Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts

Wednesday 18 April 2018

5 tips to writing books for children (With words by published children's author, Carol Baker!)



It isn't as easy as A B C. Writing for children is a lot more challenging then a lot of people would expect.

Children demand engaging, thought provoking and linguistically interesting books that capture their hearts and light up their imagination. As a writer is it difficult to know when your story is too simple or too complicated for your chosen age range, or even if your writing will appeal to your target age range.

I spoke to Carol Baker, a teacher with a passion for English Grammar who recently commissioned me to illustrate her own children's book; Armored Armadillo to Zippy Zebra – An alliterative anthology of animals

With Carol’s professional advice, I have compiled these 5 most important tips to writing for children.



Don’t preach or lecture

It’s tempting to put wholesome, life lessons into your book, especially if your story has a moral that is revealed at the end. But children know when they are being taught a lesson; and it’s too much like school. They spend much of their day being told what to do and taught how to behave, so young readers will shy away from books like this.

Try and avoid writing your ‘moral’ at the end of the story in an obvious way, and instead use the character and the story to show how the person has learned and changed. For example a book about a boy who never shares his toys may end with the boy learning to share, but instead of writing this as the boy’s Mum telling him, ‘Sharing is kind and the right thing to do, so you should always share,’ how about the boy finds out for himself that sharing makes him more popular and he prefers the friendships he makes more than his toys, leaving them discarded at the end of the book as he runs off to play with his friends?

Books that have good lessons hidden below the surface are much more likely to be fun to read, and children are smart enough to learn that this behaviour can benefit them too. When you find yourself preaching, ask yourself; how can I imply this without saying it outright?

Carol’s career as a teacher prepared her for this.

My passion has always been English grammar, and I particularly enjoyed teaching fairy tales and folk tales to children.  Valuable life lessons and English grammar structures can be learned from these simple stories which many of my ESL (English as a Second Language) students grasped unknowingly as they began reading.  A good teacher can make learning enjoyable.

Although “Armored Armadillo to Zippy Zebra, An Alliterative Anthology of Animals” can be read for pure enjoyment, many parents and teachers will appreciate the ways they can apply the book as a teaching tool. 








Write from a child’s point of view

A great practice session for this is to listen in on children having a conversation without adults. How do they ask questions? How do they put their sentences together? Children have a unique way of interacting with the world around them, and they will find it difficult to read a book that is written in an adult environment. 

A child will not only understand your story better, but they will also relate to your characters much more if they talk like them and think like them. Here’s a great example.

An adult might say; ‘Where does the sun go after sunset?’
A child might say; ‘Where does the sun sleep at night?’

If you are writing what you think a child should hear – stop right there. Go back and write as if you are immersed in the world of that child. Tables and chairs tower over your head, adults eat strange things and you can’t understand why pouring mud onto the living room carpet is so bad.



Don’t treat your readers like little kids

'But they ARE little kids!' I hear you exclaim.

Think about it. What child likes being told they’re too little and inexperienced? Young children love to think they’re all grown up. When they are reading (or being read to) they want to feel like they are powerful, respected and that the person telling the story understands them.

Children are a lot more intelligent and perceptive then most adults give them credit for. It’s a fine balance between giving them the opportunity to piece a story together themselves, working out something that they might not understand at first, and still keeping it simple enough that they can still follow the plot without getting frustrated and abandoning it. Carol Baker does this by providing some easy to pronounce, well-known words with new, more difficult ones that children can learn.

I knew I was going to choose an animal for each letter of the alphabet as the basis of my book, but it took me two years to decide what vehicle to use for showcasing these animals.  Should I make it funny or factual?  Should I make it rhyming?  What age readers should I target?  When I decided to give each animal an alliterative adjective, I saw alliteration as my vehicle.



Kid’s LOVE silly humour

While illustrating for Carol Baker, I slipped a pair of underpants into an illustration. Carol wasn’t keen on the idea and removed them to the dismay of her Granddaughter. After seeing her young test audience giggle so much when they saw the clothing, Carol decided to put the underpants back in.



