You have worked hard writing and illustrating your picture book. There are a few things left to do before publishing your picture book.
First is a decision as to whether what you have is really a picture book or should be an illustrated short story or easy reader. There is an excellent article about this in the November/December issue of Writer’s Digest.
Proofread Your Book
This is not a hasty scan. Yes, you know what each and every page should be. That’s the problem. You see what you expect to see, not what’s there.
Go over every word on every page. Go over every illustration. It’s a good idea to have someone else look over these too. Beta readers aren’t just for novels.
Make sure the illustrations are on the correct page. Right side pages have odd numbers. Left side pages have even numbers.
This is why I urged you to save every illustration and the covers in the original layers as well as the final illustration. If you want to make changes, you can do so on the layered image and not have to start over again.
Back Up Your Book
Although you should do this regularly, it’s easy to let things slide. And I have a special key devoted to my books.
Each book has a folder with the original final draft, the formatted drafts for the different places I publish it, all illustrations in both layered and final forms. For my science activity books this includes all of the puzzles with answers, the stories with illustrations and trivia lists.
Publishing Your Picture Book
Decide if you want a hardcover or paper cover or both. It’s a good idea to purchase your own ISBN numbers from Bowkers at myidentifiers.com. That way you can move to a different publisher, if you decide to, without major changes to your book.
Don’t skimp on the paper weight. Use the heavier paper so images don’t bleed through and the pages are easier to handle for young people.
There are many publishers out there. Check them out. I’ve used both Kindle and IngramSpark. I prefer IngramSpark for the color quality, but must maintain a seller account on Amazon for them. Kindle makes it easier to list on Amazon.
Once this book is published, start another one.
