8 Steps to Self-Publish Your First Children ’s Book

Many speech-language pathologists dream of writing children’s books—or even novels. Maybe you want to target a specific skill, share a great story—or both. I say, go for it! What gives SLPs an edge in creative writing? It is our education in linguistics, grammar, speech, and all facets of language. Add to this our experiences and understanding of a variety of people and the results are a bubbling cauldron of creative juices to churn out the prose. The advent of desktop publishing software along with print-on-demand services makes self-publishing easier and cost effective. What do you want to write? Will your first book be a children’s picture or storybook, a chapter book for older kids, a young adult adventure, or the percolating novel you’ve always wanted to write? Let’s look at how to self-publish a picture book. Here’s the process I use: Make a few notes or outline for your story and start writing. For young children from preschool through early elementary, keep dialogue and storytelling short. I aim for around 500 to 700 words. Less is better. Think about the book length in terms of multiples of four—also called a folio. I find 28 pages an ideal length. Three or four pages get devoted to title pages, copyright, dedication, end notes, or other such pages. Determine your page size ahead of time so art can be created for a specific size. You can see the various sizes on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Determine your illustration theme and budget. This is whe...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: blogs