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Has anyone here written a children's book?
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amother
OP  


 

Post Mon, Oct 21 2024, 10:36 pm
It's something I have considered for quite awhile. I have a few ideas, but have no clue what it entails. And is all the work worth the amount of $ you get from it? Do you think writing a kids book is possibly a nice side income? I obviously wouldn't be writing the book for the money specifically, but I do work full time, so I want to make sure it would be worth the time I would be putting in.
Thanks for any input!
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amother
Mimosa


 

Post Mon, Oct 21 2024, 10:57 pm
amother OP wrote:
It's something I have considered for quite awhile. I have a few ideas, but have no clue what it entails. And is all the work worth the amount of $ you get from it? Do you think writing a kids book is possibly a nice side income? I obviously wouldn't be writing the book for the money specifically, but I do work full time, so I want to make sure it would be worth the time I would be putting in.
Thanks for any input!


No
Treat it as a hobby
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amother
Peony


 

Post Mon, Oct 21 2024, 11:04 pm
I have a business and a good customer of mine is a children’s author. I’ve spoken to her abt it many times. No money it in Sad
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amother
Green


 

Post Tue, Oct 22 2024, 3:49 am
I'm in the publishing world a little bit. Zero money, it has to be a passion.
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amother
Ivory  


 

Post Tue, Oct 22 2024, 3:51 am
I have. And no, it's not very profitable.
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amother
White  


 

Post Yesterday at 11:17 pm
I'm bumping this because I have the same question. Actually I have a few questions.
1. Which publishing company did you use? Did you compare the different Jewish companies, such as Artscroll, Feldheim, Hachai etc? If yes, what are the differences between them?

2. Did you find an illustrator or did you illustrate it yourself? If you found an illustrator, did you have to pay for the illustrations or did the company?

3. Did you get royalties or were you paid one lump sum? Around how much ?
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amother
Burlywood


 

Post Yesterday at 11:21 pm
I have all the same questions!
I’ve been pushing off writing a children’s books for years and this isn’t motivating me!

What about self publishing? Is that not worth it either bc you lose out on the publisher marketing and selling?

Why would anyone bother writing children’s books if there really is no money in it? How many ppl have such a passion?

When you say no/little money— what does that practically look like?
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amother
Cyan


 

Post Yesterday at 11:27 pm
I've illustrated a children's book before for a client that was self publishing. The author made no money off of this; it was a labor of love that she really wanted to do.
Do not delude yourself that this will be a side income. Only do it if it is your passion.
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amother
DarkPurple


 

Post Yesterday at 11:30 pm
My husband published 2 and is in middle of his third. There’s no money in it.
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amother
  Ivory  


 

Post Yesterday at 11:59 pm
amother White wrote:
I'm bumping this because I have the same question. Actually I have a few questions.
1. Which publishing company did you use? Did you compare the different Jewish companies, such as Artscroll, Geldheim, Hachaii etc? If yes, what are the differences between them.

2. Did you find an illustrator or did you illustrate it yourself? If you found an illustrator, did you have to pay for the illustrations or did the company?

3. Did you get royalties or were you paid one lump sum? Around how much ?

1. You don't get to choose. All of these publishers are very selective. I'd try Hachai first (they are tops for children's books), if rejected try Artscroll, and then if rejected try Feldheim. They might all not take it, and if so there are some other publishers you can try.

2. They found and paid the illustrator, I had nothing to do with it. Some authors want to be more involved. If you do choose your own illustrator be aware that for some publishers that is a negative, they may want to be very involved in that too.

3. I was paid one lump sum, a few hundred dollars. Other authors make contracts with ongoing royalties.
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amother
  OP


 

Post Today at 12:13 am
So I don't get it! All these authors that are constantly putting out new children's books, why are they doing it? How are they doing it? Literally making bubkes??
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amother
  White  


 

Post Today at 12:20 am
amother Ivory wrote:
1. You don't get to choose. All of these publishers are very selective. I'd try Hachai first (they are tops for children's books), if rejected try Artscroll, and then if rejected try Feldheim. They might all not take it, and if so there are some other publishers you can try.

