I commend you! You are a creator and not just a consumer of media. You are willing to
\nimpact someone through a story, and I bet it\u2019s because a story impacted you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You are eager, and you want to learn all there is to book production. Here is my advice to you\u2026<\/p>\n
1. Read a lot. See what is out there. Compare. Look at how you can improve what you want
\nto make to what already exists. This is going to help you more than you know. You will see
\na vast range of styles as well as vocabulary being used, and it will help you find your style.
\nI read about 380-450 children\u2019s books a year. Not only is it fun, but it has helped me more
\nthan I thought it ever would!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2. Give yourself plenty of time. Writing the book is the easy part. It\u2019s where you have all the
\ncreative fun. It\u2019s the other stuff that takes determination to get through. You can see next
\nmonth\u2019s post on some helpful hints on the steps to publishing. Nevertheless, you want to
\nhave ample time to read, reread, and reread. Even with a children\u2019s book, you will be amazed
\nat how many word tweaks you do!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
3. Put funds away. It\u2019s expensive making a book. You have to pay for ISBN numbers, and you
\nhave to pay for at least one proof (I\u2019ve done several already) of your book to see how it looks
\nin production. You have to pay for copyrighting your book. You need a basic website, and if
\nyou are not able to do a lot of the marketing, or illustration of your book, you will need to pay
\nfor this too. It all takes money. Make a budget sheet before you start. This budget she is
\ngoing to prepare you for publishing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
4. It\u2019s time-consuming. Be prepared to work hard. No one is going to make you work on it,
\nand you will have to say no to things you might want to do. You will spend a lot of time
\nthinking, planning, and working by yourself. You must be disciplined.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
5. Here is the biggest one. You have to realize you are not going to make a fortune. Yes, I know
\nsome authors do, but those are few and far between. The lesson I learned from other authors
\nas I started my journey were some books might take years to break even from the cost of
\nproduction, and you gotta play \u201cthe long game.\u201d Phew! That\u2019s a hard one, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you go into the children\u2019s book realm having the wrong expectations, you are going to be utterly
\ndisappointed, but if you do it because you love it, you are going to find fulfillment in other areas like these\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally, let me finish with this thought. You can get stuck and not progress forward when working on a book.
\nI\u2019ve been there. I have a problem with wanting perfection, and I can\u2019t always get perfection on somethings
\nbecause it might require an outside source (like the printing press), which can cause me to want to quit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sometimes done is better than perfect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you want to follow my posts on how to publish a children’s book, PT. 1 starts here:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/wordpress\/book-publishing-101-pt-1\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"