Self-Publish Your Children's Book - From Start to Finish
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Self-Publish Your Children's Book - From Start to Finish

A step-by-step guide to children's publishing in print and ebook with a constant eye to making it a successful product.
4.4 (87 ratings)
Instead of using a simple lifetime average, Udemy calculates a course's star rating by considering a number of different factors such as the number of ratings, the age of ratings, and the likelihood of fraudulent ratings.
2,308 students enrolled
Created by Tim Johnson
Last updated 5/2015
English
Current price: $10 Original price: $40 Discount: 75% off
1 day left at this price!
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Includes:
  • 5 hours on-demand video
  • 1 Article
  • 6 Supplemental Resources
  • Full lifetime access
  • Access on mobile and TV
  • Certificate of Completion
What Will I Learn?
  • Take a reverse-approach to book publishing with the end in mind to ensure a successful product.
  • Independently publish your children's book.
  • Create multiple streams of passive income from around the world.
  • Create, or have illustrations created for your book.
  • Identify your book's purpose, target audience, unique selling point(s) and market impact potential.
  • Identify high-demand elements of value and elements of enjoyment to strategically make your book a successful product.
View Curriculum
Requirements
  • Basic knowledge of computers
  • Desire to succeed in children's self publishing
  • Manuscript and illustrations are NOT NECESSARY
  • Be ready to bring your concept to fruition!
Description

Have you ever wanted to write a children's book? Don't know where to start?

I will bring you through the entire process from start to finish. I won't leave a single stone un-turned and I'll be here to help you through the entire process.

Whether you have a character concept, a complete manuscript, simply a lesson to teach, or nothing at all, this course will bring you through the children's self-publishing process step-by-step and leave NO excuses for a book gone unpublished!

This is one of the best times in history to be a children's author. The barriers to entry are dropping rapidly, and the market is far from saturated. I'll show you how to define your book's value, create your own market gap, identify with your readers (and buyers) and create a product that is delivers huge value and enjoyment.

We begin with the end in mind to create a product that will have a definite purpose and unique selling point(s). This way you, the author, can be confident before you even begin your self-publishing endeavor and you will have a definitive plan and specific target audience interested in your book.

I've also included a myriad of reference books with this course to help give you even more insight.

  • Amazon Best-Seller Strategies (20 pages) - Value: $20
  • List Building Wisdom (26 pages) - Value: $10
  • Google+ Authority (31 pages) - Value: $15
  • The Successful Entrepreneur (32 pages) - Value: $17
  • Social Media Plan of Attack (41 pages) - Value: $14
  • Twitter Marketing Made Easy (21 pages) - Value: $17
  • Unstoppable Facebook Traffic (45 pages) - Value: $17
  • Discovering the World of Pinterest (35 pages) - Value $20

If you've always dreamed of publishing a children's book, or if you've published one that wasn't a success, you're in the right place! I'll teach you not only how to become a children's author, but how to become an entrepreneur and successfully sell your product to bring smiles to thousands of tiny faces!

Contrary to popular belief, you can self publish your book even on a very limited budget, and I'll show you how.

Who is the target audience?
  • Aspiring children's authors
  • Illustrators
  • Writers
  • Anyone interested in eliminating any excuses they have for NOT writing the children's book they have been wanting to write for years.
Students Who Viewed This Course Also Viewed
Curriculum For This Course
35 Lectures
07:01:36
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Introduction to Self-Publishing
5 Lectures 33:24

Hi! I'm so glad you've decided to join me in this course and embark on the incredible journey of self-publishing your children's book. I have over 60 children's titles on Amazon currently and have sold many thousands of copies of my books worldwide. Over the past few years of publishing I have come up on many unique and powerful tools and strategies that have helped me through the process and I want to share all of those with you in this course.

I have worked for 10 years as a product design engineer and approach children's publishing from a product development standpoint. I tend to take a reverse-engineering tact with many aspects of the process which helps clarify your goals and set you up for success.

Preview 06:27

Many people come across the moral conundrum of whether or not it is ethical to profit from children's books. My answer is a resounding "yes!"

