When writing and editing your children’s book, keep your age demographic in mind. When developing your plot and storyline, do it within the context of your audience’s experience level.
Do you need to swap out larger words to make the language easier for kids learning to read? Is a secondary character taking away from the main plot?
Editing is the refining process of writing, and it’s an important step. Have a second set of eyes review your content before you print - a trusted friend, well-read family member or even a professional editor can review your content. Ask them to check for grammatical errors or provide suggestions to refine your story. 48 Hour Books recommends using a professional editor, and we offer tips and contacts here.
Let us begin with guiding you through the children’s book sizes, layout and paper choices you can choose for printing your project. We try not to restrict you in any way apart from what the physical impossibilities are. Our ethos at Ex Why Zed is “The answer is Yes, now what is the question?”.
Portrait Wire Stitched (staple bound)
? Choose any size from A6 (148x105mm) up to a massive A3 (420x297mm).
?? Pricing Hack. There is a price break at A4 (297x210mm) so if you are printing a smaller number of copies (under 100) then A3 can be expensive per copy.
Portrait Perfect Bound
? Choose any size from A6 to A4.
⏫ You need an absolute minimum or 32 pages.
Portrait Hardcover (Case Bound, Hardback)
? Choose any size from A6 to A4.
⏫ You need an absolute minimum or 28 pages, plus the front cover, back cover and you have the option of printing the 3 ‘end paper’ sides at the front and back of the book too.
Square Wire Stitched (staple bound)
? Choose any size from 148x148mm up to 297x297mm.
?? Pricing Hack. There is a price break at 210x210mm and any square larger than that, is more cost-effective on print runs of 100 copies or more.
Square Perfect Bound
? Choose any size from 148x148mm up to 297x297mm.
✂️ Again, there is a price break at 210x210mm.
Square Hardcover (Case Bound, Hardback)
? Choose any size from 148x148mm to 295x295mm and once again, there is a price break at 210x210mm.
Landscape Wire Stitched (staple bound)
? Choose any size from A5 (148mm high x 210mm wide) up to A4 (210mm high x 297mm wide)
?? Pricing Hack. There is a price break at A5 (297x210mm) so if you are printing a smaller number of copies (under 100) then A4 Landscape can be expensive per copy.
Landscape Perfect Bound
? Choose any size from A5 to A4.
Landscape Hardcover (Case Bound, Hardback)
? Choose any size from A5 to A4.
The A5 dimensions are 210×148mm. The page size is plenty large enough for your content to be legible and this is a cost-effective and standard size for precision print.
Alternatively, you could make the publication more unique by shaving a few of millimetres off the height to make it 180mm high and 148mm wide which they have done here on Tales of Great Cities London. This is a superb example of infographic printing enabling youngsters to learn and expand their knowledge through reading a larger book.
Emma Juhasz’s What Football Job Can You Do? is an innovative book and more than a collection of facts. It’s a fun, interactive journey filled with illustrations, games, and fascinating insights about football. It’s an educational tool that keeps children engaged while nurturing their passion for the beautiful game. The custom children’s book size of 198x129mm is a handy pocket book companion.
Ask your graphic designer to come up with a bespoke size and we can print all custom options so if you did want to go for something off-kilter that is fine.
The square format works really well and produces a wide double-page spread. The orientation and layout work really well for both portrait and landscape images.
The Little Bee books shown here are 148x153mm (so slightly off-square). You can see the series they released, each with a similar styling and the same size to breed familiarity and consistency throughout the set.
Pouch’s Magical Worry Cheeks, shown below, is 210x210mm. Gloss Lamination on the front cover and uncoated inside pages make for a nice contrast – the bright colours on the front cover and the more tactile feel of the interior.
Rodney Matthews book is a reprint of a publication first published in the late 70s
(You can still buy a copy on Amazon).
Rodney opted for an imposing 240x240mm square size in hardback. This gives you a huge double-page spread of 480x240mm. We can even print as large as 295x295mm on square hardback and soft back, perfect bound or wire stitched children’s book. These options create a super impressive finished piece.
The A5 dimensions are 210×148mm. The page size is plenty large enough for your content to be legible and this is a cost-effective and standard size for precision print.
A reminder that you choose any custom size between A5 and A4. This flexibility opens up a myriad of possible options to tailor your book to a unique aesthetic that captures the buyer’s attention and lends itself perfectly to the size of your text and illustrations. The Wild Tribe Heroes book here is 210x272mm.
