People Do Not Know How Easy it is to Publish Children’s Books on Amazon KDP

My 10-year-old son Kye Kretz has been creating art since he could hold a crayon. Over the years, we have made a few little books, but over the summer Kye decided he would like to make a Halloween ABC book. He selected the words and drew the images. After making other books, I looked into getting a more official looking version of the books. I discovered Amazon KDP and have loved the easy way it has allowed us to publish the books illustrated by Kye.

Kye had already created the Halloween ABC book images and we had designed the pages in Canva. Next, he created an Animal ABC book. We made a story book called Veggie Borough and we printed all of these books for ourselves at Walgreens with their $10 spiral photo books.

I thought it would be fun to try and see if we could print real looking books. With this purpose in mind I asked one of our librarians if there was anyone in town who printed books. She asked me if I had ever heard of Amazon KDP. She was the second person who had recommended Amazon KDP. My author friend Tasha Hackett had also suggested using it. So, I decided to watch a Youtube video about it.

Since we had created our images in Canva it was really easy to resize them for Amazon’s dimensions.

I made several mistakes on the first book, but once I figured out the formatting sizes things went a lot easier. I use canva for almost all steps before uploading the final PDFs to Amazon KDP. Up to the present time Kye has illustrated 9 books and is working on three at this time. I have two other friends (that I know of) Janette Foreman and Meghan Salsbury that have also created children’s books on KDP.

Kye is very proud of what he has done. He considers himself an artist and writer. This whole process has increased his confidence. I believe the books Kye has created will inspire other children to become artists or writers because they can see what another kid has done.

I would love to hear about your projects and discuss with you if Amazon KDP could help you have a physical copy of your book.

A Few Fairy Tales

A retelling of the the Three Little PIgs, the Honest Woodsman, and the Gingerbread Man. I have never really loved how the Gingerbread Man gets eaten at the end of the story, so I changed it. The three little pigs is also very different from the original version. I would love to hear what your kiddos think about the changes.

Animal ABC

Kye drew animals for each letter of the alphabet.

At the Zoo

This fun little book about animals at the zoo can be sung to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat. Kye created the text and the images for this book.

Famous Donuts From Around the World

Kye’s idea for this book was to hide donuts in images of animals. We focused on donuts that are famous in different countries and Kye created donuts and animals from those countries.

Fun on the Farm

This is a retelling of Old McDonald had a farm where he cannot find his farm animals. Little ones enjoy pointing out where the animals are hiding. My children loved Baa Baa Black sheep but it is a pretty short little tune. Have you any Wool? expands Baa Baa Black Sheep to teach kids about colors. These two very popular farm songs should entertain little readers.

Halloween ABC

Kye created a Halloween image for all the letters of the alphabet.

How to Draw Step by Step

This book shows kids easy steps to draw fun things like dragons, dogs, mermaids, and many more.

Ol’ Cap’ Scurvy

This was the first book we created. Kye created the character of Ol’ Cap’ Scurvy and the animals out of paper when he was 8. It is sung to the tune of Old McDonald Had a Farm.

The Amazing Animals of Terramenta

This book is Kye’s favorite. He feels it is for an older audience. He created animals from another world and describes their features and elemental powers.

I combined all of the books Kye created when he was 9 in this one big hardback. It even has a bonus story not included in any other book called 5 Small Spiny Slimies.