KidPub Publishing: Common Questions
Here's a collection of questions that our authors have asked about publishing their book with KidPub. If you have a question that isn't answered here, just ask!
Q: Must I be a member of KidPub to publish my book?
A: Although we would love for you to be part of our community, you do not need to be a member in order to publish at KidPub.
Q: Can I publish a collection of short stories or poems?
A: Absolutely. You have complete control over the material that is in your book. You can publish a full chapter book, or a collection, or whatever else you like.
Q: Can my school class or church group publish a book?
A: Absolutely. We think this a great program for classrooms, church groups, scout packs, or any other group that wants to publish a book.
Q: How long does it take?
A: It takes us about a week to format and edit your material and send it to you for approval. Once you have approved it, expect to see books in your hand about two weeks later.
Q: How many pages can my book have?
A: The minimum number of pages is 25. There is no maximum number, however if the book is over about 500 pages we might think about doing it in two volumes. There are approximately 250 to 300 words per page.
Q: Where will my books be offered for sale?
A: On Amazon.com, the world's largest bookstore. And on KidPub.com, the world's largest website for stories by kids.
Q: Will my book be sold at other bookstores?
A: No, our packages only offer your book for sale at Amazon and KidPub.
Q: What is a royalty?
A: A royalty is money paid to you for each book that is sold on Amazon or KidPub. The royalty is set at 25% of the retail price (which is quite high for the publishing world!)
Q: What price should my book sell for?
A: Generally speaking, paperbacks sell for between $12.95 and $16.95. Your royalty is based on the price that you pick. For example, if you decide to offer your book at $15.95, your royalty for each book comes to 25% of $15.95, or $3.99.
Q: How often are royalties paid?
A: Four times per year, in April, July, October, and January.
Q: How often will I receive a royalty report?
A: We will send out sales reports on a monthly basis by email.
Q: What if my book becomes really popular?
A: Congratulations! You will be paid royalties on every copy that is sold. Because we use Amazon to market and deliver books, if you sell 10,000 copies it isn't a problem!
Q: Can I use a pen name?
A: Yes, but you probably don't want to use the name of another author!
Q: How many book titles can I publish?
A: As many as you like. Each book title published will require purchase of a publishing package.
Q: Can I buy more books than are in my package?
A: Yes, at a discount. For example, if you bought the 10-book package, each additional book costs just $8.00.
Q: Can I sell my own books?
A: Yes. You can order copies of your book and sell them wherever you like. You might take some to your local bookstore, or to a fair or market, or sell them on your own website. You do not receive royalties for this kind of sale, but you keep the difference between the selling price and the price you paid per book. In other words, if you buy 10 copies at $8 each, and sell them for $15.95, you keep $7.95 of each sale.
Q: Does KidPub edit my material?
A: KidPub does a light edit, which means that we correct most spelling errors and will correct simple grammar errors. We will not significantly change what you send to us. We also format your book for printing.
Q: What size is the book that is printed?
A: Books are printed as trade paperbacks, 6" x 9", similar to what you find on the bookshelves at your library or bookstore. They have a glossy stock cover and cream-colored paper inside.
Q: Can I include pictures or illustrations?
A: Yes, however they might not print well. If you want to use an illustration inside your book, we will test it to see what it might look like in the book. In general, line drawings should be fine, and elaborate color photos would not be fine.
Q: Can I include a dedication?
A: Yes, just put your dedication on a page at the front of your book.
Q: Should I include a Table of Contents?
A: Most chapter books will not need a Table of Contents. Collections of stories or poetry typically do have one. If you want to inculde a Table of Contents, Make one at the fron of your book, and we will update the page numbers and format it correctly for you.
Q: Who owns the copyright to my book?
A: You do. We will send you our publishing contract, which both you and your parent needs to sign. It assigns rights to KidPub to publish your material in book form but you retain all rights to your work.
Q: What about a front and back cover?
A: You are responsible for providing a front cover. The Publishing Guide has information about the size and colors that should be used. You can use a variety of tools to create your cover, including Microsoft Paint, various programs for the Mac, or you may scan your artwork. The back cover has a standard format that includes a paragraph about you, a paragraph about the book, an ISBN number, and any additional information that you want to appear.
If you have other questions, please leave them as a comment (KidPub members) or email to info@kidpub.com.
KidPub Authors Club members can post their own stories, comment on stories they've read, play on KidMud, enter our contests, and more! Want to join in on the fun? Joining is easy!
how long does it take to get the publishing guide?
Well, we're still writing it, so give us another day or so...
