Self-publishing children's books with Print-on-Demand

If you are looking to bring your illustrated children's book to the world to entertain and educate your readers at the same time, you could pay upfront to order a large print run from a printer, stockpile the books yourself, and then try to figure out how to get them to readers.

Or, you could use popular Print-on-Demand services, Amazon's KDP Print and IngramSpark to publish both the paperback and hardcover edition on Amazon, Barnes&Noble and other sellers online, and have them print one copy at a time as readers order them. You can use these services to publish a square-format book (8.5"x8.5"), any of the standard portrait sizes (like 6"x9"), or go for a landscape format (11"x8.5"). And you don't need to choose between paperback and hardcover edition: it's easy to publish both and let the readers decide which one they want.

Let's say you have a standard 32-page children story. What will it cost to print it and how much will you earn for each copy sold on Amazon or Barnes&Noble?

With Amazon's KDP service, printing a full-color paperback of this length would cost you $4.20. If you print the same book with IngramSpark, with their most affordable color option, it would cost you only $2.70 (that's 35% less than with KDP). Those are the prices you pay if you want to order the copies for yourself (events, direct sales, friends and family, etc.) and what gets deducted from your profit when you sell copies through retailers.

When you distribute and sell the book on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and elsewhere, what you are interested in is not the printing cost itself, but your per-copy profit (a.k.a. compensation or royalty). In simple terms, the way distribution works with these Print-on-Demand services is that they first take 40% of your list price (set by you) for distribution, and then deduct the printing charge from that, leaving you with net compensation. So if you set your list price to $10, they take $4 (this covers the profit of both the retailer and the POD service), and the printing costs $3, you would get 10 minus 4 (the 40% distribution charge, a.k.a. wholesale discount) minus 3 (printing cost), leaving you with $3. If you set the price to $20, then you get 20 minus 8 (40% of $20) minus 3 (printing charge), leaving you with $9. As you can see, you are earning three times as much by increasing the list price twice, because with the list price increase only the distribution charge gets higher (because it's a percentage of the list price) while printing charge remains the same (as it is a fixed cost, based on the number of pages in your book).

Coming back to our 32-page book, if you set the price of the book to $9.99, you would earn $1.80 for each copy printed by KDP and sold on Amazon. This is what most new authors would do. But if you do it the smart way, by setting it up so that IngramSpark-printed copy will be sold on Amazon, you would earn $3.20 instead for each copy sold (that's over 75% more than with KDP-printed copy). And if you raise your price by 50% (up to $14.99), you would almost double your earnings from each copy sold, up to $6.15 per copy. Barnes&Noble copy will always be printed by IngramSpark, so you would get the same $3.20 or $6.15, as you get for IngramSpark-printed copy sold on Amazon.

How about a hardback edition? With the most affordable color option offered by IngramSpark, the printing cost for hardcover is $7.50 (but it could go up to $10.50 if you opt for their most expensive color option). If you sold the the former at $19.99, whether on Amazon or Barnes&Noble, you would earn $4.25 per copy sold.

If all of this sounds a little complicated, don't worry! We can guide you step-by-step through the process of publishing the book and setting the optimal prices. If you have already written your children story, and would like to publish it, our design service for illustrated children books will get you from the finished story to a published book in less than a month. We will also design, develop, and host your book's website, so you can get your marketing started without the hassle and cost of setting it up yourself.

Don't have the story finished yet but need your questions answered? Feel free to get in touch now and we will be happy to clarify anything.