The Process
The Basics
Ive been surrounded by children's books for much of my life. I take pleasure in the illustrations and the rhyming stories fill me with joy.
For many many years (20+) I've been saying to myself I will write that children's book.
Finally I took that step into the unknown during my 2 weeks annual leave, Christmas 2021!
Original Thought
The story about a cow called 'Boo' has been in my head since I was 13. It was several years later, in my 20's, that the concept of 'Little Farm Yard' and 'Little Cow Moo' was born.
I finally wrote 'Little Cow Moo' in the week leading up to Christmas 2021 at 42 years old.
Then it was time to find an illustrator and work out how to self publish.
Fiverr.com
I stumbled across Fiverr.com
Fiverr is an Israeli online marketplace for freelance services. Fiverr serves to allow listing and applying for small one-off jobs, or gigs, online. Jobs listed on the platform are diverse and range from "get a well-designed business card" to "help with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and jQuery".
Click the pic it will take you fiverr.com, illustrator section.
I Found an Illustrator
After several hours over a few days of reviewing the site, the gigs within it, and trying to get a sense of the person behind the illustrations, I reached out to Ros!
Ros was warm, welcoming and really understood my needs. Ros was quick to respond and within 24 hours of messaging, sharing documents to settle on the requirements, we contracted to work together through fiverr.com.
Not only has Ros illustrated the book she has also organised the formating of the book. This part of the process ensures the right font and positioning of my words into the illustrations, in a ready to print format, through a professional graphic designer.
Click the pic it will take you fiverr.com, Ros' gig.
Self Publishing
So this was a scary step simplified by Amazon. There are other self publishing tools out there but I've not investigatd them yet.
I have opted to create two versions through Amazon for now:
1. Softcover print on demand,
2. Kindle e-book version.
Its going to take more time, money and confidence to move to pre-printing a batch!?!
Click the pic it will take you to Amazon KDP.
International Standard Book Number
An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number consisting of 13 digits.
The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition.
This allows for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.
I needed 2 ISBN's, one for each version of the book (softcover & ebook).
I once again used the services from Fiverr.com
Click the pic it will take you to fiverr.com, selfpublishpro's gig.
Building the Brand
From this website to facebook, instagram & Tiktok to business cards and NEEDLE FELTING.
There is lots to do and think about to build around the actual product. Its fun and I'm really enjoying this creative part too.
I'm really looking forward to recording a friend of mine reading 'Little Cow Moo' in a 'bedtime hour' type format.
He doesn't know it yet but watch this space!
Click the pic it will take you to Little Farm Yard's Facebook Page.
A Helping Hand
Its a daunting task so if you have the desire to self publish a children's book and want to know more detail around the simple steps mentioned on this page, please do make contact.
I'm not a professional by any stretch and new to this myself but:
Sharing is caring!
Click the pic it will take you to the contact page within this site.