Craft2Publish

FAQ

At Craft2Publish, we've perfected the art of creating beautifully crafted children's books. Our streamlined process simplifies the journey for authors, ensuring a seamless experience from idea to printed masterpiece. Here's how it works:

Step #1: Share your story with us, and we'll help refine it, ensuring it's ready for publication.
Step #2: We'll design the layout and storyboard, setting the stage for your tale.
Step #3: Our talented team will bring your characters to life through vibrant illustrations.
Step #4: From sketches to final artwork, we'll craft each illustration with care and precision.
Step #5: You'll have the opportunity to review the digital proof of your book, ensuring every detail is perfect.
Step #6: Once approved, we'll prepare print files for your chosen printing options.
Step #7: Sit back and await the arrival of your printed book, ready to be enjoyed by young readers everywhere!
Visit our Children's Book Illustration page for more details and to see examples of our work.

  1. At Craft 2 Publish, we genuinely think that writing a book should be an exciting and fun journey, and we work hard to ensure that every client has the best possible experience every step of the way. It is critical that we comprehend the plot, the characters, and the main idea of each project in order to guarantee that it realises its full potential. Although we would be pleased to speak with you over the phone to discuss your project in more detail, in order for us to provide you with a quote, we must receive the story and any supplementary project brief via email for our review. At this point, it would also be beneficial to let us know if you have any specific ideas for the illustrations. Please take a look at our "Children's Book Illustration" page, which includes examples of our previous work, to help you decide. After carefully evaluating your project, we will get in touch with you to discuss how we can be of further assistance, along with an estimated cost and timeline. While each project we work on is distinct and takes its own particular course, the operation of a basic book creation package is as follows.
  2. A booking fee is required to reserve a spot in our calendar once we have decided on the project's specifics and verified them through email correspondence. Although this cannot be refunded in the event that the reservation is cancelled, it will be subtracted from the total amount due when the project is finished. After payment, you will receive our official Acceptance of Commission document and an email confirming the reservation (please refer to our Terms & Conditions). The deposit (usually 50% of the agreed fee) is due a week or two before work is scheduled to start, and we will send you an invoice for this sum at that point. Kindly make sure that this amount is paid as soon as possible to facilitate a smooth start to the process. Assuming payment, work will start as close to the scheduled date as feasible. It is crucial to keep in mind that creativity is not an exact science and that projects may occasionally take a little longer than expected. As a result, there may occasionally be a brief delay in the start date; however, if this happens, we will keep you fully informed and work to get things started as soon as possible.
  3. Let’s Get Started. We must receive a few key components from you beforehand before we can start working on your project. The most crucial thing is to have your story's final, professionally edited manuscript—ideally in Word format. For us to fully understand your project and the goals you have in mind, it would be very beneficial if you could also send us a comprehensive project brief. Additionally important is a biography of the main characters, which will provide us with additional insight into them. Please send us a reference photo or two if any of the characters are based on real-life people. Any requirements for the illustrations must also be communicated to us; in particular, please let us know if there is anything you absolutely do not want to have included in the illustrations. If there is anything specific you would like to see represented, please describe it as thoroughly as you can, ideally with some reference images. All of this will assist in avoiding pointless and expensive work and minimise the amount of time needed for the editing stages. We will send you a Checksheet to fill out and return to us so that we can help compile all of this information and keep it in one convenient location. Before work starts, you can make changes or additions to this form at any time.
  4. Storyboard/Sketch Building. This is the stage where, once has completed her initial designs, you should carefully check the sketches/rough book template and make any comments or suggestions. Since every commission we take on is unique, this stage will periodically change to accommodate that. Every book we are asked to write is imagined, visualised, and illustrated in our own special way. Although we will make every effort to comply with your requests regarding illustrative content, we need creative freedom in order to produce our exceptional, one-of-a-kind books. Firstly, a text-based layout will be built, which will be sent to you to ensure that you are happy with the flow of your story. At this point, we will also start working on the main character(s)' basic design. We will first create an internal storyboard for your book, and from there we will begin to sketch. We will forward these sketches to you for approval once they are finished. To enable us to provide the best service possible, we allow up to a maximum of THREE rounds of revisions within the standard package at this stage, as it is vital to ensure that the basic book layout and sketches are correct. Please note that within our basic book creation packages, the revisions allow for edits and adjustments to the sketches, but any significant illustration changes or complete redraws may incur an extra charge. Further modifications after the three included in the process or any illustration changes requested after this stage will incur additional charges. Therefore, it is very important at this stage to make sure that you are honest with us and let us know in clear terms what you want to change, if anything, about the sketches. Otherwise, any changes to the illustrations requested later in the process will be chargeable.
  5. Illustration Development. The stage that can take the longest time to complete, and also when we get to colour everything! Please bear in mind that this stage usually requires anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks of work, and sometimes even longer, depending on the complexity of the illustrations. We will do our best to advise you at the earliest opportunity if your illustrations require significantly longer than this to complete.
  6. Book Generation. The book comes to life! This stage involves importing the images and beginning editing and will take approximately 2 weeks to complete.
  7. Payment/Final Files. The remaining amount—typically 50% of the agreed-upon fee less the initial booking fee—must be paid when we get closer to the point at which the illustrations will be finished and prepared for the book to be assembled. We will send you the final proof to review as soon as the payment has been received and the work has been completed. Please note that this payment must be made in full before proceeding, as the files we send you will be the completed book, ready for final editing.
  8. We will work with you to correct any minor mistakes, such as typos or imperfections, that may have crept into the book after you have received it and thoroughly read it (note: significant illustration changes cannot be made at this stage). The completion of the book depends on these edits, so we always encourage you to take your time and thoroughly review everything at this point. We will do everything in our power to collaborate with you to identify and resolve any problems at this point, but please be aware that final approval is your responsibility (which is yet another reason to have a professional proofread your final draft story!). We allow for TWO rounds of final edits as part of the package pricing because we know that some things can slip past even the most perceptive eye. After this, however, any additional edits or changes requested will incur fees.
  9. And to Conclude... We ask that you sign off on the project in writing, usually through email, once the final editing step is finished. As soon as we obtain this, we will put together all of the final print files and send them to you, giving you everything you need to set up a book printing.

Depending on several factors, such as:

  • How long your story is
  • The intricacy and quantity of the needed illustrations
  • When requested, the feedback's content and receipt
  • The selected book creation package

In general, it takes three to four months to finish a book that is between twenty-eight and thirty-six pages long.

Books that require more work—such as ones with more pages, pictures, or intricate illustrations—or those for which customers opt to use our Premium Package may take up to five months to finish.

You have the freedom to print as many copies as you like! Whether you need ten, a thousand, or even ten thousand copies, your printer can accommodate your requirements.
Pro tip! Printing a larger quantity of books at once typically reduces the cost per book. However, consider your storage space before opting for a large print run. We recommend starting with a small print run of around 20 copies to ensure everything is perfect before committing to a larger order. Despite rigorous checking, errors can sometimes slip through, so it's wise to verify the correctness of your book with a small batch first.

To ensure a seamless and efficient process, we kindly request the following from you before we begin crafting your masterpiece:



  • A fully completed and professionally proofread manuscript of your story.
  • Detailed descriptions of all main characters, including any specific clothing colors or styles.
  • An engaging and descriptive paragraph for the back cover.
  • If desired, a dedication for inclusion inside the book.
  • Any additional specifics or project briefs you deem important.

Clear and well-defined reference photographs, if available.

Indeed! We do offer payment plans to help spread out the costs because we recognise how big of an investment a project can be.