Since self-publishing my debut book, The Magical Rainbow Bus of Fun in January 2018, I have been involved in a number of new and exciting experiences and gained many new skills!

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Self-publishing

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Self-publishing is amazing. It gives the everyday person the creative freedom and flexibility to create their own story or product and make it available to the world. Having been disheartened and deflated by the process of trying to get my book picked up through the 'traditional' route (i.e. send off a copy of the book to a literary agent in the hope that your book will spark something in them that the other 999 books they'd received that week just didn't manage to do, only to receive a copy and pasted email thanking you, but.....no thank you), I was then reinvigorated knowing that my dream of publishing my very own book could still become a reality through self-publishing. However, that was an extremely scary and daunting prospect, where do I even start? What do I need to do? Where can I find a printer? How much will it cost me? As well as a host of other questions filled my head. There is a lot of useful information online, although one of the most helpful sites I found was Karen Inglis' which has a raft of information on her website. 

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If you're self-publishing a novel, this can be as straightforward as uploading your finished novel onto amazon and creating a cover. They are able to assign an ISBN number and add a barcode etc. so that is all pretty straightforward and inexpensive. If, however, like me you are looking to self-publish a picture book, the expense will increase immediately as you will require illustrations to be created (unless you are in the fortunate position of both writing and illustrating - something that was definitely NOT an option for me!). If you also require physical printed copies, that too will increase the cost. In this instance, self-publishing can be more complicated.

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The route I followed (which is not necessarily the right one!)

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Many people have ventured into the world of self-publishing and I'm sure there is a 'best way' of doing this. I can only talk of my own experiences, so please use this as a guide and not a cast iron formula.

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Carry out research online for self-publishing advice and sites. Note that there are many companies that will create your book for you but be warned, these can be extremely expensive so make sure you do your research on the company before signing up to ensure you are going to get what you want from it and are happy with the cost.

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Look at other books to get an idea of layout and book sizes. Remember that larger books could lead to an increase in printing costs, so bear that in mind when considering the size. From my research, a standard children's picture book tends to be 32 pages. Whilst you can get books printed in differing formats, any deviation from the standard could lead to an increase in costs so, again, it is worth bearing that in mind. Also, please remember that 32 will be the total inner pages so will not include the front / back cover. Many book printers will have an estimating tool on their site which will enable you to enter the information for the book specifications and obtain a quote so that you can get an idea of costs.

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Illustration styles. When looking at other books, also try to get an idea of the types of illustrations you like so that when you come to discuss this with an illustrator, you can give them something to go by. However, you also want your book to be your own unique product, so don't just look to mimic others. 

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Find an illustrator. I was really determined to get my book made, but didn't know where to start in finding an illustrator. You can search for freelance illustrators, or children's picture book illustrators, however, please note I have not used either of these sites so cannot provide any further information or offer any recommendation for their use. In my case, I thought I would seek support from friends and contacts on Facebook. I put the text of my book on Facebook and let them know I was thinking about self-publishing. I asked them for comments / feedback (as firstly if people didn't like it, then I would listen to the feedback and not take it any further!) and whether anyone knew of any illustrators who would be interested in doing the illustrations for the book. I received some wonderful comments about the book, but I did appreciate that these were people I knew so there would be some bias. What was nice, were the comments from people I hadn't seen for years who had said how they had read it to their children and they had loved it. Even if I took it no further, it made me happy to know that it had given some entertainment and joy to someone. In terms of illustrators, I had some comments from people saying they knew someone and would ask them, but unfortunately nothing came of it. A little while after, my sister (who works at a college), advised me of some work she had seen by one of the students and thought that her style could work with my story. She showed me her work and put me in contact with her. That student was Gessami Dato and after discussing my idea over email, she confirmed that she was interested and we arranged to meet to discuss ideas further.

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Once I had Gessami on board, it was a case of her working on various sections and sending the sketches through for comments. In the main, I left it up to her to create the illustrations, but it was great to be able to have my say before the final versions were produced. I also thought it was amazing to see the book come to life!

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ISBN’s. Printed books need to have an ISBN code which is a unique code that identifies your book so it can be sold in shops and/or online. You can buy ISBN's online, either for one or in bulk (e.g. 10, 100, 1000 etc.). Alternatively, depending on where you get your books printed, the printers may be able to arrange this for you for an extra cost.

