The Hidden Costs of Publishing a Children's Book Alone
Plenty of first-time authors picture self-publishing a children's book as a tidy little project: write the story, find an illustrator, press upload. Then the invoices begin. Before you commit, it helps to see what going solo really costs, and how that stacks up against working with one of the reputable publishers for children's books in the UK . Illustration: the bill nobody mentions Children's books live or die by their pictures. A standard 32-page picture book needs somewhere between twelve and sixteen spreads, and professional illustrators price by the page or the project. Quotes commonly start around £1,500 and climb well past £5,000. That's before revisions, cover artwork, or permission to reuse the images on merchandise. Cheap illustration is tempting, but it tends to look cheap on a bookshop shelf, and parents notice. Editing and design you can't skip A rhyme that clunks, a plot that sags, a page turn that lands in the wrong place: an experienced editor...