How Much Money Can You Make By Publishing A Children’s Book

Writing children’s books carries a stigma that we can never understand. People frequently react as though you are not writing an actual book when they get to know that you are writing a children’s book. What’s surprising is that even young adult authors occasionally encounter this reaction. Nobody appears to accept the fact that children’s books can be profitable too.

Children’s books are undoubtedly the best genre for authors to express creativity. Children’s books are fascinating, they are not simpler than adult literature, and you can make a handsome living if you write them the same way as you write for adults!

So, how much money are we specifically discussing here? Well, a number of factors affect it.

Regardless of the genre, writing isn’t a scheme to get rich quickly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t support yourself by doing it. No matter what genre you write in or who your target audience is, your business sense will significantly influence your financial success. 

Although romance is currently the most profitable genre, this does not guarantee that your romance novel will be successful. If an author doesn’t promote their book, it will still be a failure. Similarly, if you know how to market and sell your children’s book, you can make a lot of money!

However, all of that is quite ambiguous, and we can be more explicit about what to anticipate from working full-time as a children’s book author.

Can You Make A Full-Time Income Through Writing Children’s Books?

Absolutely! Many authors profit tremendously from writing children’s books. Like we said, if you play your cards well, you can support yourself as a writer in any genre. It’s true that some books are slow burners and become widely recognized through word of mouth, but it’s a lot to bet on chance, especially if you are self-publishing. Moreover, your book’s launch also has a significant role in the success of your book.

So, let’s examine more closely how self-publishing your book can affect your initial expenses as well as how self-publishing a children’s book can prove to be financially profitable over the long term.

How Much Can You Make With Children’s Books?

A different publication path that affords authors more creative freedom is self-publishing. Digital formats dominate this industry, and the majority of authors choose to list their books on the Kindle Store. However, if their book is priced reasonably, authors can earn up to 85% of revenue on this platform. The main draw is that you keep all these sales revenues; no agent is taking a share of your earnings.

So, how many books you sell will determine your income. For instance, if your revenue margin is 80%, each $2.99 book will bring in $2.5 for you. It means that if 30,000 copies of your book are sold, you will earn $60,000 yearly.

It takes a lot of effort to generate this amount of sales. Getting your name out there might be challenging when you don’t have a huge publishing house behind you to support your sales. That’s where professional book marketing services come in. They help you on every step of your book marketing journey and help you in reaching your desired sales targets. Therefore, if you are considering working with a book marketing service, you can contact one of our representatives for a quote.

Self-Publishing Children’s Books 

Without question, the upfront cost of self-publishing is its major disadvantage. You are paying for your editor, the cover design, the formatting, and everything else, which can get pretty expensive. Although this is plenty to discourage many authors from considering self-publishing, it is not the complete picture. It would be advisable to take your time with this approach if you want to profit from children’s books.

You can exercise creative control over each of these decisions if you self-publish. For example, one of your most effective marketing tools is choosing your own book cover, especially for children’s books that feature many illustrations. 

Despite the fact that it may not appear profitable to self-publish children’s books, exercising creative control over these significant marketing aspects is a terrific approach to guarantee success!

Moreover, you will have a significant advantage over other authors when it comes to book sales if you pursue self-publishing. Indeed, you don’t have to pay for your cover design or your editor when you publish traditionally. But this implies that you are receiving royalties as payment, which is where it becomes really constrained. Children’s books’ creative and aesthetic components significantly influence how much money you will make. In this way, your readership is highly discerning.

Due to the fact that you receive an advance or royalties up front for your book, traditional publishing may appear enticing. However, you won’t start to profit from your book until you have sold enough copies to cover your advance, and even then, you as the author will only be receiving a tiny fraction of your book’s total sales.

By self-publishing, you increase your share of the overall sale. Although you do not receive an advance, if you self-publish wisely, you will ultimately make more money since you are responsible for your own marketing.

Children’s Book: How Much Does It Cost to Publish One?

You are prepared to self-publish a children’s book. But have you ever wondered how much this would actually cost? Although we don’t want to keep saying it, it really depends on your book’s success. You will need to spend money if you want to generate profit from your book. The truth is that good design, fascinating artwork, and formats cannot be rushed.

Despite this, we are still able to estimate. You will need an illustrator, an editor, a formatter, and a cover designer for your children’s book. You can just deduct that amount from the total estimate if you can illustrate it yourself. We want to highlight once more that these are estimations, so you should conduct your own research to find the editors that are best for your project and learn how much they charge.

So let’s make an estimation.

You might go for an affordable option; on Fiverr, but affordability can’t guarantee quality. However, if you decide to hire a professional book cover design service, it would be a great alternative as they have professional designers by their side to craft an amazing book cover that could pique your reader’s attention.

Formatting is another thing to think about. In many cases, freelance cover designers will bundle formatting with their cover design, so I estimate the total to be around $800-$1000, which includes both the eBook and paperback covers as well as formatting. However, if you go for a professional design service, you can get an all-in-one package covering all these elements of creating a book cover.

Moreover, let’s not forget to add your editor, too; this depends, but a safe, cautious bet is about $500. You will also need an illustrator. An illustrator’s fee can range from $1,500 to $2,000, but it actually depends on who you hire and if they charge by the illustration, the hour, or the project.

So, instead of finding and shortlisting several designers, editors, and illustrators, hiring an all-inclusive book cover design service seems a much better option as they have an in-house team of all the professionals you need to craft and complete your book’s cover.

Can You Publish Your Children’s Book At An Affordable Price?

Sometimes, Yes. Where you find your editor and illustrator makes a huge difference. Good news: Since children’s books usually are shorter and require less editing, they are less expensive. The unfortunate fact is that illustrations can be pricey, especially good ones.

However, you can speak with one of our representatives to get an estimate if you want some high-quality service in exchange for a reasonable price. Our qualified team of professionals is skilled in all facets of book publishing.

Final Thoughts

Usually, it might be somewhat expensive to self-publish a children’s book. But here’s the thing: to produce the best final product, you want to pay for the best children’s book writing services. A genuinely talented cover designer may charge a little bit more. Still, the difference in sales between a cover they created professionally and one they attempted to develop on Canva will blow you away.

The bottom line is that your financial security comes first, and investing every last dollar you have in self-publishing won’t make your children’s book the next bestseller.

We only bring this up to emphasize that it is very feasible to make a life authoring children’s books. Just put effort into it and invest in it in the months leading up to your book launch.