There are always so many decisions in publishing a book including in it's lay out.  I have included two book covers I designed but I cannot decide on which on!

Each has it own strengths and weaknesses, and as you can see if you compare, placement and size of font can also make a difference. I am partial to blue however I do like the earthy look of the green.

​Something I think anyone looking to publish any children's book with Print On Demand (POD) is to understand the economics of it.  I have read numerous forums where people are complaining about costs for printing.  Well, there are pros and cons to doing a book this way whether it is with Kindle Direct, Ingram Sparks or LuLU or any other site popping up these days.

The number one thing to understand is that IF you were to find an agent, and then find a publisher, and then go through the process and have your colour book put into print, it would be printed in huge batches, where they also can do layouts and set it up so that the pages that are black and white, print as black and white and the pages that are colour, print as colour. This keeps the cost much farther down for creating the book which can go into the price itself.

When you print a colour book with POD even if there is only ONE colour page in the book, IT ALL GETS PRINTED AND THEREFORE HAS THE COST OF COLOUR!  So, that means the profit margin on the book and the cost to create the book is much higher!  It wouldn't matter which company you went with to print it, it is the way it is for having the book printed as it is needed and no money out of pocket for the author.  

In the old days it was vanity presses that would print a book not accepted by a publisher.  You paid the money for the amount you had printed and it all came out of your own pocket.  So if you think POD is terrible, also take into account what happens IF you do get picked up by a publishing company.  Look at what your profit percentage is in the long run there!  And these days many publishers are struggling and get grants, such as where friends went to get their book published...oh they published the book (and held the rights!) however when it was done, it was done!  Sorry, no money for another run!  And not a thing you can do about it!  Also now, many publishers won't look at you unless you have a substantial mailing list. Well, if you have gone through all that trouble to get people interested, what are they doing?  They send it to the same printer often such as Ingram Sparks who also is the distributor!  So, yes, the book will cost a little more, and yes, there is only one size for a landscape size book (11 x 8.5 via Ingram Sparks which HAS to be premium colour) however it is what it is! 

By the way, most POD writers will tell you, the majority of their sales do NOT come from selling to Brick and Mortal stores but on line.  The ebook is where many make their money after they have done numerous books. If you are prolific and can crank them out, you may make an ok living as a writer however if you think just because it is published and out there, it will make you money, think again!  Like anything else, it is all about the marketing and that isn't most writers or artists favourite thing to do! I know!  Sigh!

This isn't to be discouraging, it is to help you understand what you are getting into. It is not perfect but it certainly is nice when you can see your own book in print.  This book I am doing now, I am glad I am doing it, since it gives folks the opportunity to see some of the magic of living off grid.  Something many adults and children today never have the opportunity to do...even this little lake I hear has become a BnB and party central!

So if you want to write, then write!  And with POD it means you don't need an agent, you don't need to wait months, possibly years to get picked up by a publisher and you don't need to be rich!  Writing is a labour of love for some of us and so it isn't about the black or red or profit margin like every big company out there these days seems to be focusing on, it is about communication and fulfillment.  

​Keep writing and go for it!  It isn't like you will loose much but your time, and if you set it up right, no money lost in doing that either.

Just in case you are not aware, Facebook is a bugger!  ANYTHING you post on there IS THEIRS TO USE! You can take them to court however who has the money to do this? A few have and I believe a few people won, but who knows where they are selling what you post to?  

SOOOO the rule of thumb is I was reading somewhere, is NEVER put more than 25% of your book ANYWHERE.

I have posted a few screen shots of images and so on from my latest children's book I am working on, however I keep the resolution and DPI LOW!  I am not going to work my ass off on a drawing or whatever to had it over to them!

And by the way, you may THINK your posts are going to all those people you friended, but NOPE!  They use an alga-rhythm they don't share but it is based on how often your posts are like by how many people, how many posts you make and how often and so on. So you MAY THINK this is a good social media outlet to advertise, well, THINK AGAIN!  Every time I try to post from my page, they come up with some advertising ad!  Which means, you don't pay, well, guess what, your posts are NOT going to everyone!  

Over and over I have tried to figure out the best way to get going in this business of being online, and at times it is down right discouraging.  Hard to know if anyone is actually commenting partly because I just found out how to check comments!  The learning curve is HUGE on all this stuff, but nothing ventured, nothing gained so even though I have not been posting much, I am going to hang in there and keep doing this although I think I would enjoy writing a new letter better...we shall see.

Live and learn!  So if you are posting on Facebook BE AWARE! Many places when it is in the public domain does NOT mean you have the right to copy it and use it for any sort of advertising purposes however both Instagram and Facebook have sneaky fine print.

Also, you can request, and even though it will take some time, you can get EVERY MESSAGE EVER MADE ON THERE!  If you think anything there is PRIVATE well, THINK AGAIN.  That is why by law at least I think in the US (not sure of Canada), Facebook and some other social media sites are permissible in court now.  So if you say you were one place, but there is a time stamped image of you somewhere else, well that alibi is screwed!

​Hope this doesn't burst your bubble about Facebook, but better to know than not in this case I think!

I am currently working on a children's book I illustrated. It is specifically geared towards either early readers and gifted children, or teenage special needs children which the cover is a photo and looks more "grown up" than many children's books of the level it is geared towards.

One delima I am having is in the formatting of the book for publication!  I cannot make up my mind if I want border on the ilustrations I did, or have the image go right off the page as you can see below!

As you can see this makes them very different.  I am not sure which I prefer!  If you have a favourite, please let me know!  Below will the two page spread to help you get a better idea!
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As you can see, I have a bit of a gutter space where the binding goes, and the image with the border is not the same size as the template always on the opposite side.  There are a number or reasons however the number one reason being, you must have 24 pt plus to be able to use more than black in the font colour when printing on demand with Ingram sparks. If the images are too small, then the font will not work.
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Please post an opinion of which way you think is better. I will definitely consider what people think!
Thanks...is on Facebook also.