Indie Publishers of Children's Books: Your Biggest Problem

You're a start-up company.

As I look around the landscape of children’s books published by independent publishers, the biggest problem is that you’re a start up company. And you don’t know what you don’t know. You make decisions without enough information and create unnecessary problems for yourself through lack of information, indecision, or just plain wrong decisions.

Questions About Your Children’s Story

It begins with the story. When we publish a book, it lands in the midst of a tsunami of children’s books and the question is always how will your book be discovered? In today’s crowded market, how does your book stand out.

Wrong audience. Often, I think the audience for a book is adults, the parents or teachers, not the kid. Children’s book walk that fine line of appealing to kids, while also acknowledging that parents/teachers/adults will choose to pay for the book. The kid-appeal issue is crucial for your story to land in a kid’s heart. If your audience truly is the adults, then don’t write and publish a children’s picture book. Instead, write a story about surviving diabetes, choosing to be kind in a multicultural world, or loving and caring for an aging dog. In other word, think about your story’s theme. Does it appeal to kids, as written? Or will it appeal only to adults? The cure: Write for kids!

Bad writing. Children’s literature, especially picture books are short, focused stories where the writing itself matters. Stories should trip off the tongue and be a joy to read aloud. I avoid stories with bad rhyme, inept metaphors, or poor rhythm/hard to read. This is a matter of over-confidence, little experience with children’s books, lack of respect for the audience, or a dead ear for the lyricism of language. The cure: Writing classes, critique groups, and good editors.

Mediocre illustrations. Children’s picture books need the best of the best illustrations. Today’s digital artmaking can be excellent; and yet, so often, I find portfolios to be mediocre. There’s nothing exactly wrong with the illustrations, but they are forgettable. The use of color, line, texture, design, and so on are bland. I comb through portfolios looking for flashes of excellence, something different, something that will, well, “stand out in today’s crowded market.” The cure: art appreciation classes, art classes even if you’ll never be professional level because making art helps you understand the artist’s job, and never settling for mediocre.

The task of an indie publisher is to cast a vision that a certain story will reach the hearts of a certain audience. Then everything must bend in service of that vision. You must study your audience and their needs and preferences. The story, writing, and art must serve the audience.

Yes, there are many other things that a startup business needs to know, from publishing method to where to find editors to formatting the story. And so on and so on. Here’s my guide to getting started with all of that.

Or, try the Write a Book for Kids Series, which helps you write and publish for kids.

In the end, your startup company must commit to a certain, well-defined audience, and then find ways to serve that audience. Sure, you’ll make mistakes and have to correct problems. But keep your eye on your audience, because they are your North Star.