The first edition of the Guide has been sent to all who've asked for it. I noticed that a few email messages were bounced back; if you didn't get your Guide yet, and you asked for one, send a note to books@kidpub.com and we'll try again.
The books included in the packages are the books you guys send to me, or the ammount of books YOUR gonna sell on kidpub and amazon? I know its kinda a dumb question, but, im curious.
~*Alexandria*~ o.o AND *NILL@* ICE-CREAM-GIRL! ;)
"ICE CWEEM FUR EVERYONE!"- Nilla Crem- ICE-CREAM GIRL
It's the number of books delivered to you. So, if you purchase the 10-book package, you get ten copies delivered to you.
Thanks Perry!!! :)
~*Alexandria*~ o.o AND *NILL@* ICE-CREAM-GIRL! ;)
"ICE CWEEM FUR EVERYONE!"- Nilla Crem- ICE-CREAM GIRL
Yes, that is right. If you pay for ten copies you will ten copies in at least two weeks in the mail! Have fun publishing!
How do you sell???
How do you sell???
Get popular, make the book intresting with a cool cover. My opinion is-the more pages the book has, the better. Anyways, can our book be made into a movie?
<~*'Savanna'*~>
"Keep watching to the skies untill they land into our lives."-me and all the rest of the Transformers fangirls in this world.
Well, usually only really popular books such as Harry Potter and Twilight get made into movies, so unless your book got really popular ~as in, worldwide~ the answer is probably no.
Awww... Did you know the Warriors series MIGHT be made into a movie in 2011!!!
<~*'Savanna'*~>
"Keep watching to the skies untill they land into our lives."-me and all the rest of the Transformers fangirls in this world.
I was wondering...
Do people browse Amazon the way someone browses in a bookstore? Because, if they don't, how is anyone going to know about you story???
*Create wonderful things* *Be good* * Have fun* *Write on*
Katrina
If you buy the package of five can you make five different books or do they all have to be the same?
They're all the same...
No they do not all have to be the same.
I'm stumped. How do you get it on Word Format again? I got a little confused.
My middle name is Marie and it means bitter. I am not bitter!
You can use any word processor that you want...Word, WordPad, a text editor, OpenOffice, and so on. All you need is something that will save your text as a file that you can email to KidPub.
Um, one question. Do we just include all the chapters without any labeling? Like, at the start of a new chapter do we need to put "Chapter 3" or something like that? Or will you do that for us? I wasn't exactly sure about how you'd find out but you could just read it on kidpub...I, mean, well....yeah. Um. And do we need a title page, etc.? And also, how are people supposed to find out about us? Will you be doing any advertising? Just wondering, thanks!
Please answer my question, perry. All of them. i notice how you're..ignoring the "will you be doing any advertising" thing. were not gonna get any money off of this, you are. Ugh!! Well i'm sorry for being so rude. anyway, answer the first question, at least...please?
Not to be rude but will you freakin answer my questions??? PLEASE
I'll answer one of those questions: the one about advertising. Usually, if your parents buy the book you wrote from KidPub, you'll sell them to people you know, and probably give some to your teacher/s. Also, during parent-teacher confrences, you can also request to sell your book there. (I did that with Journeys of the Pack.) Additionally, KidPub does a press release for your book, meaning that they tell newspapers and such about your book. I hope that answers your question!
_______________________
I love Siberian Huskies!
Since you can't usualy draw your pictures for your book when you're typing, if you sent them in as original drawings on seperate paper from your story would you know where to put them?
Woah, when and why did the price jump? There used a few packages, but now's there's only one. And I thought a five book package was only $59. Why the price jump?
And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. ~Alma 32:21
thankyou perry for making this because it answers alot of my questions! im already working on the document but i do still have one tiny question.
Q: Could two authors publish the same book?
Q: Would it be considered copyright if you used the same first and last name in your story thats in a different story?
thankyou, Kimberly
I'll answer for Perry.
Um, if you mean two authors writing one book, then yeah. If you mean one author writing a book and publishing it and another person copying it and publishing, then no, that's illegal. Copyright infrigment.
If the name is copyrighted, meaning that you can't use it at all, then no. But yes, you can, but you would be criticized of copying. It's just not illegal.
Hope this helps!
http://www.peaceluvandlaughter.webs.com Go there. Now.
How do we publish it? How do we send it? How do we sell it? How?
How long can the dedication be?
How many people can we dedicate the book to?
The dedication can probably be as long as you want it to be, and dedicated to as many people as you want it to be, but if your dedication is longer than a page, you could also make a "special thanks to" section at the back of your book. I hope that helps!
