not buy your book are telling you no. Get an early no from an editor and improve your book, if this is your reason for self-publishing.

You want to do it your way. It is great to do things the way you think is best, but more often than not this is just a way of saying “I want to do a poor job, skip steps, and publish a half-baked book.” Professionals in this tough market such as editors and agents exist for a reason. Unless you are prepared to do their jobs and vet your own work, you should use them instead.

Agents and publishers don’t appreciate your “style”. This is a variation of not accepting no for an answer or skipping steps and doing a poor or lazy job. If you have done an awesome job and your book is on-topic, there will be an agent out there who will take you.

You want to hire your own illustrator. Publishers normally decide who the illustrator will be. However, some may accept a writer-illustrator pair if they like the combination. It is a matter of negotiating. Unless you are the writer and the illustrator yourself, it is best to leave the choice of illustrator to those who know what they are doing.

You only have one book to publish. If you have only one story to tell, then likely you are not a writer. However, let’s pretend you have one and only one excellent book to publish. Are you going to let a tiny mistake along the way ruin your one and only book? Self-publishing is a skill like any other. It takes time to master it. I made several mistakes in publishing my first book. Luckily, most are correctable. But if all you have is a single story to share isn’t it better to leave it to an experienced team to make it happen?

Okay, now you know why you want to self-publish. Next, let’s see in Part II exactly how to do it.

Eduardo Pinheiro is the author of the “Toloc Toloc” book series. If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying the book — all royalties will be donated to charity — and leaving a review on Amazon. Thanks!