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Find a printer. There are numerous printers available online. A quick search for 'children's picture book printers uk' will return a host of companies. I used Biddles who I found to be very helpful, although if you wanted more detailed feedback, I would be happy to provide. All I would say is do your research before placing orders and ask for samples of their paper and binding methods, which they will often provide free of charge. For my upcoming book, Troll's Amazing Day, I am looking to use Ex Why Zed (https://exwhyzed.co.uk/). I have received a number of samples of their work which look great and also had correspondence with Mike who has been extremely helpful, so from my experiences with them so far, would heartily recommend them.

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Crowdfunding. Gessami had produced the final versions and layout of the book and I was preparing to get an initial run of 300 physical books printed, when a friend suggested going along the route of crowdfunding. I decided to look at Kickstarter and the process for creating a crowdfunding project. One of the main things with this is being able to provide some rewards for different amounts of pledges. I discussed an idea with Gessami around having the names of anyone that pledged over a certain amount to have their name included in the back of the book. This obviously meant the layout had to be changed slightly to accommodate that and also would mean that I would need to wait until the Kickstarter campaign ended before I had all the names of the pledgers. Be aware that it takes time to plan your project and ensure everything is ready to go before launching it, so make sure you build this into your overall project timescale. The campaign was really exciting, but also nerve racking at the same time! However, when the backing amount was successfully reached, it was a great feeling as I knew that I would be able to get more copies of the book printed (an initial run of 1000 books), and would already have a group of people who would be sent copies of the physical book as soon as they were ready from the printers!

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In preparation for the final books to be sent, I ordered envelopes, crayons and printed black and white copies of colouring pictures as an extra gift for the children.

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Things I wish I'd known before I started the self-publishing process

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First and foremost, self-publishing is hard and takes a tremendous amount of effort and dedication. It is particularly difficult to do it in conjunction with a full time job (not linked to books) and family life! However, it has been extremely rewarding (on a personal level, not financially!) and something that I will definitely continue to do. I will go into the highlights of my experiences in a bit, but before that, I thought I would outline some things that I wish I'd known before starting the process.

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​As per the information on the British Library’s website – “If you're a publisher, you need to give a copy of every UK publication you make to the British Library. Five other major UK libraries may also ask you to give them a copy. This system is called legal deposit and it's been a part of English law since 1662.” Therefore, you should bear this in mind as you may need to get some additional copies printed for this purpose.

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Registering as a publisher on Nielsen database. By registering with Nielsen, this enables your publisher details to be added to their database, along with your book record once you register the book data. Nielsen will send details out to their data customers such as booksellers and libraries. They advise that it is not available to the general public. This can enable orders and queries to be sent through, so it is well worth doing! When you do this, you should also be sent login details for the Nielsen Title Editor website.

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Nielsen Title Editor – Adding your book to this site makes it visible to your book buying customers such as booksellers and libraries, which could lead to potential sales. It is free to list your titles here and by adding as much information about your book as possible, will help those potential customers find out about it.

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If possible, obtain a digital copy of the book so that you can make it into a Powerpoint (or alternative) presentation and save it to a USB stick. If you intend to do book readings in libraries and schools, I would definitely recommend doing this. Part of the charm of a picture book is seeing the illustrations. If there is a large group of children sitting and listening to the story, but only the ones in the first couple of rows can see the illustrations, the others may get bored or frustrated. I have done a number of school visits where I have read to a whole year group and have been able to bring the book up on the projector screen so that everyone can see it. This has worked really well and gives me flexibility during my visits, so I would definitely recommend discussing this with your illustrator to see if they can provide this.

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Get black and white copies for printing and colouring – This obviously creates more fun activities for children to do all based around your book, but also provides a marketing opportunity for you and  your book(s). You can add links to your website and any social media links for people to check out. Ensure you consider this when liaising with an illustrator so that they can provide some black and white images of your characters or key points in your book.

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Ensure you get the master copies so that the format of the book can be changed down the line. You may want to create a different version of the book at a later date or change the format such as size or layout. In order to do that, you will need to ensure you have the master copy of the file. Speak to your illustrator about this to ensure that they are able to provide this in a format that you will be able to go back to at a later date.

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Ensure that you consider how you will be storing copies of your books. If you intend to get physical copies printed, be warned that they will take up a lot of space! I ordered 1000 copies in my initial run which turned up in boxes of 40 (so a total of 25 arrived!). I will be definitely be exploring print on demand services next time round, but will still want to get physical copies as my main sales have come from school visits.