_______________________
I love Siberian Huskies!
Does kidpub have a place were we can get a proffesional artist to make a cover if we are not a good artist?
To be a well-flavored man is the gift of fortune, but to write or read comes by nature.
Yeah. Perry said that you don't have to draw the cover, and that they had cover designers.
Or something like that. :P *short-term memory loss*
http://www.peaceluvandlaughter.webs.com Go there. Now.
For covers, we have a licensing agreement with iStockPhotos.com, and most of the covers that we design at KidPub use images from them. You can browse around and look for art that you might like to use there, and send us a link to it.
Some of our authors draww their own cover, or have a friend or family member do it.
Okay do you have to purchase a publishing guide? I've seen different things, like "purchase a publishing guide" and "free publishing guide". Which one is it? Can I download it, or do I have to buy it?
"Ummm, Patrick you have icecream on your eyebrows."
"Yeah that's the problem with this brand."
~Spongebob Squarepants
The publishing guide is free, you can download it by filling in a short form. It's on the Publish Your Book menu link above.
How many books typically should we bye to sell, outside the Amazon and Kidpub bookstore?
~If creating pictures without the use of paints or motion picture is magic, then damn, I'm a good sorcerer. XD~ ~>Hanna
A lot depends on how much effort you want ot put into selling your book. Our top-sellers right now have each sold 200 to 300 copies of their books on their own, but on the flip side, some have sold just one or two.
There are many ways to promote and sell your book yourself. The best seem to be book signings at local bookstores and coffee shops, and signings at school.
The average sales across all of our books is just over 80. My advice is to start small, with maybe ten extra copies to sell, and if you sell those, come back for more. If you are doing a book signing at a bookstore you'll probably want more, perhaps 25 extras. It only takes a week to get more copies from KidPub, so you can pla a little bit ahead and avoid buying truckloads of books that'll take a year to sell.
Er, if you posted the story on KidPub, can you still publish it? I'm just wondering.
Thanks.
I think you still can, but I guess you have to delete it because people will just read your story instead of buying it. Another way is to post half of it and if the readers want to read the rest, then they'll have to buy your book. :D
That is all. >-
Lol, tis what I'll do then.
Yeah, i thought you had to only post half of it or something, I just wanted to know..
Sure, in fact, posting it on KP (or parts of it at least) is a good way to 'preview' the book and work some of the kinks out.
I was on Kasey Dallman (the author of the new book With The Flash of Lightning)'s website, and I noticed that she has her book for sale on barnesandnobles.com/ How'd she swing that?
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
We're working on a distribution agreement with Barnes and Noble. It hasn't been announced yet, but our books are starting to show up on their site.
We found out last week that Target and Amazon have ended their relationship...Amazon basically ran Target's online store. Because of that, our books are no longer available at Target.com (still need to update the site to reflect that). I'm hoping that Barnes and Noble makes up for that.
Not all of the older titles will show up on Barnes and Noble yet (they will eventually, just not right away), but all new books published from August 2009 on should be there.
Thanks so much! Ooo, this helps me out a lot with convincing my dad to go for publishing . . . Barnes and Noble being a big name and all. Our books will only be available online, correct? Not in actual bookstores?
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
At the moment it's just online. To be considered for sale in their physical bookstores, B&N requires the book to have the title on the spine. To put text on the spine, the finished book needs to e at least 100 pages long. So, not all of our books are eligible for submission to B&N's physical bookstore.
But if you do write more than a 100 pages, will we be put in the physical bookstore?
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
Wow, that's so radical.
B&N, I mean.
It would be totally awesome to see a KP name in their bookstore! I go there every week, it's like a home to me.
OOH it would be awesome if there was a hole section of books by KidPub authors. Actually that sounds pretty weird now that I've put it into words but I can totally see that. BOOKS BY KIDS YOUR AGE! I dunno, lol.
So do KidPub books have the titles on the spine or no? Just wondering, cos I've never bought one.
Ouch. I've lost myself again. ~Sia, "Breathe"
How light is your "light" edit, Perry? Light as in just checking for spelling and grammar errors, or light as in fixing the format if it's wrong as well as checking for spelling and grammar errors? Between my two longest, I've got well over a hundred pages of format that needs editing...
The magic exists...
We do a couple of editing passes. One is purely mechanical...fix the misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, extra spaces, and so on.The most common error is punctuation in dialog.