First of all, you are providing a great service to children and families by giving them something they will never get anywhere else. Your book, if it's designed the way I outline in the following lectures, will be completely unique and extremely valuable. None of your readers will regret buying your book, in fact they might want to buy another to give as a gift :)

Preview 05:04

There are a plethora of reasons to get into children's publishing right NOW. It's a great time to be a kid lit author. Whether you just want to see your story in print, or you want to see it on major bookstore shelves and selling like wildfire, you are on the right track! I'll tell you why in this lecture.

Preview 11:25

Understanding your reason to write a book will keep you on track now, and also in 6 months when you're so close to finishing but you're about to give up. A little encouragement from a known motivating factor can make or break your book.

Preview 03:42

In order to follow the path that is appropriate for YOU it's important first, to understand your options fully.

Self Publishing Options
06:46
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Start With the End in Mind - Sell Your Book from the Start
6 Lectures 52:01

Find the most powerful and most valuable combination of the elements of Value and Enjoyment to make your book a success. Learn how to determine what these elements are and how to balance them in a book.

Identify Your Book's Purpose and Value
11:06

In children's publishing, your readers are different than your buyers. Many books are gifted, bought by teachers, and parents who like to see different things in a book than your readers (the children) do. Understand each of these markets to identify what your book will deliver, and how.

Additionally, please don't forget to download and fill out the two worksheets included here. They will help provide structure for your notes and a framework for building your book!

Identify Your Target Audience - Readers AND Buyers
19:07

Conveniently, by the sheer nature of it being a children's book, it will be completely unique. You're designing a new product from the ground up so there is no question that it will be different, but how will it stand out among the rest?

Identify Your Unique Selling Point(s)
11:36

Looking into the future, will you be able to scale the production of your book? Can you satisfy different markets? Can you effectively sell your book internationally?

Evaluate Market Footprint and Potential for Expansion
08:40

Please contact me with any questions and let me know what you think of the course. If you're enjoying this content I would love it if you could provide a short review!

Hello! Questions? Comments?
00:45

Time to Check In!
00:47
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Start Marketing Your Book!
6 Lectures 46:01

What is a "personal brand"? Why do I need one? How do I start building one?

Develop Your Personal Brand
04:24

What are the most important social media channels for authors? What can be gained by using them and how should they be used to be most effective?

Don't forget to download and read the FIVE textbooks included with this lecture.

Social Media Plan of Attack will give you an overview of social media and how it can be used to market your brand in general.

Twitter Marketing Made Easy, Unstoppable Facebook Traffic, Discovering the World of Pinterest and Google+ Authority are all great books that will help you, first understand what each of these social media channels is all about and then how to use it effectively. While the books are fairly basic in nature, even advanced users will be able to glean some creative insights from them.

Social Media Marketing for Authors
13:01

A great way to get some exposure, build some excitement, build a follower base, glean social proof and make money is to start a crowd-funding campaign. The following lecture is the video I used to run a successful kickstarter campaign that helped me launch my very first book!

Kickstarter & Crowd Funding Advantages
11:22

Some people say it's vital, others think it's too much overhead. Here are my thoughts, but you make up your own mind.

The Pros and Cons of Having an Author Website
17:14

As a student of this course, a supplementary course, "Create an Author Website" is also available to you at no extra charge.

To take the "Create an Author Website" course, please download this document and use the voucher code included within. This course is an additional two hour walk-through on all the details of creating an AMAZING author website, even if you have ZERO experience.

Enjoy!

Supplementary Course Voucher: Create an Author Website
1 page

Although this book is not specifically written for authors, it does provide some good generic pointers to get you started successfully building a valuable and responsive email list.

Supplementary Textbook: List Building Wisdom
26 pages
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Now Create the Book Content
3 Lectures 49:14

Creating a great character is more than just dreaming it up. The name, the physical construction and psychological profile will all affect how the readers relate to the character to help the book to be a great product.

Character Development
22:34

Here is my strategy on writing children's books. You may have your own, but this seems to be sound and ensures that you cover all the bases.

