Phrasly

There is something about writing and illustrating your own picture book that I find magical. You get to create a story that is all your's. Below is my process for publishing your self illustrated picture book. ### 1. Learn how Picture Books are made Most picture books are 32 pages long. Take your story and fit it into a 32 page dummy book. Illustrate on a mini scale what your story would look like. Keep in mind that the pictures should tell more of the story than just what's written on the page. You can be playful with this by doing hidden gags. A typical picture book will be less than 500 words for younger children. ### 2. Illustrate your picture book Now it's time to create your final art. Try to keep your character consistent throughout each page. They should all look alike no matter what they are doing. If you are hand painting with watercolors or acrylics you will want to make sure your images are scanned at a high res. At least 300 dpi but preferably 600. If you illustrate digitally with a program such as procreate or Photoshop. Make sure your image is created in CMYK. This will allow the colors to translate properly when they are printed. Don't forget to leave bleed room. .125 inch will do the trick so none of your art gets cut off on the final product. ### 3. Traditional vs Self Publishing There are a couple ways to publish your book. One being finding an agent that specializes in author-illustrator's or an art director that works with author-illustrators. You will want to build an online portfolio, dummy book(pdf) and write a query letter. Once signed with a traditional publisher they will take care of printing your book, send it to bookstores and help promote your book. They will also pay you and advanced and give you royalties. The second option is to self-publish your book. Which will allow you to publish your book quicker and you will have all the profits. You can self-publish your book through Print On Demand companies like Amazon and Ingram Spark. If you would like to sell your book on all platforms besides amazon you will need to buy an isbn number(s). Which you can buy from Bowker. Ingram Spark allows you to sell your book as a hardcover. ### 4. Put it all together. Pair your words and images. Use programs like Adobe In Design. Or Canva. Pick good readable fonts that will go with your picture book. Save your pdf with a high quality image size. Also you will need to export a cover spread. Back cover, spine and front cover together. ### 5. Get your book out into the world Order a proof copy of your book and check your work. If everything looks good start promoting your book! Reach out to bookstores and ask them to host you and read your book. Get active on social media and talk to other parents and teachers about your book.