Once that's done, we do a rough layout of the book, putting it into 6x9" format. Then another editing pass, this one a closer read for things we missed the first time, as well as a 'continuity' edit...meaning we'll try to correct things that don't make sense ('where did he suddenly get a ham sandwich?').
After this pass, we complete the layout, dropping in chapter headings and tweaking how the pages fall, and we also at this time do the front matter...copyright, title page dedication, and so on. At this point we pass it back to the author for review.
After incorporating review edits, we'll do one final quick read to see if there's anything obvious wrong. The author sees it one final time, and then we both sign off on it and get it ready for press.
So if it's not the appropriate format? You'll fix it?
The magic exists...
Correct. The manuscript gets reformatted during our process. If there's special formatting that is part of the story, just let us know and we'll work with it.
Phew that's good...I think I'd go crazy trying to reformat both of them....
The magic exists...
hey, what happens if i write a sequel to inkdeath? will i get sued?
"Wisdom comes from wonder." -Chinese Anonymous
I'll answer that. Yes you will, Corneilia Funke has a copywrite thingy on the Inkheart series. You can get sent to jail from doing that. Tha's why fanfictions will never get published except for Alan Dean Foster's Transformers fanfictions.(I have them.) You acually might be able to, you'll have to get permission from the author.
<~*'Savanna'*~>
"Keep watching to the skies untill they land into our lives."-me and all the rest of the Transformers fangirls in this world.
thanks! darn.......
"Wisdom comes from wonder." -Chinese Anonymous
Maybe you can get her email adress and ask her!:D That's why I'm gonna go get Alan Dean Foster and ask him how he got his fanfictions published into 350 paged novels full of COMPLETE AWESOMNESS WITH EVEN MORE EPICNESS!
<~*'Savanna'*~>
"Keep watching to the skies untill they land into our lives."-me and all the rest of the Transformers fangirls in this world.
If your book is 100 pages or more will it be in the B&N's physical bookstore?
That will be B&N's decision. And welcome to KidPub HappyFeet. Assist me in the Writer's Block or I will bring the wrath of quantum foam that exists in point particle universes but not in superstring universes.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" -- Sabriel and Lirael, Abhorsen Trilogy, Garth Nix
BTW, the name is Sagar. Satir Confisica is just my newly formed Pen Name. Clearly you are not wishing to express your first name, so I shall call you Minion #1.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" -- Sabriel and Lirael, Abhorsen Trilogy, Garth Nix
So you did use Holly's pen name after all? At least, part of it . . .
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
I still wish to be called Lord Sagar the Awesomely AStrophysical, however.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" -- Sabriel and Lirael, Abhorsen Trilogy, Garth Nix
I'll stick with Satir C. There is no way in Heck I'm gonna call you Lord Sagar the Awesomely Astrophysical. Sorry.
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
But what if some errors aren't errors, and were intentional?
For example, in my poetry book, I usually leave some words uncapitalised, or put in excessive hyphens or something. You can negotiate and keep it that way, or compromise, right?
~>Gingy, that nerd you see in the lunchroom spazzing out and yelling to someone across the room. There is one at every school. PEEVES WOS HERE~!
This website makes me feel offical
This website is the only place where I can't be made fun of for liking books, drawing and writing. I FIT IN SO WELL! *starts crying*
<~*'Savanna'*~>
"Keep watching to the skies untill they land into our lives."-me and all the rest of the Transformers fangirls in this world.
AMEN, sister. You wouldn't believe how many people laugh when I tell them I love reading and writing.Oh wait. You probably would.
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
When will the september contest come out?
EVERYONE wnats to know. Can you PLEAES tell us, Perry? Please? *puppy dog face*
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
grrrrr! Perry I emailed you with an idea for the september contest, its gold, please check it out!!!!!!
What was it? Is it the thing he gave us for the september/october contest?
A rumor hurts the worst when it's true.~A girl called Sarah from the sequel to a book I'm writing.
So if your book has 100 pgs or more will it have the title an stuff on the spine of the book? 0.o ^o o^
"We love the people who ignore us, and ignore the people we love"---Trina, Jacob, and Jelly
Something like that.. It's either 100 or 150 pages . . . I can't remember.
Say no to drugs. Say yes to tacos.~A shirt I saw somewhere.
Right now, 100 pages is the minimum for text on the spine. We're working this week with a printer who thinks they can do better...we'll keep you posted.
For the curious, we're not able to offer books that don't have the title on the spine to bookstores such as Barnes and Noble or Borders.
If my paragraphs are accidentally separated into lots of spaces after sentences will you fix it and make it a paragraph? Or will you leave that alone?
Thanks a bunch!