If you're not a writer at all or just don't want to write the book, I'll also give you some other ideas.

Story Development and Writing
08:05

Starting with a blank page can be hard. In this lecture we talk more about out-sourcing, but we begin by looking at the format of the book and making sure not to get ahead of ourselves with illustrations before we know what the book will look like as an overall product.

Creating Illustrations from Nothing
18:35
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Publish Your Book!
4 Lectures 54:34

The tools and considerations to take into account when putting your final book file together. We talk about formatting for print, formatting for kindle, general layout considerations, as well as creating a book description and choosing categories on Amazon.

Bringing it all Together
34:03

If you need more technical details on actually getting your book in print on CreateSpace and making it available through print-on-demand, I recommend you take this additional course that will guide you through the ins and outs of the createspace interface. I share my screen with you and take you all the way through the process in great detail.

Supplementary Course: Getting Your Book in Print!
1 page

A screen sharing lecture explaining the details of the Kindle book submission page. Get familiar with this interface and understand what all the elements are. Make sure your Kindle book is listed on the same page as the print book!!

Getting Your Book on Kindle!
07:33

Your first launch is a big deal. It should be exciting for you, but it should also be exciting for a lot of other people! Don't be the only one tooting your horn. There are others who will join in your fanfare.

The Moment of Truth - The Launch!
12:58
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Summary and Send-Off
5 Lectures 10:06

A quick recap of everything discussed in the previous 4 sections.

Review & Summary
09:07

Here are the complete slides from all of the lectures above. I've also added some notes and links along the way to help you keep all of your resources in one place. I hope you will be able to refer to this document easier than going back through the videos to find the information you are looking for.

Slide Summary, Tools and Reference Material
58 pages

Some tips and tricks to help you join the ranks of some of the best authors on Amazon. Understand the ranking system, find marketing partners, build traffic and interest, and more.

Bonus textbook: Amazon Bestseller Strategies
19 pages

You're not just an independent author anymore. You're an entrepreneur. Congratulations. Does that scare you? Don't worry, entrepreneurs are people too! Here are some great insights and tips to keep you focused, accountable, on-track, objective and successful!

Bonus Textbook: The Successful Entrepreneur
30 pages

Thanks so much for joining me! I can't wait to see YOUR book in print! And don't forget to leave a review!

Thank You and Good Luck!
00:59
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Q&A! Ask a Question - Get a Video Answer
6 Lectures 41:01

Chances are you are not the only one with a particular question, so in this section I will be creating video responses for your questions, that way all of the students in the course will benefit.

Please be descriptive in asking questions so that I can answer with the most relevant response.

Preview 01:28

Q: Can I Publish the Paperback Version First, and the Kindle Version Later?
03:55

Learn what a cover contest is and how to launch a successful one to help build awareness of your book.

Q: What is a Cover Contest and How can I Run a Successful One?
07:18

Use this super powerful strategy to leverage high traffic websites to gain exposure to very specific target audiences and build your following.

Q: How to Get Your Book "Out There" by Leveraging High-Traffic Sites
16:12

Make sure to list your book on this high-traffic site to leverage their readership.

Q: What is so great about Goodreads and how do I get listed?
04:33

Again, leverage this high-power site to gain new readers and get your book on people "to-read" list.

Q: What is a Goodreads Giveaway?
07:35
About the Instructor
Tim Johnson
4.4 Average rating
219 Reviews
8,722 Students
3 Courses
Children's Author, Entrepreneur, Engineer

Tim Johnson is an author in a variety of fields, most notably dual-language children's illustrated picture books and martial arts non-fiction.

In 2011 Tim published his first children's book and has now has over 50 titles on Amazon and has sold thousands of copies. His book's character, Bosley Bear, has since become popular among US and international readers, providing wholesome bedtime stories.

A product design engineer by trade, Tim's quest for knowledge and understanding is a daily pursuit. He continues to broaden the horizons of children as a martial arts instructor, always encouraging young students to become more aware of the enormous world around them.
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