It’s not just underpants. Snot, poop, bogies – if it’s gross and inappropriate, young kids will love it! Adults on the other hand, will have no idea what is so funny about it.

Don’t be scared to throw in a few rude situations in both your writing and the accompanying illustrations. If you’re unsure, test them out on a willing young subject and see if they laugh. You’ll be surprised!


Say more with fewer words

Children’s books typically have fewer words to play with; so don’t waste them. Make every word count by eliminating any words that aren’t essential to the story and use outstanding, interesting words that add to the atmosphere you are trying to create.

Carol Baker does this perfectly in her book. Without going over ten words per page, every single word she uses gives something to the reader so that the sound they make when spoken are pleasant to hear and conjure up the exact image that is needed to understand the meaning.

Tell the reader the important bits, and use the illustrations to show them the rest.


 Carol's inspiration for her book came in a dream one night and a few years later she's selling copies of her book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well as at local bookstores and events. 

My book showcases entertaining and educational alliterative descriptions of real animals with beautifully detailed and colorful illustrations which include an “I Spy” feature that can be enjoyed by both children and adults.
I’m very pleased with this project!  I have a brilliant illustrator, and I am proud of my alliterative descriptions.



You can your copy of Armored Armadillo to Zippy Zebra – An alliterative anthology of animals here; www.amazon.com


If you’re interested in getting a quote for illustrations for your book, you can email me to find out more! izzybean@izzybean.co.uk

Sunday 1 April 2018

Step by step guide to self publishing with Ingram Spark - Preparing your account

*Please note, this guide was written in April of 2018. Ingram Spark constantly update their interface so your experience may vary*

New authors might notice there is very little free help when it comes to self publishing with Ingram Spark. The popular print-on-demand publisher is an excellent choice when it comes to ordering high quality print-on-demand books that can be distributed to over 39,000 vendors worldwide, but navigating the strict requests set out by the Amazon owned company leave many hiring a third party to deal with the company on their behalf which can be costly.

In this free guide, I'm going to share with you the steps I've learnt during my ten years of working with clients who choose to publish with Ingram Spark in the hopes that I might be able to make your journey to becoming a best selling author that little bit easier!

As an illustrator who offers this service, I work exclusively with children's books so this guide will involve publishing a children's picture book, but you can apply these steps to almost any kind of literature you would like to publish.

We will go through two main elements; 

preparing your account and uploading your files 

Because I'm going to discuss every step of the way in great detail, I have separated these elements into two sequential blogs for easy reading. This is the first blog.

Before you begin, there are a few things you should have ready.

ISBN numbers

You should have different ISBN numbers for each format of your book. 

For example, the book I am uploading in this guide is Carol Baker's 'A to Z, an Aliterative Anothology of Animals' and we will publish this as a hardback, a paperback and an ebook. Therefore we will need 3 separate ISBN numbers for each version. If you're unsure how to get an ISBN number you can check out our handy little guide here; All you need to know about ISBN numbers. 

Tax information

Depending on what country you live and work in, your tax laws will vary so it's a good idea to read up about what you need to be legal. Regardless of whether your book project is your main source of income or not, you should always be prepared to submit your tax information to avoid breaking the law.

Bank details

This is so Ingram Spark can pay you the royalties earned from your book. If you're trying to sell your book as a main job, you might want to setup a business bank account for these payments.

Now you are ready to start, so let's begin with...




CREATING AN INGRAM SPARK ACCOUNT

Initially, it can be daunting to fill in the information Ingram Spark asks for if you are unfamiliar with the terms they use, but it is relatively straight forward if you take your time.

