Character Storming… How Important are The Characters for any Children’s Book?

Characters are the life of a book which are actually assisting the author in narrating the story. Kids get influenced by the characters so it becomes really important for the author to develop the story and lesson around those characters so that it has a positive impact on the kids. Characters’ life in a story is the author’s imagination going inside the reader’s brain when reading. Characters can be animals, humans, ghosts, superhumans or aliens etc. But they become memorable. They are the ones whom you love, hate, feel sorry for, respect, like, dislike but you surely have some emotion for them when reading the story. The most loved characters are often used in various book sequels and they pull their readers and sales only because those characters were loved in the earlier book.

When creating a character for your book, an author must first shortlist on its specie type, age and appearance and then note down the other attributes which the character should possess. As an author you should know the character completely, inside-out. Think unique and come out with unique characters. It should be distinctive. Once the author has laid out the character in words completely, it is equally important for the illustrator to portray him with the same details in his illustrations. His facial features, health, hair, clothing etc all will remain in the minds of the readers.

Kids also love getting reflections of themselves in the stories and the illustrations. They tend to identify themselves with the characters in the book who are their age or if same ethnicity. So, making books with multicultural kids, different ethnicities, backgrounds and faith is a very good idea to cater to the world audience. For example, story of 3 friends who are Caucasian, African and Japanese and then adding various cultural attributes of all the 3 in the book can be really interesting for readers. It will not just let kids know about various cultures but will also help them relate to the characters based on their own ethnicity. It will also assist towards global peace and minimizing the gaps and differences between various cultures. We live in a community which is mixed so all authors must keep this in mind when developing their story characters. Kids do dream of larger than life characters. So, it is also a good idea to have superheroes from various cultures.

What to Choose Freelance Illustrators or Illustration Agency?

If you’re currently working on your children’s book and seeking an illustrator, you might be wondering if you should select a freelance illustrator or work with an illustration agency or an illustrator provided by your self-publishing company.

There are so many freelance job portals, that as an author you might want to try posting your job for the search of an illustrator for your book. Don’t be surprised if you get overwhelming responses from illustrators across the globe and that too at very competitive prices. But you need to exercise extreme caution as there are so many aspects about book illustration which you must consider before finalizing one.

First and foremost is the copyright of your manuscript. You cannot handover your manuscript to anyone without knowing and risk yourself of leaking it to others as until your book is not published and/or not copyrighted, your story, characters and ideas can be used by anybody. Any legitimate and experienced illustration agency will always sign a contract before asking about your book details. This is where its easy to trust an illustration agency rather than working with a freelance illustrator.

You may get talented freelance illustrators at quite an economical price unlike Illustration agencies. Although some good illustration agencies have a range of prices to choose from too.

Experience in illustrating children’s book do matter. Illustration agencies have experienced Art Directors, who understand the children’s book industry standard norms and are their to guide the author and in house illustrators through out the process ensuring the delivered product looks professional. One cannot get this expertise of direction when working with a freelance illustrator.

There are various steps in publishing a children’s book. After the manuscript is ready, the first thing to get done are the illustrations. Once the illustrations are done, there is a whole set of processes which needs to be followed before you can actually have your book in hand and ready for sale. This is another advantage of working with an illustration agency. These agencies usually provide all the services involved in self-publishing a book. If the author is very experienced and thoroughly understands and is able to self-publish the book, it doesn’t matter if one works with a freelance illustrator or an illustrator agency. But if you do need assistance at every step of self-publishing, there are chances of more technical errors and misinformation when working with freelancers. So, it’s the best thing to get all the services from one place only rather than getting involved with various companies and freelancers.

Make sure you check the reviews and testimonials of your freelance illustrator or illustration agency before you make a choice. It’s easy to checkout various published works by the illustration agency on Amazon to have a real time check.

Tips to Choose a Good Illustration Agency for Your Book

You have finished your story and now you need illustrations before you finally layout your book. It’s always better to go to a professional illustration agency rather than choosing a freelance illustrator to work on your book. We will be explaining the pros and cons of this in our upcoming blog. But right now, we would like to explain a few important things which an author must take care of before choosing an illustration agency.

