How to Self-publish and Market a Children's Book: The key steps to self-publishing in print and as an eBook and how to get your story into young readers' hands

This book is split into two sections: Publishing and Marketing.Here are Pros about the Publishing section:Provides good guidance on the steps to take to ensure your story is saleable and competitive with traditionally-published books--even before you go about securing illustrations and laying out your book.Provides links to many resources which are helpful in your publishing journey.Has a very useful discussion of the pros and cons of using the two major Print-on-Demand companies, CreateSpace/KDP Print and IngramSpark. Also provides links to recommended companies for short-run printing (as opposed to POD), should you choose to go this route.The author takes pains to provide content relevant to readers not only in the USA, but in the UK, Australia and Canada, as well.One “con” about the Publishing section of this book relates to fixed-layout ebooks. Karen had difficulties producing these because she did not know the easy way to create them, which is to start with a PDF of your book and open it in Kindle Kids’ Book Creator or Kindle Textbook Creator. It’s a snap!The Marketing section of this book provides good guidance on the key elements of a marketing plan; how to use your book’s back matter for marketing; setting up an author Website and the two types of WordPress sites you can use to create your author Website.Provides extensive ideas for marketing your book and practical advice for implementing them. The Marketing section is fully half the length of Karen’s book, and is well worth reading. It covers schools, libraries, bookstores, play groups, parents’ groups, fairs; mailing lists; free tools for creating flyers for your marketing efforts; and free video editing services. Karen also provides links to resources that offer networking and support to self-publishers.If you are going to self-publish a children’s PICTURE book, then I recommend using Karen Inglis’ book together with Eve Heidi Bine-Stock’s book, “ How to Self-Publish a Children's Picture Book: The Easy and Inexpensive Way to Create a Book and eBook: For Non-Designers .” The two books complement each other well and do not really overlap in content.

This book has some good details, especially if you are interested in becoming a school presenter and/or hand-selling your books. If you are just getting started with self publishing in the children's literature market, this book will give you a good idea of how to go about selling your books in person through school visits, parenting groups, and makers markets. It also presents rough basics on selling through Amazon. The book has a printed book focus (as opposed to ebooks). The marketing techniques Inglis describes will work for those who are outgoing and who are willing to put much of their writing time into hand selling. I was really looking for more indepth knowledge on advertising strategies to win over parents on a broad scale and whom you haven't met personally.

Karen Inglis cuts through the messy world of children's book self-publishing and marketing and presents key important information in plain English. Most authors who embark on self-publishing, self-marketing path face a steep learning curve in multiple disciplines each of which is in a state of flux and evolving daily. In response, self-publishing/marketing is oversaturated with blogs, newsletters, seminars, workshops, support groups, and books. Not only is there too much advice, if you are a novice it’s impossible to know which advice is solid and which is anecdotal or self-perpetuating myths. How to Self-publish and Market a Children’s Book, offers pragmatic, budget-sensitive advice on the 20% of the activities that impact 80% of success. In addition, when Karen makes a recommendation it is supported with a rationale based on a target market. As a bit of background, I am an experienced, professional designer and marketer. Although I needed to learn the specifics and tactics of self-publishing I have a deep understanding of the underlying principles of success. This book is a solid reference tool and Karen is a trusted advisor.

This was the most informative and excellent source for many questions I had. I have taken paid and free courses, done years of online research, and asked questions on FB, but this book beat them all for ease of understanding and practicality. If you are not tech savvy, definitely read this.

I am thrilled to say that I've just finished Karen Inglis' book, "How to Self-Publish and Market a Children's Book"My Mom and I recently decided to take the self-publishing route in bringing our stories to life, but where to start?I began researching and fell upon Karen. After delving into her website and reading parts of her children's books I was intrigued. However, it was her seemingly kind spirit and helpfulness that encouraged me to take the leap and purchase this book.I am so glad that I did. I now feel that I have a foot in the door and am excited to proceed in our self-publishing journey.If you too are looking for an awesome guide into better understanding self-publishing and marketing I highly recommend this book.Thank you Karen!

