Many of the children’s book authors I’ve worked with aren’t in this for the money. Yes, we all want to make something from our efforts and at least recoup our costs, and children’s books tend to be pricier because of the need for high quality illustration and the margins are slimmer because of the premium quality of paper required for all that ink. It can feel like an uphill battle for authors who are just trying to help kids. Whether they are trying to teach about a sport, improve self-esteem, introduce money topics early, or whatever their mission is, many children’s book authors have one book or one short series in mind. Well once those books are out… then what?

For authors there are some great options that I want to go over with you today:

Add a coloring book – Curly Crow Series (Nicholas is a channel member) – https://www.curlycrow.com/ Nicholas is growing the book series his mother began before she passed. Since he has illustrations and kids like to color, he asked his illustrator to provide additional coloring book files. He plans to work with LuLu to print and distribute these along with each book in the series.

Activity book (Keith’s Puzzle Book Domination Course) – so this is a similar idea, an additional book to go along. But activity books and puzzle books can be great for furthering the point you are trying to teach with your books. Especially if your age group is a bit older. Keith Wheeler was on the channel last year and we talked about his course that goes into every detail of creating puzzle books and activity books. He recently revamped the course, you can check it out here: https://warriorplus.com/o2/a/qvb5zj/0

One-off activities- Rob from M is for Money, he was on the channel earlier this year and decided to do a one-off activity. Making a money box with Stash. https://www.misformoneybook.com/money-box-competition This contest is giving him the opportunity to continue to connect with readers and parents, collect emails for his newsletter, get social media content around his book, and get kids excited about money. This is an excellent example of how to continue engaging.

Wrapping paper add-on – for anyone selling their books directly, you can add on a wrapping paper with your characters. This can make any holiday promotions really special. Maybe you throw in the wrapping paper when someone buys the set. But first, make sure you know how much would be needed to actually cover the book. https://refer.zazzlereferral.com/1mkwilliamsauthor

Toys or Plushies – So I’ve seen people talk about this a lot more often and to be honest, this would be the most difficult to execute in my opinion. You’re learning a whole new industry. Maybe stick with something simple first then look into this one.

A few things to keep in mind:
-If you are going back to a book you published earlier this year, or last year, or even earlier check the agreement you signed with your illustrator. They may need to sign off on additional uses of the characters created for monetary purposes. Also, you’re probably going to need help with some aspects of these items.
-Don’t make it MORE difficult than it needs to be. Maybe you love the idea of an activity book or puzzle book, but you feel intimated by learning a whole new system. Okay, start with coloring books and then after you finish Keith’s course, give it a try with activity books.

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