- Visit www.ingramspark.com 
- Click on 'Create an account' in the top right hand corner
- Fill in your details
- At this point, Ingram Spark will send you an email to verify your email address. Login to your email and click on the link to verify, then visit the Ingram Spark website again to login with your newly verified email and password.
- Accept Ingram Spark's terms of use by clicking on 'I agree'
- Fill in the required information on the next screen.
- Setup a security question
- Read and sign the agreements (note, only two of these are actually required to continue)
- Click on 'finish setting up my account'
- Select a currency and add your bank details (if you wish to get paid through Paypal, you must select US DOLLARS at this screen and Paypal will convert any payments into your local currency)
- Add a bank card

Once you've finished setting up your financial information, you can move onto adding your book. Click on the tab which says; 'Dashboard' and from here, there is a button which says; 'Add a new title', click on this to open up this page.



Now you need to fill in the information about your book. I recommend taking your time to do this properly because once you have filled everything in, it is more confusing to go back and make changes.

You now need to select the format of your book to work on. Is it a physical print or ebook? If you offer both and you will distribute them at the same time, you can choose the combined option.



Then, you can fill in the main information about your book.

Title - The title of your book
Subtitle - The subtitle of your book, leave this blank if you don't have one
Language - The main language your book is written in
Short description - You can use the blurb from the back of your book
Keywords - Research some popular and relevant keywords relating to your book's subject
Series name and number - If your book is not part of a series, you can leave this blank
Edition description - Only fill this in if your book has different editions, different formats (such as paperback or hardback) are not included. Otherwise leave this blank
Full description - This would be an extension of the short description above. You can use a more in-depth discussion of what your book is about, similar to what you might send to a potential agent or publicist. 

Continue to the next step, where you see this screen;



Add any contributors you would like associated with your book, such as illustrators and co-authors then click on continue. Now you will see more boxes to fill in. It is important to fill these in honestly and accurately, because they will form the 'metadata' that is attached to your book. If your metadata is inaccurate it may mean that your target audience cannot find your book.

Imprint - This is defaulted to your business name, which is listed as the publisher data instead of 'Ingram Spark'. At first, your name might not appear because you are a new account, but you can continue as normal and come back to this in a couple of days to select your name.
Subject - Choose the main subject that your book is about, you can select more than one if you need to
Region - If your book includes a real place or country in the world, you can select it here
Thema - This is a global subject that is featured in your book
Audience - Choose the audience your book is targeted towards
Table of contents - If your book has a table of contents, you can write it here
Review Quotes - If your book has been reviewed positively before, you can write quotes from the reviews here


In the options at the bottom, tick yes if your book has illustrations or photographs included, and in the first box fill in either 'b&w' or 'colour' depending on what your illustrations or photos are. If you have a mix of both, write 'colour'. In the smaller box next to it, enter the number of illustrations or photos that are included.


Now we move onto adding more technical details about the format of the book itself. It is very important to know the exact details here, if you have an illustrator or designer handling your book, make sure what you enter here is what they have been using to prepare your files.



Trim size - This is what size your book will be AFTER printing
Interior colour and paper - This is the paper quality that the INSIDE of your book is printed on. Your preferences and budget will determine which one you choose. If you are unsure what the difference is, check out this great post about the options. 
Binding type - This is what the OUTSIDE of your book will look like. If you are unsure what the difference is, check out this great post about the options. 
Trim size - This is what size your book will be AFTER printing
Laminate type - This is what finish the cover of your book will have. If you are unsure what the difference is, check out this great post about the options. 
Page count - This is the number of actual pages (not sides of a page) your book has. All pages are counted so include any blank pages. Since one page has two sides, it should be an even number. 

The next page will include details about the pricing of your book. In the top box, you can enter the ISBN that is associated with this version of your book. There is an option to assign a non-distributable ISBN, but I would not recommend this unless you are making a book that you don't intend to sell or distribute.

In the following boxes, you can enter the retail price of your book for each country. You should have already thought carefully about how much you want your book to be, paying special attention to how much each print will cost and how much you need your profits to be. You'll notice a box called 'Global connect program.' This is Ingram Spark's program that allows publishers anywhere in the world to print and distribute your book. As long as you are happy to sell worldwide, you can tick this box and enter the price.

