Children's Book Publishing
Your children's book, done beautifully, illustration and all.
Crystal Swain-Bates has written 15 children's books and sold more than 750,000 copies. Now her studio publishes children's books for other authors, and handles the whole thing, including the part that stops most people: the illustration. You bring the story. We bring it to life.
Who it is for
For the author with a story worth getting right.
A children's book looks simple and is anything but. The wrong illustrator, the wrong trim size, or a character that looks different on every page can cost you months, thousands of dollars, and the book you pictured in your head.
This is for first-time and experienced children's book authors, and especially for authors creating diverse and Black children's books who want a Black children's book publisher that actually understands the mission, not just the market. You hand us the story. We hand you a book you are proud to put your name on.
The hardest part
The illustrator makes or breaks a children's book. So we handle it.
Finding a skilled, reliable illustrator who can keep your character consistent across an entire book, and actually deliver on time, is the single hardest part of making a children's book. It is where most first-time authors get stuck, overspend, and stall out. So we do not send you off to figure it out alone. We manage the illustration from start to finish, matched to your story, so your book stands with the best of them.
The package
The whole book, done for you.
You bring the manuscript or the idea. We handle everything it takes to turn it into a finished, published children's book.
- Custom illustrations for your story, managed end to end
- Cover and full interior design
- Print-ready files, formatted to specification
- Publishing and retailer setup, so you keep your rights
- Guidance on selling to schools, libraries, and in bulk
- You keep full rights and 100 percent of royalties
- Plus The Launch Kit, our done-for-you marketing starter
You keep everything you build. Your book is published under your own accounts, and you keep full rights, all royalties, and every file we create. Payment plans are available.
Proof
Clients whose books opened doors.
Dr. Arlyne Simon
Biochemical engineer and author of the Abby Invents series
Dr. Arlyne Simon is a biochemical engineer who invented a blood test that helps detect when cancer patients reject bone marrow transplants. She also writes Abby Invents, a STEM picture-book series that has reached K-5 classrooms, earned her a spot on a STEM trading card, and put a brilliant Black girl at the center of the story. Exactly the kind of book, and the kind of author, we exist to serve.
And of course, Crystal's own. Big Hair, Don't Care, Naturally Me, and a catalog of 15 titles have sold more than 750,000 copies. The standard we hold your book to is the one we built our own name on.
Nyesha and Samantha Davis-Williams
First-time authors of Umi & Uma: The Story of Two Mommies and a Baby
Nyesha and Samantha Davis-Williams wrote Umi & Uma because their daughter did not have a picture book that reflected her family, two queer women of color, anywhere on the shelf. So they made one, and we helped them bring it to life as a finished, professional book.
Where it went. Their book did not stay on a single shelf. It was featured at The Market at Macy's and stocked at a major children's library. That is what a professionally made children's book can do: open doors a homemade one never could.
The process
How a children's book actually gets made.
A picture book is not one job, it is a chain of them, and every link has to be right. Here is exactly how we take your story from a manuscript to a finished, illustrated book, so you know precisely what you are investing in.
We review your manuscript
We read your story closely and map it out: what happens on each page, how the words and pictures share the space, and where the pacing needs to breathe. This is the blueprint the whole book is built on.
We sketch every page
Our illustration team draws rough sketches for each page so you can see the book taking shape, the characters, the scenes, the flow, before a single final line is drawn.
You approve the sketches
You review the sketches and give feedback. Nothing moves forward until you are happy, because changes are easy at the sketch stage and expensive after.
We finalize the line art
Approved sketches become clean, polished line art, the finished drawing under every illustration.
We color the illustrations
Each page is fully colored and rendered, bright and joyful or soft and quiet, matched to the mood of your story.
We lay out the book
We place your text with the finished art, page by page, into a clean, professional interior that is ready for print.
We design the cover
Last, we create the cover that makes a child stop and reach for it, the face of the book everywhere it appears.
Plan for about four months. Custom illustration is careful, human work, and a children's book done right is roughly a four-month engagement from manuscript to finished book. If you have a launch, a season, or a school year in mind, reach out sooner rather than later so we can build the timeline around it.
Sample illustrations
The kind of art your story deserves.
Every book we make gets illustration matched to its story: bright and joyful for the adventures, soft and quiet for the hard conversations. These are real pages from real books we have published, including Crystal's own.
Questions authors ask
Children's book questions.
Do you illustrate the book for me?
Who are your illustrators?
How long does a children's book take?
How much does a children's book cost?
Who is this for?
Do I keep my rights?
Start your book
Let's make the book you have been picturing.
Book a call, bring your story, and we will handle the rest, illustration and all.