This book was perfect and provided the right amount of detail on each topic. My husband is a new published author for a children's book and he read this book, thus is providing the review. This book was a great reference book that I will go back to time and time again. I am already taking the advice and suggestions Karen speaks to and implementing several. Thank you Karen for this wonderful book.

Karen Inglis writes in a very informative and kind/friendly way. She is all about helping people to achieve their dreams and improve their lives. Very good information.

The topics are laid out in a very good order. This is a gem, full of information, although some of the marketing suggestions are no longer possible in this time of COVID. I have referred to the author's information several times while writing my first children's series. An easy read, it's well worth the price.

The self-publishing process is split into two very distinct but inextricably linked camps as Ms Inglis points out– the publishing process itself and the on-going marketing needs books require. With books for children, there is an added layer – you cannot “sell” to children as such – ethically it’s not acceptable, nor can they buy your book – sub-teens tend not to have their own money but rely on parents/ guardians/grandparents to purchase for them. So authors of middle-grade books find the sales process is doubly tricky – you need to get the reader to choose your book in the first place and then win over the adult who will complete the purchasing process.Any author going down the self-publishing road needs all the help they can get. There is a heap of information out there on the internet, but what Ms Inglis has done is make an excellent attempt at bringing it all together into a single place. By doing so this she’s made the information more accessible, as well as presenting it in a logically structured style – you only need to read the Table Of Contents to see that. Moreover, it is massively sourced with her hard-won knowledge and experience gained by going through the process with her books. That’s why I love “How to…” books. They capture hard-won knowledge and experience and make it available in an easily consumable form so saving you making the same mistakes, wasting time, money, or going off tangent.Self-publishing and book marketing are significant, evolving processes, and a guide such as this cannot be complete or entirely up to date. As with all eBooks, it can be continuously corrected, amended, or added to. Ms Inglis makes good use of live links, and a password-protected resources page on her website to allow the reader to explore the software products and tools she discusses.In conclusion, this is a book well worth purchasing for potential, new, and existing authors. For the price of your morning coffee and cake , you gain the knowledge and expertise of successful children’s author who speaks from the heart and shares not only her successes but things that didn’t work out so well. And, that takes courage but gives the book huge credibility.

I followed Karen's blog in 2016 when I was planning to self-publish my first picture book. I purchased this book in preparation for the launch of my first young adult novel and it has been indispensable. Karen's years of experience in children's publishing are now accessible within this excellent resource, which has helped me in multiple ways. Not only did it help with the publishing process, it gave me brilliant tips on how to get my book into book stores - and the knowledge necessary to approach schools for school visits. My books are now in several independent book stores - something I once thought impossible - and I'm now undertaking regular school visits - all thanks to the guidance and advice of Karen Inglis. Five stars doesn't seem enough!

I'm so grateful that Karen Inglis took the time to write this book. I know already that it will save me a huge amount of time trying to dig up information about the publishing/marketing process. Also, learning from the tried and tested methods of a children's Indie author who is doing so well is extremely useful, marketing children's books is very different from that of fiction for adults. I'm working my way through a huge 'to do' list but know I will get there more quickly from having read this book. Thoroughly recommend for all children's authors - indie and those traditionally published.

I'm just starting out on my self-publishing adventure, and I'm really glad this book is here to help. It provides invaluable tips on how to go about what can appear (and could well be!) a rather daunting process. Karen Inglis could definitely wear the 'been there done that' t-shirt! There are so many blogs and bits of advice out there, it's really useful to have all topics covered in one book. A great overview, and a self-publisher's friend. Thanks for all the great advice.

This is a very comprehensive guide covering a wide variety of topics to help new independent children's authors, from formatting right through to marketing. There are practical, detailed steps with helpful advice. I liked the fact that as well as sharing the tips that drove sales, Karen also shares information on services and options available that she has not used (yet) as well as those that she has used that have not generated good results, to help give authors a greater understanding of all the options available. If you have published books already there may be a few parts you can skip over because you're already familiar with them, but even after publishing 2 books I have still learned a lot of valuable tips and hints from reading this book. Highly recommended!