 

  • Agencies’ Experience: It’s always better to go with an agency who have a number of published works under them. If they have an experience, it surely means they know what they are doing and they can advise you what is in best interest of your book. Their experience will definitely help you benefit and give know abouts of the publishing world, especially if you are a novice writer.

 

  • Get their Testimonials: Your story is your dream, don’t choose an illustrator or agency just because they are ready to do your book illustrations at a very low price. Do your homework before finalising. Read their testimonials, if possible ask for reference clients of those agencies. Gather the most relevant information directly from those experienced authors who have worked with those agencies. Let their experience be of help to you. You surely won’t regret doing this bit before finalising an agency. An agency with a good reputation means they have got experts, talent and professionalism which your story definitely deserves.

 

  • Check the variety of Styles they are offering: Agencies have many illustrator’s on their panel. This gives a wide variety of illustration styles from which you can choose from. Based on your story, genre and preferences, you can already start to visualize how your book will turn out looking at the various styles.

 

  • Pool of immense Talent: Agencies will not keep any amateur illustrator’s in their pool. Agencies have their selection criterion before they hire any illustrator. You can be sure you will get to choose from already a shortlisted set of experienced illustrators.

 

  • Don’t geographically limit yourself: Some of you might find it easy and comfortable to work with a local illustrator. But it makes absolutely no difference if you work with illustration agencies who are not located in your area. This gives you various options for illustration quality and cost, and you are able to choose the best one based on your preferences.

 

  • The agency needs to be in your price range: Since you will be self-publishing your book, it is best to do your planning and calculations for pricing before choosing your illustrator. You may would like to get your book illustrated by a celebrity illustrator but unfortunately you don’t have the budget for the same. Don’t get disheartened, there are some good illustration agencies which not even provide their panelled illustrator’s style but can follow the style you give to them closely. You certainly would get your illustrations done almost just like you imagined at a very minimal percentage of price which otherwise you would have paid.

 

  • Keeping note of all your requirements in written: A good illustration agency will never go with the details given on phone or messages. This way does not ensure each detail is saved and will be implemented. A professional illustration agency would always need all the requirement from the author filled out in written so that everything is organized for the illustrator and none of your preference is missed to get you your dream illustrations.

Here Is Why Children Should Be Given Illustrated Story Books to Read

A good story book is a perfect amalgamation of words with pictures rather than a book full of words. For young readers, it is very important that the story book they are reading is not just interesting but it also stimulates their imagination and they are able to well visualize the story. Kids begin to learn about the world they live in through images. Words are not enough for the little minds to comprehend it all, this is where the colorful beautiful illustrations come in. They are not just highly engaging but also quite self-explanatory.  Don’t get confused with Illustrations and painting. The two are quite different form of art in terms of technique, skill and creativity.

The kids cannot fully understand the story just by words like most adults do but the illustrations help with the purpose here. They simplify the text and kids are able to relate that text with the pictures, objects, expressions and other shapes drawn there. And when they relate illustrations to the story text, they also help in developing vocabulary in the young readers. The purpose of the picture is not just to explain the text perfectly. But also make reading more enjoyable for the kids.

Reading as storybook with pictures develops an imaginative power in the young readers. This means the child will be the one in charge of interpreting the message that is conveyed by the picture. This encourages their mind to explore new ideas as they take on details from the first page before they move on to the next.

In story with only text, the characters are only names and nothing beyond that. Kids relate to the characters better when they see it illustrated in color and expressions. Those characters now come to life for them and it stays in their memory forever.

Kids also learn to appreciate art at a younger age, which would in turn open up their creativity and sensitivity towards the world.

Picture books help the young readers to develop a sense of awareness about a lot of subjects like friendship, social values, family bonding, moral values and so many others.

Reading a nicely illustrated picture book can be really addictive. A great story may not necessarily engage a child but good, colorful, lively illustrations surely will grab his attention. And inculcating this habit of reading books at a young age will definitely go a long way. It will also improve his comprehension skills and would give him an advantage to excel in academics.

For toddlers who are about to learn new things, illustrations are a good way to introduce them to new colors, vegetables, fruits and other objects.

There are many picture books which are interactive and have ways in which kids can participate in them. Like kids can have fun in coloring books, they can exercise their brains in maze and puzzle solving books. The key here is to have expressive characters, colorful objects and engaging backgrounds.