On this page you can also set rules about returns and wholesale discounts. Take note of the number that appears at the end of each column - this will be your earnings for each sale. If it is red, it is a negative balance and you won't be able to continue.

Publication date - This is the date your book will be published
On sale date - This date is the first date your book can be sold. You can leave this blank and it will automatically be the same as your publication date

At this point, you should see a prompt to start uploading your files, well done! Visit my next blog post to follow the steps to upload your files and continue using Ingram Spark to publish your book.

Next: Preparing and uploading your files


Tuesday 6 October 2015

Izzy Bean's Top Ten Tips for Self Publishing Your Children's Book!

Self-publishing a children’s book is easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Almost anyone with a computer and some free time can do it. What is not easy, however, is self-publishing a children’s book that is actually good, and that sells well. 

I’ve been illustrating children’s books professionally for almost nine years, and along the way I’ve dealt with my fair share of first time self publishers. I’ve enjoyed every single one of them, but I have also realised that while most self published newbie authors never make their dream of being the next Roald Dahl, there are some essential tips that increase their chances of being read, reviewed and possibly even picked up by a big name publishing house. So before you reach for the pen or your laptop, here are my top ten tips to bear in mind when self publishing your first children’s book.




1. Read, Read and Read Some More

Chances are, if you’re passionate about writing, you’re passionate about reading. So you’ve probably already got this one covered. Just in case, read some more anyway! Reading any genre for any audience will help your writing skills regardless, but focusing on books that are written for your intended target audience is a must. Don’t just read them though, analyse them too. How many words are on each page? How many words in total? Are they complicated words? Do they have illustrations?

2. The PPP system, or POINT PER PAGE

I invented the PPP system to help authors focus on quality, not quantity. Each page of your book should have one major point that is essential to your story. It could be introducing a major character, an action that moves the story forward, or another event that is an important part of your story. If you have a page which you could take out without affecting the storyline, then leave it out. Tackle each page individually and ask; What is the point to this page? A 14 page book should have 14 points to the story. If one page has two points, consider separating it into two pages. (Without going into too much detail in this blog post, you can have secondry points that accompany your main point on each page, but more about that another day…)

3. Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead

You’ve spent countless hours writing your first story and you’ve finally finished! Right? Wrong! This is only the beginning, what you have just finished, is the first of many drafts. It may seem daunting, but you’re going to be re-writing this draft over and over, and only after you’ve re-written it enough to know it off by heart, and are possible even sick of the sight of it, then you’ll finally be ready to let people see it. Which leads us nicely onto the next tip…

4. Rely on Feedback from more than your friends and family

Your nearest and dearest love you to bits and everything you do in their eyes will always be great! While having them read your story and give you their opinion is not a bad thing, don’t rely on their feedback alone. Reach out to people who may be a little more honest and critical, maybe even find someone who you know will pick faults with your work. Why? Because you will get readers who will do just that, and you’re looking for honest feedback so you can test your story on a real person and use their feedback to improve your writing. As an additional tip, it’s worth noting that not all critiques could actually lead you to improve your story. There will always be someone who will find errors or have something negative to say about your work, even Harry Potter was turned down for being ’too complicated for children to follow’ by many publishers before being picked up by Bloomsbury. Your job is to listen to that feedback without feeling too offended, and also be the judge of whether it is useful or not.

5. Think Ahead / Do your Research

At least half of the first time authors I work for don’t think about who they are going to publish their book with until after it’s finished. There are many benefits to planning ahead, such as being able to save enough money, setting your launch around popular holidays or spreading some of the work to make it less stressful, but sometimes it will also cost you more money and effort if you don’t plan ahead. There are publishers who will only accept certain book sizes, and page numbers, which would mean a lot of wasted time if you create a beautiful book only to find you have to re-draw all the illustrations to fit a different ratio or cut out some of your pages.