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Formatting the book so it can be set up for print on demand. Make sure you look at the formatting requirements for your chosen print on demand service and discuss this with your illustrator so they can format it to the required specifications. This also links back to my earlier point about obtaining the master copy as that will ensure that the original files are available in the event that you use a different service provider who may have different requirements.

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Consider whether you will be making an e-book version. If so, check the site that you will be setting up an e-book version for and ensure you discuss this with your illustrator so that they can provide an additional version to the correct specifications.

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Selling copies in bookshops. If you intend to sell your book(s) through physical bookshops (directly or via wholesalers), be aware that you will need to offer a significant discount per book. I was able to get a local bookshop to take 10 copies of my book on a sale or return basis and agreed a 30% discount with them. I was also lucky enough to be involved in my local area’s first literary festival held within their libraries. As a result, they ordered a copy through a wholesaler, however in order to be considered for future purchases, you need to apply a bigger discount so I decided on 45% per book. Therefore, just ensure that you work out your costs so that you know how much discount you can apply without selling at a loss.

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Highlights of my journey (so far)

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​I launched my debut book in January 2018, before releasing my Christmas book in the October. Seeing both the books come to life and be published were huge highlights alone, but I’m pleased to say that there have been further highlights along the way.

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Havering's first literary festival – I live in Havering, a London Borough in the South East of England. When I was running my Kickstarter campaign, I contacted Havering Libraries via Facebook to see if they would help promote the campaign. I received a response advising that they were unable to help with the campaign, but if successful, to advise and they would help publicise the book. I kept in contact and they advised me that they were looking to run their first literary festival in November and asked if I would be interested in doing readings of the book. I said that I definitely would be and ended up doing readings at 6 of the 10 libraries over 2 days. At one of the libraries, a local school had arranged to come along for the reading session so there were around 40 people present – I was amazed! It felt great to be reading my book to them and receiving positive feedback from the children and staff was incredible. Prior to getting the book done, I had felt a bit embarrassed and silly for doing it, but that instantly reassured me that even if nothing else came of it, that experience made it worth it. In addition, there were other authors and individuals involved in the festival. During a publicity event, I got to meet one of my childhood heroes - West Ham legend, Tony Cottee! That was definitely an unexpected highlight!

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Nursery Visits – I have undertaken several visits to local nurseries, including my youngest daughter's, where I have read and explored my books with the children.

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School readings – I have been to a number of schools where I have read both books to the children. These have always been brilliant as the children tend to be really excited about an author coming to visit and due to the rhyme in the book that is repeated each time you go up to the next floor of the bus, they get involved and recite it with me. Another thing that I have done in conjunction with the schools is to create activities based around the book. For younger children in reception years, I take copies of the colouring pictures for them to colour, whilst for older children I ask them to draw, design or make their own floor for the bus. It is so good to see the children’s creations and ideas and at one school, they collated their designs to make their own Magical Rainbow Bus. It was an amazing experience and to know that my book had inspired the children to use their imagination and spark such excitement was a feeling like no other!  

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World Book Day - I was contacted by a local school who were interested in having me come in to read to the children for World Book Day. I passed on a copy of the book to them in advance so that they could take a look and they advised that they would be using it to base activities on for the whole week!

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Christmas Fairs and Bazaars – Having the Christmas book has enabled me to go along to schools, do some readings and have a stall at their Christmas Fair / Bazaars. Whenever I visit a school, I send them a copy of my preorder form to send out to parents, but also having a stall set up at events gives me the opportunity to sell further copies, of both books. These events have been great to be part of because everyone is happy and excited and is great when the children come in and tell their parents all about my book that I read with them earlier that day. It’s led to some amazing conversations with parents as well, both those who have been complimentary about the book, as well as those who are looking to write their own books.

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I think one of the best highlights was when I visited a school and read my book to a class. As I was saying goodbye to the class and gathering my belongings, one of the school staff called me. She was standing with one of the pupils and she said that the pupil had just told her that when he grows up, he wants to be an author like me. I couldn’t believe it and was so taken aback.

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I’m hoping to continue in my venture of self-publishing more children’s picture books and just hope that I can continue to entertain and inspire our future generations for years to come.