The illustrated story books offer a great opportunity for bonding. It motivates the kids to read, improves their visual thinking ability, improves their vocabulary, inculcates social values in them, makes them more self-confident as they become less dependent on their parents to understand the text and they learn to appreciate art and literature early.

How much time is needed to self publish a book

When we talk about self publishing , it means a collection of services like cover design, layout (interior of book), Editing, print publishing (Hardcover / Paperback), E book and promotion of the book. If it a Children’ book , then illustrations also play a very important part.

When we talk about various services, the next thing is the length of the book in terms of number of words. This directly impacts the number of pages which impacts the editing and layout and of course the print cost.

So, for most of the books the time frame for Self publishing is in the range of 5 weeks to 8 weeks. In case of Children’s book , the time frame will increase specially because of the illustrations. The range may be between 10 weeks to 14 weeks for a standard Children’s book (with 12 illustrations and 30 pages).

Having a professionally designed cover is very important because the cover is the first impression for the readers and if its not good, there are minor chances of your book doing well. Even if your story is excellent but if the cover is not designed well, the book has low chances of doing well.

I always recommend that the authors must be ready to give extra time when the cover is being designed. Don’t mind a few extra round of revisions and ask your designer also to keep more patience. The cover must be shown to a few other professional designer and author friends to get the correct feedback . o hurry should be practices when it comes to cover.

As far as the layout and editing is concerned, if you choose a professional agency, they should do a good job. But be careful to do one round pf proofreading yourself or choose random pages and just do some proofreading.

When it comes to book promotion, this is an activity which is not included in publishing time frame, it start after the book is published and I suggest that it is an ongoing process and author must develop an online presence for himself.

Is It Worth Having An Authors Website?

Many authors who are still old school feel intimidated by the very thought of having a personal website. Their apprehension is valid as it’s not easy to maintain a website where a hell lot of coding takes place and changing anything requires the help of a professional website developer.

The very thought of managing all this can scare even the Batman from the 1950’s. But the scared lot is not only the old school authors, but even the current lot of authors does not feel very comfortable with the idea of managing own website. One may ask, why does an author need to do anything else, other than writing? Well, its true, especially if you have a publisher who is taking care of the book distribution and book promotion. But if you are considering self publishing, you should know that you are the crew as well as the captain of your ship.

Things like a reliable self publishing agency and book promotion agency can act as added features in the Captain’s cabin to operate the ship and be able to take the ship to the destination safely and successfully. Apart from the services like the cover, layout and self publishing, the one thing that sets your book apart is an effective strategy for book promotion.

An authors website is the most important area of any book promotion. Not only does an authors website provide an online presence to the author, but it also works as a very effective medium in selling books directly. The author can connect with a huge audience on his/her own website and answer the queries of his/her admirers through various articles and blogs. Not only that, you can easily use your social media accounts and inform everyone the single link on your website from where they can purchase the book.

One may point out, the book can still be purchased through Amazon or other online book store, so why through own website? My answer to this question is simple, when you invite your guests to dinner, you may take them out to a near by restaurant, then why call him to your house and serve home cooked food? Simply, because people want to know their favourite authors personally.

With the improvement in technology, it has become very simple to operate own website without knowing anything about the complex coding and other technicalities. We have some very easy and simple agencies like the www.websiteforauthors.com who are helping hundreds of authors every year to have a personalized website and they even teach the authors to maintain own websites in an effortless manner.

In the end, i would like to say, having or not having a website is a personal choice, but connecting with your followers is not your choice, you have to do it as your followers have the right to know you better and personalizing that experience is like “icing on the cake”

How to Self Publish A Children’s Book

If you have written a children’s book and you want to self publish it then the whole process may sound a bit difficult but with correct choices, you can make the whole process appear very easy. You must know the correct approach.

You must know that once you have decided to self publish, you are the captain of the boat and your abilities will directly influence the success of the book. In the traditional publishing approach, everything is controlled by the publisher but since you are the publisher here, you will be in control of everything.

There are broadly five to six categories which are important for self publishing any children’s book and you must know them. It starts with illustrations moves to cover design and then comes the book layout followed by the self publishing. You can also decide to do the book promotion which is very important. You can do the promotion by yourself or promote the book online. Both are very effective instruments needed for the book to become successful.