Another option for a custom children’s book size is 216x279mm which equates to the US Letter favourite of 8.5×11″.
Diving further into the square book format, we take a look at Monster Tea Party and Troll’s Amazing Day…Aren’t the titles of kid’s story books just the best! Both are 210x210mm but Monster is hardback and Troll’s is soft back, perfect bound.
There is no right or wrong answer about which binding method and cover style to choose. It could be argued that you can charge a higher cover price for the hardback, but in turn, it is also more expensive to print.
On the softback, the book has a trim size of 210x210mm. On the the hardback, there is a 3mm overhang on each side of the cover, so the inside pages are 210mm but the actual book ends up being around 216x216mm making it slightly more imposing.
Here is a short video discussing the 3 possibilities of saddle stitched (stapled), perfect bound and case bound (hardback). The page count does affect which options are available.
For a landscape book, you can go for any size from A5 up to and including A4. You can again, opt for a bespoke size such as 8 x 10 or 10 x 8, which are standard children’s book sizes. Taking a little bit off the height or width makes it more eye-catching for the reader and visually stimulating rather than the standard A size. A wire stitched kids book means the pages can be opened completely flat so you get the full benefit of the double-page spread for your spectacular illustrations and storytelling. On perfect bound storybooks, you do lose 2-3mm in the spine gutter so it is not possible to press the pages completely flat but this is the go-to and professional looking method of binding for 40 pages or more.
There is slightly more scope on a portrait stapled booklet. You can choose any book page size from A6 (148x105mm) right up to A3 booklet printing (420mm high x 297mm wide). However, there is a price point cut off when you reach A4. Anything larger than A4, up to and including A3 has to be printed onto our B2 press which has higher setup costs. In turn, though, your storybook will be a hugely impressive size and can be sold for a higher cover price…although parents might need big muscles to lift it at bedtime!
For portrait perfect bound kid’s book, then our size options are all sizes from A6 to A4 portrait.
A6 makes nice neat postcard size, smaller books that fit in your pocket. Think Postcard Size – that is A6. This can be sold for a lower cover price so might make for an instinctive purchase for potential readers at art fairs, in gift shops or when visiting your online store.
Here in ‘Oi Who Are You Calling Rubbish’ we have a full colour cover with matt lamination to give the books more longevity and black print on uncoated pages inside. Black line art which the children can spend time lovingly colouring in.
Paper does prefer to be laid flat and when you start folding paper in half to get the cover of your book, it will immediately start to crack. When it’s flat it is perfect, but when folded the fibres of the paper crack and this produces a white line and scuffed ink along the fold. The paper roughens up and it doesn’t look great.
So, we recommend laminating the front cover of books to prevent this happened. This lamination acts as a protective film over the front cover to stop it cracking meaning it arrives in pristine condition for the reader. You can choose from matt, gloss, anti-scuff or soft-touch.
Gloss lamination gives your colours real punch and vibrancy. Matt lamination is slightly more subdued with a smooth and professional-looking surface. Anti-scuff is used very rarely. Soft-Touch Lamination is probably more suited to corporate brochures with a velvet feel than it is to children’s books. We would suggest you go for matt or gloss on your new book.
The difference is subtle (at least on our photo 🙂 with “I’ll Just Be Me!” having a slightly shinier gloss lamination while the ‘Eddie’ book behind has matt lamination for a more subtle, less intrusive finish.
Premium finishes are the extra flourishes and premium extras you can add to the book cover making it really stand out. We offer a number of these and printing with gold foil isn’t the limit anymore – foiling comes in a range of up to 200 colours. You could also consider gloss spot UV varnish to a logo, title or vector illustration. How about embossing or debossing of the book title so it jumps towards the reader?
Our Print Journey is a great place to start. Depending on where you are up to, we have provided extensive guides at each stage.
Once the design is completed and you are ready to print your children’s book, get in touch with us and we’ll come back to you asap with a range of print quotes. You might not be a printing expert yet, but we will change that with our advice, setup guides and inspirational portfolio. Your artwork would look great on paper and the printing of a book journey is both full of learning and ultimately exciting at Ex Why Zed. Pdf to book printing is what we are print experts at, aiming to give you a pureprint reproduction of your artwork with our book design services. We offer digital printing for small runs and we are also litho printers for run lengths of 700 copies or more where that method becomes more friendly on your budget.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. If you have any questions do get in touch on hello@exwhyzed.com or call on 01206 76667 and we look forward to helping you transform your ideas into print!
