How To Avoid Getting Scammed If You're Going To Self-Publish Your Children's Book

Besides getting a bad review on their book, nothing scares future authors more than this...

Getting scammed.😨

All you want to do is publish your book, but who should you go with? The publisher that won't charge you anything, but you have no creative control and they may have you change everything about your book...

Or the publisher that says your book is amazing just they way it is, but it will cost XYZ to get it published because it needs a few tweaks and they offer certain services to make your book better?

This is What You Know:

     It's gonna be an investment for edits and illustrations and things like that...

But...

      You don't know all the in's and out's of self-publishing so you don't really want to do it all  by yourself.

People say you shouldn't go with them because "you should never pay to get published".

"Go traditional," they say..."Get an agent and they will pitch your book for you," they say...

“Those vanity publishers just want your money,” they say…”

"What if they steal your work? It’s not worth the risk,” they say.

Well, here's where I stand with this...coming from someone who's self-published over 50 books in the past 5 years for myself and others and have sold over 1400 copies of my book and over 18,000 kindle page reads.

Yes, when you publish traditionally you don't have to pay anything. Your publisher will take care of all the editing costs, formatting, illustrations…all the things.

Also, your agent, the publisher, and you all get a cut of the book sales. It doesn't come out of your pocket directly.

When you get published traditionally you basically just sit back and watch them do what they do best…

I mean it’s a little more than that, you do have to talk about your book and be on social media promoting your book, but it’s definitely a lot “easier” than you doing it yourself.

But what about people who want to self-publish?

If you decide to self-publish your book then you do have to pay something…depending on how you do it though will depend on how much you have to pay.

As a self-published author you have 3 Options…

1.  Self-publishing through a vanity publisher

         This is where people hear horror stories of getting scammed and having to spend a ton of money on a book that may or may not have actually gotten published.

         The costs for going with a vanity publisher (someone who charges you to publish your book) can get quite pricey especially since a lot of times they require you to order a certain amount of book.

        I personally avoid them even if people have said they had success with a particular one because it’s not worth it to me to take the risk of it not working out…whether they try to steal my book or my money…not doing it.

2.  Traditional self-publishing:

          If you go the traditional route of self-publishing then you have to pay for edits, formatting, illustrations, and marketing all by yourself.

         You find the illustrator…you find the person who can format your book, and you find the editor to get your book ready for readers.

         This is a lot more work and a lot more money…especially illustrations! I hired an illustrator for one of my books and it cost almost $3,000. Yup…it’s not cheap.

3.  DIY It

            This is where people get scared because they think it’s gonna be too complicated and confusing…especially ALL the tech stuff.

        I personally DIY all my books because I’d rather not have to pay thousands of dollars to get my book published when I could do it myself and spend less than $100.

        I don’t go the traditional route for several reasons which Ill talk about another time, but basically I avoid them because of how long it takes to actually get book in hand.

      Over the years I’ve been able to really hone in on the process of creating books without spending a ton of money or time.

For Illustrations:

      I don’t “hire” an illustrator, but I use premade illustrations (not ai though because I like to support real artists). I put different elements that look good together and design my book right in Canva.

For Edits:

      I do that myself because most of my books are simple…not complicated novels here and I teach writing so I don’t generally need someone to edit my book.

       Now, if I was writing a novel, I would hire an editor for sure, but for simple children’s book I don’t see the point…I will say this though…if you aren’t sure of your own editing skills then definitely go on Fiverr and get an editor for your book.

      If you edit the book yourself and you do notice a mistake after publishing, then you will be able to quickly make necessary changes if you go through Amazon and it won’t be a big deal.

For Publishing:

       I sell my books and actually publish them through Amazon KDP. There is no minimum order, you don’t even have to order your book if you don’t want to…although I do suggest to all my students to get a proof copy before you actually publish and make your book available to order.

       One of the best things about Amazon KDP is that you don’t have a large minimum print order. It is a print on demand style of printing so they only print your book when someone places an order….no upfront costs to publish…super cool!

When you’re ready to self-publish your book and want me to walk you click by click on how to do it, then you can snag my Ultimate Self-Publishing course here…

Remember:

You are uniquely qualified to tell the story that is within you and the world needs what YOU ALONE have to offer! 💪💗🏅

Until Next Time,

Keep Scribbling!

Dawn Bowers