Let’s go one by one. Once the story is complete, you need to put everything in pictorial form and these pictures are called illustrations. Why are they needed? The answer is simple, because the kids are more interested in pictures. How to find an illustrator? This answer may not be as simple. You need to search the illustrators on the internet and see their styles. Once you have decided which style of illustration will suit your story, contact the illustrator. Agencies like the www.childbookillustrations.com offer multiple illustration styles with many illustrators. You may want to contact such agencies.

After the illustrations are complete you will also need to get the complete designing done by the illustrator/designer. This process will make everything ready in the form of a book. It is very important to have an outstanding cover of the book as well as beautifully layout out of the inside pages. There are many formats which can be selected for the designing and the same illustrator /designer should be able to fulfill this requirement as well.

Self publishing is the next stage and now its time for you to decide the distribution channels on which you want to put your book for sale. You may use Amazon, Ingram, Barnes and Noble etc or you may also decide to simply print the book and sell yourself. This will depend upon your requirement and plan.
After the self publishing is done, you would like to promote the book and there are two ways in which you can do this. One is by promoting the book yourself in your family, friends, social circle, schools and libraries. The other way is to promote it online. The online promotion is more useful if your book is available for sale on online stores like that of Amazon and kindle etc.

In the end, self publishing a children’s book is just like any big project which can give great results if the execution goes well because the future belongs to self publishing.

Why childbook illustrations is the best place for your children book illustrations

Childbook illustrations offers exclusive children book illustrations and book design service to children’s book authors. We offer multiple illustration styles and the author can choose any style. There are many other agencies which offer illustrations service but what differentiates us from the rest is our commitment to bring the best quality of illustrations which can actually complement the story and ultimately help the author in getting an excellent finished book.
1) Experience- With an experience of over 150 books already illustrated, we understand the needs of the author very well. We have worked with first time authors as well as published authors and so, we are the right choice for all authors.

2) Time line commitment- We believe in delivering the illustrations and we will give you a tentative deadline before starting the work. We make sure that everything is finished in that time frame because we are aware that after the illustrations, the author needs the layout and publishing of the book.

3) Multiple styles of illustration- We offer more than 15 different styles of illustration and each style is very unique. The author has the option of choosing any illustration style and we will do the story in that particular style. Our styles include digital illustrations as well as the manual style of illustration. Our portfolio section is one of the best portfolios offered by any agency.

4) End to end services- Once the illustrations are complete, we will also do the book layout as well as the self publishing. We understand the difficulties faced by the author and thus we provide a platform from where all services can be used easily.

5) Affordable pricing- If you have done the analysis, you already know the price of getting a children’s book illustrated. But with us, you get the illustrations only at $69 per illustration. No one else in the industry is offering such pricing. We are also the most trusted agency in children’s book industry.

Why childbook illustrations is expert in field of book designing and why book designing is must for every author

Childbook illustrations is an expert in children book illustrations as well as the book designing. The book designing contains the cover design and the Book layout. The cover design is the front cover and the back cover whereas the book layout includes the inside designing of the book. The inside designing of the book includes the layout of the text with the illustrations and also setting up the font as well as creation of new pages like the author’s page, title page, copyright page , dedication page etc.

The purpose of book designing is to make your story and illustrations in the form of a book which can be taken to a printer. Doing this is a very complex job and not every designer can do the job properly. Every author who purchases our illustrations also purchase cover design and book layout also because we offer a good discount to our existing authors and also we provide an unmatched quality work.

You can see samples of many books already designed by us and you will yourself realize the difference which our designers can make to your book. We not only offer great designs but also give revisions/changes free of cost. The author’s satisfaction is the most important thing for us and we make sure that all the designs and proofs are approved by the author. We create designs in such a manner that they are compatible with the print publishing as well as ebook publishing. All that the author needs to do is let us know if he/she is looking fir hardcover publishing or paperback publishing.

Our files are accepted universally by all printers and our service don’t just end there, if there is any problem faced even after delivery of the work, we will assist you in solving that as well. The importance of a good cover design and book layout has been explained in various forums, it is also a fact that, despite a great story and good illustrations, if the cover and inside of the book is not properly designed, it results in poor review by the reader/audience.