A Video Guide on the Winning Solutions ⬇️
To watch our action packed, hour long video guide on Children’s Book printing then grab your drink of choice and a notepad ?
When it comes to deciding whether to work in inches or millimetres for designing a children’s book, there are a few factors to consider. According to expert book designers, millimetres tend to be the preferred unit of measurement due to their precision and accuracy. Millimetres offer a greater level of detail and control in terms of layout and sizing, which is especially important when designing for a younger audience. Additionally, many printing companies use millimetres as their standard unit of measurement, making it easier to communicate and collaborate with them throughout the printing process. Ultimately, the choice between inches and millimetres comes down to personal preference and familiarity with the units, but for those looking for a more precise and streamlined approach to book design, millimetres may be the way to go.
We do have a steady stream of keen authors who arrive in our inbox with comments like:
“I have published a book with Amazon KDP and was also looking into signing up with IngramSpark. However my proof copy from both was not the quality I expected so am just looking at alternative options.” Sue, self-published author.
“I am currently getting supplied through Amazon KDP. I have my first few events coming up where I am hoping to sell some and would like to step away from Amazon where the quality is questionable and inconsistent. Your prices seem very reasonable and I am keen to look into this further!” Sam, self-published author.
At Ex Why Zed we have the top of the range HP Indigo and Heidelberg litho presses so what comes off our machines will be the best your work can possibly look in print. We have over 450 happy reviews on Trustpilot, know the idiosyncrasies to look for in children’s book structure and our friendly, expert team will help you on your Print Journey from day 1 until the books arrive.
We have complied a series of super helpful articles on finding a designer to work with you on the children’s book structure. We understand file set-up and graphic design can be quite technical so the following insightful pages will help you research and approach a designer to artwork and layout your book.
Finding a Book Designer on Fiverr.
Finding a Book Designer on PeoplePerHour.
Top Book Design Solutions.
Top 10 Agencies to Design Your Book.
We’ve even done the heavy lifting on the design brief too so just copy and paste one of these in on an email to a few designers you like.
Design Brief for Children’s Book Structure, Artwork and Layout.
Design Brief for Children’s Book Illustration.
You’re welcome 🙂
Here are 10 ideas to ensure your children’s book get maximum exposure on social media:
And there you have it! Ten sparkling ideas to make sure your children’s book is the talk of the social media town. Good luck! ? Read more, on our article 10 Ideas to Promote Your Children’s Book on Social Media.
If you’re targeting a young age group, like babies and toddlers age 0 3, you should rely heavily on pictures, rather than text.
While there are many factors that influence the cost of printing, page count is one of the biggest.
Over 250.76 million (yes, million!) children’s books were sold in 2022. This compared with 201.9m in 2021 and 184.2m in 2020. So the market is growing and your new book would look great on the shelves too! (Sales figures from wordsrated.com)
The largest selling children’s book of all time is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (published in 1943) is the best-selling children’s book of all time, selling over 200 million copies. A quick look around on Google shows that it has been published many times in all manner of styles and iterations. Here are a few of the exquisite cover designs.
Once the design is completed and you are ready to print get in touch with us and we’ll come back to you asap with a range of print quotes. You might not be a printing expert yet, but we will change that with our advice, setup guides and inspirational portfolio. Your artwork would look great on paper and the printing of a book journey is both full of learning and ultimately exciting at Ex Why Zed. Pdf to book printing is what we are print experts at, aiming to give you a pure print reproduction of your artwork. We offer digital printing for small runs and we are also litho printers for run lengths of 700 copies or more where that method becomes more friendly on your budget.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. If you have any questions do get in touch on hello@exwhyzed.com or call on 01206 76667 and we look forward to helping you transform your ideas into print!
To watch our full action packed, hour long guide on Children’s Book printing then here is the magical link you will need:
We either print your work in black ink throughout or in full colour where we use (four colour) CMYK inks to make up the millions of possible colours within the gamut. Full colour is going to give you far more impact for your images so they jump out at the reader. Black ink printing is cheaper because we are only using one ‘colour’. One example where you might want to print in black ink is for a colouring book. Colouring books are an increasingly simple way of illustrators getting their already completed artwork out there and bringing in some more money.
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