We'll fix them. Books go through at least two editing steps, one is the copy edit, where we make corrections to spelling grammar, punctuation, continuity, and so on. The second is a production edit, where we fix formatting issues.
By the way, I am writing a novel and I am about one fourth the way through. I am planning to publish it here. My brother is going to do the sketch illustrations. (He is getting an art degree in college.) So, I just need to know the last comment for future reference.
Thanks!
Is it free to get a cover page from the art on the website you mentioned? I mean, if you buy a publishing package is it free? Do you have to pay extra? Will your staff help me pick or make suggestions?
Thanks!
Correct, the publishing package includes the fee for licensing art from istockphoto.com. Just another service brought to you by KidPub Press :^)
Hey, Perry. I was wondering, if by chance there's volumes of something,( like...encyclopedia type volumes) but, at the time of the first publication the author doesn't have a volume, would the first book be changed to Volume I or something when the second book in that set is in publication?
The magic exists...
Hmm, a simple question with a complicated answer. The short answer is that we'd have to re-issue the book with Volume 1 on it. Not a huge deal, but it would need a new ISBN number. The problem is that the listing in Books In Print needs to match what is on the title page and cover, so if the title is changed, BIP needs to be changed, too, and we can't just change the title. It needs to be a new entry.
It's not a huge expense for us, so we'd probably just make the change for you, but it would be better for everyone i you knew ahead of time that there might be a second volume. Even if you think there -might- be a second volume, we would put 'volume 1' on the first book.
Alternatively, the second book could just be labeled as the second book in a series. Many multi-volume stories don't carry 'volume 1' or 'volume 2' and so on.
Another Question: If the author doesn't know how to make the cover, could they describe it to you and you'll make it? Also, if the book in question is more a journal type deal, then can you make the book become stressed? Like the pages different lengths and a more creamy type color with the font being cursive and there being hand sketched pictures?
The magic exists...
You can give them an idea and they'll show it to you, I was going to do that but I decided to draw it instead. The journal like book, I don't know. You might be able to, but I think the font cannot be in cursive.
<^~*'Savanna/GermanNinjaToast'*~^>
"Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies."-Starscream
"Whoa! Nice underpants, half-naked river dude!"-Random Stupid Guy-Avatar the Last Airbender
We can't change the size of the paper itself, but the cover could be made to be journal-like. We did something similar with With the Flash of Lightning, which looks like a school composition book. Generally speaking, the cover can be whatever you like, and if you only have an idea of what you want, we'll work with you to come up with something nice.
Got another question! Okay, so if the picture's hand drawn, is there anyway I could send it to you, and have you guys upload it into the book?
The magic exists...
When ever you mail your stuff to kidpub-like when your getting it published. You get this envelope, you just put the drawings in there and mail it to KP. That's what I did with my book-well, it's not done getting published but today I'm getting a picture of what my front cover will look like. I'm already done re-reading the edited version.
<^~*'Savanna/GermanNinjaToast'*~^>
"Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies."-Starscream
"Whoa! Nice underpants, half-naked river dude!"-Random Stupid Guy-Avatar the Last Airbender
Yep, we'll scan it and include it in the book. If you want the original back, just let us know.
Wait...will there be any trouble scanning if the drawing's pretty light and sketchy? (it's shaded, but other than that, it's pretty light.)
Thanks, Perry!
The magic exists...
Kay, I read that kidpub is for kids ages 8 to 15 or something like that. If you were to be 15 and still be writing your series, would you just have to swich to a different company? If you do, how do you do it?
<^~*'Savanna/GermanNinjaToast'*~^>
"Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies."-Starscream
"Whoa! Nice underpants, half-naked river dude!"-Random Stupid Guy-Avatar the Last Airbender
You'd probably just send it to TeenAuthor, which is like KidPub but for kids, and Perry created that site too. The book would still get sold at the KP bookstore if it's age-appropriate.
~>Gingy.
"Worrying is a waste of imagination." ~My brother
Not to be impatient or anything, but how long does it usually take to get a whole book finished?
I know. It's weird. But don't blame me, I'm too awesome to be weird :)
It counts on how long the book it, then it takes about a week to get it edited, then you read the edited version, if it's okay send it back, in a week or so you'll get to see what you front cover looks like. If you like it in at least a week it will be published. This is after paper work, money, front cover picture(if you want to draw it) is sent off.
<^~*'Savanna/GermanNinjaToast'*~^>
"Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies."-Starscream
"Keep looking to the skies until they land into our lives."-Me and the other insane Transformers-Decepticons Fangirls