We also recommend that you must get these services only by professionals, not every graphic designer can do the job properly because Children’s book or other books are not routine brochures/pamphlets which can be designed using software, and you need a lot of designing skills and art sense for that. Our illustrators and designers are well trained for that job have helped hundreds of authors with their book designs and cover designs.

Illustrator Portfolio

The portfolio of an illustrator has various styles which the illustrator creates. A typical portfolio can have anywhere between 5-15 styles and a new style can be added every time when some illustrations are created in a different medium/technique. Whenever a potential buyer wants to hire an illustrator , the portfolio is what the buyer will look into.

As an Author, one must evaluate the work of an illustrator based on the various styles present in the portfolio. Also, one must know what style of illustration will be suitable for his/her story and an Author must do a lot of research . A children’s book story will only be liked by Children if the illustrations are outstanding because Children like the illustrations more than the story. More often than not, the story is understood by the Children only by the means of illustration. If the choice of illustrations is not correct, it may adversely affect an otherwise great Children’s story.

Selecting a right illustrator is very important because getting a right illustrator will make the challenge of publishing easier. There must be a good understanding between the Author and the illustrator and the illustrator must be cooperate with the Author in case revisions are needed or if the Author expects changes in the illustrations at any stage. These points must be negotiated with the illustrator before the project starts. It is also important that a contract is signed between the Author and the illustrator and terms and conditions are very clearly mentioned.

It is highly advisable to see the sketches before final coloring and the arrangement should be such that the illustrator sends all the sketches first and Author can review them and ask for changes/revisions, if needed and after the sketches are approved, the final color will be added to all the sketches. This way Author’s involvement is ensured which is highly required. This practice ensures that time is not wasted and any project is not terminated because of miscommunication between the Author and the illustrator.

Author’s must be careful while checking the illustrator portfolio and must keep in mind what kind of style will be most suitable for his/her book and accordingly the illustrator must be hired for the Book.

Book Design

Once the illustrations of a children’s book is complete the next step is the designing of the book. The book designing is equally important as the illustrations primarily because it is the whole set up of the book which will be seen by the readers after the book is printed. The book design includes the selection of the size of the text, the font, the margins, the illustration layout, adding the essential pages like the Title page, Author’s page, Copyright page and the Cover design. When all the essential components are done, the designer usually send a PDF, which is for the proof reading by the Author.

The inside pages can have various elements like the border on the boundary and also spot illustrations can be used for making the pages look more beautiful. It is up to the illustrator/designer because if he is creative, it can bring a lot of beauty to the design of the book. Once the design is approved, the book is ready for printing given that the ISBN has been placed barcode has been put. It can be printed and the marketing can be started or else it can also be self published on websites like the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Choosing a good designer / illustrator who can do the book designing is very essential for the book because a well designed book is really liked by the readers. The inside of the book can be fully colored or black and white, usually the inside of children book is fully colored. One must also keep in mind that keeping the inside of illustration as fully colored will also increase the print price. The designing elements must be selected keeping in mind the printing part also.

One more important thing is deciding between the paperback and hard cover, the determining factor here is also the print price. The Print pricing for hard cover is more than that of the paperback and if one is looking to keep the budget on the lower side, it is recommended to go for a paperback. The quality for paperback and hard cover is almost same except that one has a hard cover and the other one has a soft cover. It is entirely a personal decision of an Author to choose any of them.

It is important to carefully examine the final PDF before sending it for printing because if there is any mistake like the spelling mistake or any designing fault. Once the print order is sent, it is impossible to make any changes and it might cause some losses because you are not going to sell a book with some fault. It’s always better to spend time while examining the final PDF before sending for print.

Affordable Picture Book Illustrator

Picture books or the children’s books are a very well known category of books usually read by children of the age group 3-9 years. The message of such books is usually conveyed through the illustrations which are created to support the text. The theme may be on good habits, mannerisms, values, activities, educational, religious, cultural etc. Since the age group is 3-9 years, the text usually written is very simple and plain and the message is conveyed through illustrations.