Things to consider;
Hardback, paperback or Ebook?
Is the company charging you per book, or taking a percentage of sales?
Will the company let you distribute with other companies or are you limited to their customers only?
Do you need an ISBN number?

If you’re unsure who to self publish with, you can read my previous blog about Self Publishing here.

6. Make your characters relatable




Children come in all shapes and sizes, and no two children are the same. As an illustrator I’m very aware of making the characters appealing to real children.
Children have a strange sense of fashion – think trainers with fairy dresses, bright stripy socks with polka dot jumpers. Children wear glasses, have plasters on their knees, their noses are always running, they have paint on their hands. Some children have afros, some children have an abundance of bright red hair, others have ponytails. All of these details make your characters not only more believable, but a child will subconsciously be hunting for someone in the book who looks like them, and if they can’t find anyone to relate to, they might not be interested. So don’t limit yourself – let your imagination run wild!

It’s worth noting that in order to be realistic and relatable, you shouldn’t focus too much on gender specifics. While a lot of little girls love pink, there are plenty who are also obsessed with dinosaurs and play football. Children are more complex then gender stereotypes.

7. Make your title stand out

Aside from your cover, it’s the one thing that people will judge your book on. It’s the first thing they read, and your first chance to grab their attention among all the other titles. Make it fresh, catchy and different! There are a lot of books along the lines of ‘Simon Goes to the Park,’ but not so many named ‘Kit Kitten and the Topsy, Turvy feelings.’ If your title has three words, one of those should be your main theme, and one of them should be your character’s name. Ideally, we should get the general idea of what your story is about, just by your title alone. Here are three titles I recently illustrated, can you guess what the stories might be about?

1.    I Have Asthma, What Does That mean?
2.    Little Meerkat’s Big Panic
3.    The Lion Who Could Swim



8. Promote Your book… without paying a penny

You may dislike Facebook and all it stands for, but if you’re not utilizing it to promote your book, you’re missing out on one of the biggest advertising outlets available to you, which also just happens to be completely free. Sign up, create a pgae for your book, and start sharing! The same goes for Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Google Pages and more. While it may seem pointless at first, the trick is to interact with other authors and those who share similar interests, and post regularly. Try not to make everything you share about your book, alternate it with relevant articles and share other author’s books to gain interest within the community.

Aside from social media, there are plenty of other ways to promote your book on a budget, a lot of them far more effective than paid advertising. Such as arranging book signings or visiting local children. Teachers and Carers are always looking for guests to read to children in a safe environment. Get your illustrator to create some colouring and activity sheets and visit a local school, nursery, club or church to spread the word about your book whilst also helping your local community.

9. Join the Club

There are some great societies, clubs and groups for authors that are both free and paid for. The benefits of joining these groups is that you can learn a lot of tips and tricks direct from those who have been there and done that, and share your own experiences too. Make friends, chat and listen to others without trying to sell your book to learn invaluable advice and have real-life support. Check out the links below to find what groups I, and some of my clients regularly contribute to.

10. Get a great illustrator

If you’ve written a brilliant story, you need brilliant illustrations to go with it. Don’t undo all your hard work by settling for less than average illustrations because you know someone who will do it for free. It’s a common phrase, but you really do get what you pay for. Luckily, if you’re on a budget, there are ways to cut costs and still end up with a great illustrator!

Negotiate on price – an illustrator who really likes your script may be willing to drop their price to suit your budget.

Use one of your internal illustrations as the front cover

Use ‘spot’ illustrations instead of full page illustrations

Have less illustrations in your book and use illustrated borders around the text only pages

Find an illustrator that will allow you to pay in installments rather than all up front


Most importantly, your cover should really, really stand out. It is the first thing your customers will see, and yes, they will be judging your book by it! Take a look at some of these covers I illustrated, and if you like, you can contact me for a quote by emailing me at izzybean@izzybean.co.uk or see more of my work on my website at www.izzybean.co.uk