Illustrated Children's Books and Outsourcing

[Aisha]

Has anyone tried out publishing illustrated children's books? I have an idea I want to get started on and while my drawing skills are somewhat passable, for the niche I want to go into it will be important to have nicely illustrated and colorful images (ie. not stick people). I've been looking to outsource the illustrations and was wondering if anyone has used Fiverr for these types of services and if so what were your general impressions? Did you have to work your way through several illustrators before you settled on just one? Or did you just run with the best portfolio for your needs. Also, looking ahead were you able to still use the same person for successive books?

Basically this will give me an idea if I should brush up my drawing skills by taking some classes to do it myself (will definitely be some time investment over the short term but could be easier in the long run - maybe?) or just start outsourcing from the get go.

Thanks!

 

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[EricZ]

Has anyone tried out publishing illustrated children's books? I have an idea I want to get started on and while my drawing skills are somewhat passable, for the niche I want to go into it will be important to have nicely illustrated and colorful images (ie. not stick people). I've been looking to outsource the illustrations and was wondering if anyone has used Fiverr for these types of services and if so what were your general impressions? Did you have to work your way through several illustrators before you settled on just one? Or did you just run with the best portfolio for your needs. Also, looking ahead were you able to still use the same person for successive books?

Basically this will give me an idea if I should brush up my drawing skills by taking some classes to do it myself (will definitely be some time investment over the short term but could be easier in the long run - maybe?) or just start outsourcing from the get go.

Thanks!

There is no easy answer to this one.

You are going to have to try them yourself.

For example some designers will do work BETTER than yours and you will be massively stoked,
Others will not and you will be wasting time in a constant loop of iterations, re-work, miscommunications.

My experience with Fivver is wishy-washy at best. You get quick responses because people MUST get those first reviews and contracts -- but follow-ups are then totally forgotten :-(

So Fivvers is real hit and miss - there ARE good people on Fivver - but you gotta find 'em.

99designs is totally different, people gotta bid on your contract and you can see some preliminary results FIRST - before committing, of course 99designs is more expensive.

So you see the task you have - you're gonna have to figure this part out for yourself - obviously.

I solved it in my case by doing my own illu's and everthing, and then publishing on CreateSpace.
I consider Createspace MANDATORY (!) you will make way more money on Createspace than Kindle!

Hope this helps
http://www.zbooks.co/2016/07/how-to-painlessly-create-createspace.html

 

[Aisha]

Thanks so much for you reply Eric!

That was also my worry about Fiverr, about it being hit and miss. It looks like I will have to do some digging. I hadn't even considered 99designs. I will have to go take a look at that, I think it might be more up my alley.

Thanks for posting that link, I was actually considering Createspace because from what I understand, chidlren's books don't do so well on Kindle.

 

[EricZ]

Thanks so much for you reply Eric!

That was also my worry about Fiverr, about it being hit and miss. It looks like I will have to do some digging. I hadn't even considered 99designs. I will have to go take a look at that, I think it might be more up my alley.

Thanks for posting that link, I was actually considering Createspace because from what I understand, chidlren's books don't do so well on Kindle.

You're welcome!
Use the 8x11" Template in CreateSpace for kids books - works the best.

 

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[Faithlaine]

Hi,

Do you use a special software for your illustration? Can I use a free software online? if yes, which one do you suggest?

 

[EricZ]

Hi,

Do you use a special software for your illustration? Can I use a free software online? if yes, which one do you suggest?

I use Inkscape, Gimp, and Canva, all FREE nothing else required!
Here are some of my book cover tutorials,
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUK9tzvCLWuSMRE_63u6ML2RDHdNjTcIm

was thinking about making better quality vids and packing them in a course! What do you think?
There have been a lot of requests for how to make CreateSpace covers...hmmm...smells like a product brewing...

 

[EricZ]

Hi,

Do you use a special software for your illustration? Can I use a free software online? if yes, which one do you suggest?

I use Inkscape, Gimp, and Canva, all FREE nothing else required!

Here is an animated gif made with pen,pencil, and inkscape+gimp:

 

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[Faithlaine]

I use Inkscape, Gimp, and Canva, all FREE nothing else required!

Here is an animated gif made with pen,pencil, and inkscape+gimp:

I really like your animated gift, I'm far from that. LOL. Yes, having a package is a good idea, more likely you will find customers, but I'm not (yet) close to a fastlane line. I have Inskcape (never used it), Gimp too, so i will have to download Canva, and use them.
Thank you for the videos.

 

[Aisha]

In addition to what Eric has said, I've also downloaded Krita. I've just been dabbling around but if you're not married to any program yet you might want to give it a try and see if you like it.