This subject could take a whole article series to write, but we'll try to give you the nutshell version. ;-)
One of the hardest things we had to learn as part of our homeschool education was how to self-publish a children's book. First, we had to come up with the storyboard, hire out the art professionally (as we are still learning), figure out the right dimensions for publishing the book (one the most challenging aspect of the whole process), make sure all the legal info is set up correctly, and learn Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to put together the book. There were many additional steps that were involved, but we'll save this for our blog posts. :)
By the time we published our first book, it felt really rewarding to have it complete! We created and published the book as a family, so we decided to publish under a team name, The Saturn Creative Team, based on the name of our homeschool project, Saturn Music & Entertainment. Since we had gone through the learning curves of book publishing on the first children's book, we knew what to expect with our other books, so the process was less painful each time. While it took some time to get there - today we feel confident in the process and its been a rewarding experience.
If your curious about our books, check out our website.
https://saturnmusicandentertainment.com/
:)
Wow, thanks for sharing. How long ago did you publish your first book? Do you know of tools that make it easier to do today?
Canva just popped into my head. I know you can design print materials with it.
We published our Kindle version of the book in January of 2017, and the paperback version in April of 2017.
As far as tools go, we are fortunate to have a great tutor with years of experience in print work. He was able to guide us through the printing process as well as putting together the whole book. He taught us, via Skype, how to work the Adobe suite and gave us pro insight on how we could make our book even better.
We also had other outside help from people who provide services on Fiverr. They helped to put our logo designs into the Adobe suite since we were still brand new at the time we were making the book. We also found our illustrator on Fiverr, and he has been so awesome!
Lastly, another huge tool that was helpful during the learning process was YouTube. We were able to search for videos from other self-published authors where they share their tips to make the book publishing process as pain-free as possible. There were also many Adobe tutorials that came in handy. YouTube is especially great because you can watch the video multiple times - pause when you need - and go back to the same video if you need reminders. And it's free!
We are really grateful to have many online resources available in this day and age. :)
Yes! Sometimes I have to stop and appreciate how great we have it. You can learn almost anything with an internet connection and a library card for very cheap. This is an incredible time to live in.