It is important that you find a good affordable picture book illustrator who can give you beautiful artwork which the children would love to see. If the illustrations are able to connect with the children then there are high chances that it will be picked by their parents as the children will insist their parents to buy that particular book. Many times even parents want to buy books for their kids which are neatly made and the text and illustrations play a very important role in that.

Choosing a good book illustrator may be difficult but with some efforts you should be able to do that as there are many illustrators who are looking for projects. Some are new illustrators where as others are established illustrators. Getting an established illustrator may be a little costly but they have the kind of experience which is very relevant. If you are ready to spend that extra time, then you can even think of hiring a relatively inexperienced illustrator also.

There are many agencies which may be contacted to hire illustrators and they will also help you in making contracts etc and will also coordinate every activity between you and the illustrator. But while contacting agencies, an extra caution must be practiced to keep your budget fixed and you must convey it to the agency in the beginning itself as this may prove quite expensive.

There are agencies which can give you reasonably priced illustrators also and they have the experience also. You must explore the market thoroughly and negotiate well if you feel that the prices are on the higher side. If you feel that the prices are fine, then you can go ahead and ask for a paid sample and check if the illustrator being offered is really good or not. Getting the right illustrator is the key to a successful picture book.

What should be the right marketing strategy for children story books

If you have written a children story book and already self published or planning to self publish, then there are a few things which you must consider. One of the aspects is to have an online presence of the book. The more the online presence, the better for the book.

 

Having an E-book can be an answer to many questions, and if your E-book is present on Amazon and other online book selling websites , then you just increase your chances to be seen by a lot of audience.  As far as the promotion of printed books is concerned, you can definitely make use of your networking and promote it in schools,libraries and other places where it can sell.

 

Having a website where you write about your book, or put It for sale can be very beneficial, and also you can put the Amazon link where your audience can go and buy the book. You can optimize your website on keywords like Children book, or the topic which you are writing about. For example, if you are writing on child abuse, just optimize your website for the keyword like, latest  children book on child abuse. So, when there is a parent searching about child abuse on Google, your website will be shown on top. This way, you can be seen as a children book author as well as an author writing on a particular topic.

 

By promoting your book online, you actually become available to unlimited number of people who may be interested in what you are writing. As a children book writer, you must tell the world that you are there and writing on such and such topic.

 

You can hire a good website designer and also request the same agency to optimize your website for keywords which you think will help you reach your target audience.

How to choose an illustrator for children’s book

If you are an Author who has already finished writing a children book and now want to publish it and looking for an illustrator who can add beauty to your children book then you already know that its not easy to find an illustrator. The reason is simple, either you are not finding the right children book artist or you are too confused about who should be chosen. When you start searching online, you get links to hundreds of websites and blogs where you come across various pieces of information. At times such information helps and at times it also confuses you more of you don’t get what you are looking for.
You definitely want to contact an illustrator who can show some samples and help you build your confidence in him /her. For that you should be ready to pay for that sample because the illustrator will give his/her time to your work. In case you are not ready to pay for sample, then please be rest assured that you will only find new illustrators who would be willing to show you the work for free.
Before approaching the illustrator please make sure that you check his/her children book illustrations styles and also make your mind if he/she is going to be the right fit for your project or not. This way you will need to pay less for samples, because you will invest money where there are higher chances of success.
Once you choose an illustrator and finalize everything like the deadline, terms and conditions, price etc, its very important to establish a smooth communication process. It may be an email, or phone calls, or Skype etc because you can’t really expect the person to meet you daily so its better to make use of the technology. Make sure that there is a consistent communication and you never delay your feedback if the illustrator wants one. Also, if you feel that there is any communication gap, then you as an author must take the initiative and solve every issue.
You must give space to the illustrator for his/her creativity and then you can always suggest finer things and get it done. Too much interference may not be a good idea, so give your feedback after something has been shown to you. You should make your ideas clear to the illustrator and then give a freehand to the children book artist.
If you find a right illustrator then your project will get a big boost and you can be confident about the whole self publishing / Children book publishing / Kids book publishing / E-book publishing process which comes next.
You may try websites like the https://www.childbookillustrations.com/ where they have various illustrators and they charge very reasonable rates.