2. They found and paid the illustrator, I had nothing to do with it. Some authors want to be more involved. If you do choose your own illustrator be aware that for some publishers that is a negative, they may want to be very involved in that too.

3. I was paid one lump sum, a few hundred dollars. Other authors make contracts with ongoing royalties.


Thank you.
Here is my situation:
I have illustrated a few books that were published with Artscroll.
In each case, I was hired by the author, and as far as I know, the author paid me. The money for the illustrations was decent.
Now I would like to illustrate my own book that I have written.
I don't know if I now have an in with Artscroll. But even if I do, I would like to know if I can do better (profit wise). That's why I asked If anyone compared the three companies.

3. As an illustrator, I was paid far more than a few hundred dollars. If so, it's hard to believe that the author was making so much less, being that they had to make at least more than what they paid me.

It's all very confusing.
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amother
  Ivory


 

Post Today at 12:26 am
amother White wrote:
Thank you.
Here is my situation:
I have illustrated a few books that were published with Artscroll.
In each case, I was hired by the author, and as far as I know, the author paid me. The money for the illustrations was decent.
Now I would like to illustrate my own book that I have written.
I don't know if I now have an in with Artscroll. But even if I do, I would like to know if I can do better (profit wise). That's why I asked If anyone compared the three companies.

3. As an illustrator, I was paid far more than a few hundred dollars. If so, it's hard to believe that the author was making so much less, being that they had to make at least more than what they paid me.

It's all very confusing.

I assume that if the author was handling the illustrations, they were paid for both the writing and the illustrations together. I only wrote the book, and was not involved in the illustrations at all, so have no idea what the illustrator was paid.

It is also possible that pay scales have gone up since I wrote my book (quite a few years ago).

I don't know which publisher pays the best, I only published with one.
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amother
  White  


 

Post Today at 12:42 am
amother Ivory wrote:
I assume that if the author was handling the illustrations, they were paid for both the writing and the illustrations together. I only wrote the book, and was not involved in the illustrations at all, so have no idea what the illustrator was paid.

It is also possible that pay scales have gone up since I wrote my book (quite a few years ago).

I don't know which publisher pays the best, I only published with one.


Ok thanks..
I reached out to Artscroll and I'm waiting for their response.
I will also make contact with the other publishers to find out how their process works.
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amother
Snowdrop


 

Post Today at 1:14 am
I wrote a book too. no money. I just did it for the fun. literally. two more publishers who weren’t mentioned if you end up needing more options. israel bookshop and menucha publishers
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amother
Clear


 

Post Today at 2:00 am
How would one go about reaching out to publishers? Is there a proper protocol?
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Today at 7:44 am
There is no money in writing. You have to do it for fun. I do not even allow people to send me money if they want to, and I suspect substack is more profitable than any Jewish publisher. (I write Isha Yiras Hashem at Substack)
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mommy3b2c




 
 
    
 

Post Today at 8:28 am
Yes I did. There isn’t money in it unless you become a famous author . I didn’t do it for the money. It took at least 2 years and a lot of work .

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amother
Apple


 

Post Today at 8:36 am
amother White wrote:
Thank you.
Here is my situation:
I have illustrated a few books that were published with Artscroll.
In each case, I was hired by the author, and as far as I know, the author paid me. The money for the illustrations was decent.
Now I would like to illustrate my own book that I have written.
I don't know if I now have an in with Artscroll. But even if I do, I would like to know if I can do better (profit wise). That's why I asked If anyone compared the three companies.

3. As an illustrator, I was paid far more than a few hundred dollars. If so, it's hard to believe that the author was making so much less, being that they had to make at least more than what they paid me.

It's all very confusing.


It makes sense that children's book illustrators make more than the author. The illustrations take many many hours and likely has a bigger impact on the sales
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amother
  White  


 

Post Today at 8:38 am
amother Apple wrote:
It makes sense that children's book illustrators make more than the author. The illustrations take many many hours and likely has a bigger impact on the sales


Thank you for acknowledging that.
My point was that the author has to make at least as much as the artist in order to pay her. Even if her net profit is much less.
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