How to self-publish a children's book

Celeste Morgan with her son Finn

 The saying goes ‘we all have a book in us’, but in reality, there are few that actually become real-life authors. Celeste Morgan’s dream job has always been to write for children but it wasn’t until she had her own child that it all fell into place. 

In this post Celeste explains how she crowdfunded and self-published her children’s book – ‘My Little Friends in the Mirror’.

Celeste self-published a mirror book for children after watching her son Finn, who was about 6 months old at the time, become obsessed with mirrors.

According to Celeste, self-publishing has become a lot easier with print on demand services such as IngramSpark and CreateSpace (via Amazon.com) giving aspiring authors avenues outside traditional publishing.

“You could say the publishing industry is currently being disrupted in the same fashion as Uber or Airbnb by people self-publishing,” she says.

Even with these easier and achievable options available, there were obstacles along the way.

“Unfortunately, I probably chose the hardest possible book to self-publish! It’s not yet possible to print a board book on demand, as the thick card make them a specialist print - the vast majority of which is done in China. To make it just that little bit more complicated I decided to integrate a mirror on every page. I was rejected by lots of printers - either because they wouldn’t do a small print run, they couldn’t supply good quality mirrors or just because it was too hard! Finally, I found a willing printer in Shenzhen who were willing to work with me to source great mirror material and develop the design and I’m so happy with the final product!”.

Before you jump in, Celeste recommends to ensure you do your research.

“Seek advice, join relevant Facebook groups and Google the heck out of it - if I can do it with no prior experience, anyone can!”

You also have the advantage of keeping control over everything and you’re not at the mercy of a publisher. Celeste describes the process as ‘liberating’.

Another non-traditional journey the author embarked on was crowdfunding to support the cost of printing.

“I had never run or even contributed to a crowdfunding campaign before! I had vaguely heard of it, and once I began to realise the costs of printing stock I realised I needed some help with capital.

“It was daunting to raise $12000 in a month, and it took a lot of work - getting on top of social media and really calling in favours with old friends and new to promote it to their friends.

“I was so heartened by the kindness of strangers and it gave me confidence in the concept that people were willing to support it! The book simply wouldn’t have been possible without crowdfunding - I’m so grateful to those 190 people!”.

The book itself centers around the obsession babies have with that ‘other’ baby in the mirror.

“It fascinated me that babies don’t actually know it’s their reflection - they think it’s a cool little friend in there to play with,” Celeste says.

The characters in the book are animals to ensure the book is gender and race neutral which Celeste says was important to her “so that any baby could enjoy it”. Also, developmental aspects in terms of learning about facial expressions and the uses of different parts of the face are incorporated into the story.

The book is designed for ‘baby drool and toddler tantrums’ with tough board and non-glass mirrors. It is available for purchase via the baby in the mirror website. You can also follow on Instagram @babyinthemirror