Children Book Publisher

There are two types of Children book publishers, one is the traditional children book publisher and second is the Self publisher who deal in children book designing and publishing. All of us are aware about how the traditional publishers work, if they select a story, then the Author is given some amount of Money upfront and rest of the money is paid as royalty, after the books starts to sell in the market.

Every publisher does not publish all kind of children story books, there are different genres which various publishers publish. It may be educational, middle grade, picture books, young adult, junior fiction, teen fiction etc. So, while sending your Manuscript to any children book publisher, you must do your research and only send your work to suitable publishers. It is also a universal fact that you don’t hear from the publishers immediately, although if your story is good and the publishers finds it interesting, then yes, you may hear from them.

One must also follow the rules and procedure laid down for submission of the manuscript by the publishers. Usually a query letter is sent and depending upon the publishers requirement, you may send a few chapters from the manuscript. It varies from publisher to publisher.

As far as self publishers are concerned, they will offer you the designing service and a few may also offer printing service. Most of them are offering the marketing service but none of them will guarantee you the physical distribution of the books in the market. While choosing the self publisher, you must work out on a budget plan for yourself, as everything here will cost you money, right from designing, editing, ISBN, cover pages, printing and marketing.

The self publishers usually offer various packages and depending upon the number of services included, the rates are fixed.

You can also make use of the services offered by Createspace, they offer you free publishing, given that you have some designing skills and if you don’t, then you can hire a designer who can help you with everything. The best option is to ask your illustrator do the designing for you as the illustrators are creative and also, they have already created the illustrations for your book.

Children Book Illustration Styles

Every children book illustrator has a different illustrations style and as an Author it is very important to know which style would suit his/her story in the best manner. You can see various styles on the internet or just go to a library and find out some children’s books and you will get a fair idea about many styles. There are many illustrators and each one of them have a different illustration style and before you finalize any illustrator, you must be aware about the style which you want for your book.

There are illustrators who can give you many styles or have a great degree of variations in their illustration styles, it’s a good thing to have because you can ask the same person to show you a few samples and also ask him/her to make suitable changes. Once you are able to finalize the suitable children book illustration style, you should feel that a major task has been accomplished. Next task is to find the right illustrator who can create the illustrations in that style or matching style. At times, it’s good to give the illustrator a free hand , he/she can come up with something very creative.

Once the artwork is submitted to your for review, you must share it with some other illustrators, Authors and other experts to get a feedback. Choosing a good illustrator is very important. The illustrator is like a partner in your project and the two of you must be on the same frequency throughout the book project.

One must understand that illustration style plays a major part in the success of the children book because the illustrations actually speak for the text and in many cases, the text in children book is very limited and the maximum talking is done through the pictures and the pictures must convey the idea of the text. Also, it’s better to remember that the readers are the kids who actually care about the pictures.

To see a suitable style, you may check out many websites like www.blueberryillustrations.com or www.rksillustrations.com, where you can really get some very good children book illustrations styles and you get a lot of choices to choose from.

Book Cover Designer

A book cover is supposed to be the most important thing of any book and while choosing any book cover designer, you must look at the number of books the person has designed. You must also look at various designs that the designer has produced. Once you are satisfied with the work of the designer, you must explain your idea about your book cover and in case you are not clear then ask for some help from the designer. You can explain to him/her the story theme and ask to make some samples. It may be a free sample or a paid sample depending upon the understanding of the twp of you.

Usually any designer will be willing to provide you with a sample at some cost, not the full cost for a design, but for some percentage of the full cost. You will be provided with a concept of the design and then you can share your ideas and reviews about the design and the right cover may be developed with some efforts. There are some very creative designers also who actually understand the theme so well that they can amaze you with the book cover design concept. If you get any such designer, consider yourself lucky.

Having the right book cover design for your book can prove extremely beneficial as everyone looks at the cover before making his/her mind to purchase it. A beautifully drawn cover which justifies the title of the book, can go a long way in selling your book. On the other hand, if a book cover is not consistent with the title of the book, and you feel that there is something lacking in the overall feel about the book cover, it can most certainly impact the sales of the book.

It is always advised to choose the right book cover designer who has the right kind of experience and many children book illustrators do this job very well as they know what is to be done with the text inn relation to the picture on the book cover. They have a good understanding of various colors as well and how to set a particular background color against the text. They have good know how in relation to designing good book covers.