How to Create & Self-Publish a Children's Book on Amazon KDP Using AI (Step-by-Step Guide)
Here, I'll even share how you can use AI and more to write your book faster and make the process easier.
Let me be honest — creating and self-publishing a children’s book is way easier than most people think.
But many people make it complicated, spend months stressing over small details, and never end up publishing.
To start with, you don’t need a publishing deal, industry connections, or years of experience.
You just need to follow a few simple steps to create a children’s book and then self-publish on KDP, and you’re on your way to making money.
And today, I’ll walk you through the entire process in the simplest way possible.
Along with that, I’ll also share some powerful AI tools and strategies to help you create you book faster and make things even easier.
With that said, let’s get started.
Step 1: Start by researching & validating your idea
Most people think about writing a book first and then check if there’s a demand.
Well, that’s a critical mistake.
You need to first research and validate your idea, and for that, there are a number of options like:
Visit Amazon and go through the top-selling children’s books in your niche. Note their titles, cover styles, keywords, pricing, and even read the reviews. You will learn a lot about what people are buying, what parents want to buy, and why they like specific books.
If you have followers on social media, take a quick survey or ask on platforms like Reddit to see if your idea resonates with your target audience.
If possible, find a number of parents who are buying children’s books and ask them a couple of questions.
Lastly, you can even use LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity to find the latest info, do research, and more.
Similarly, you can ask whatever comes to your mind while using the LLMs, and they will search the internet to find the right answer for you.
Step 2: Write the story
Since you’re creating a children’s book, you probably know they’re usually under 1,000 words.
But beyond word count, two key factors matter:
You should write the story based on what ages you are targeting.
Remember, parents are the ones buying the book, so your story needs to entertain children while also resonating with their parents.
Now, some of you may ask , what is a classic format we can write in?
Well, most children’s books follow a similar format like this:
Start by introducing the main character and other characters with simple, easy-to-remember names.
Then, add a problem or adventure that makes readers curious and excited to keep reading.
Finally, end the story with a happy and satisfying ending, along with a good lesson to remember.
Sure, you can use ChatGPT to help write the story:
But I suggest you to avoid ChatGPT and use your own skills. Add emotions, feelings, suspense, and your own creative touch.
No doubt, you are free to use ChatGPT to proofread your story or find any issues or typos in it.
And here are a few other key elements to keep in mind:
When you write, make sure your story matches what’s popular and what people like.
Use simple and interesting sentences.
Finally, the book should share a good lesson.
Step 3: Hire an illustrator to draw pictures or use Storybook
Now, here comes the most important part , you need illustrations for your children’s books.
You need to illustrate characters, scenes, and everything related to the story to grab the children’s attention.
And that’s where you need to spend money, and you need to be careful while hiring an illustrator.
Well, there are multiple options — you can hire freelancers, use online tools, leverage AI, and more.
But most people often use platforms like Fiverr to hire illustrators.
The process is simple:
Just visit Fiverr and search for “children’s book illustration”.
You will see a number of illustrators, and Fiverr even recommends some of the best in-demand freelancers.
Select your category, set your budget, and then go through each profile.
Check their illustrations, read reviews, and hire the one that you like.
This is one of the best ways to find great illustrators for your children’s book.
Here are some of the best illustrators from Fiverr that I hired myself:
Sure, you can also create illustrations by simply writing prompts on platforms like Leonardo AI, Midjourney, DALL·E, and more.
Here are some examples I’ve created in Leonardo AI with simple prompts:
After that, I can edit them in Canva or Photoshop to refine the illustrations and then build the children’s book.
One other way is to use Storybook right inside Gemini.
For that, simply visit Gemini, and in the left tab, you will see Storybook. Click on that, and then write the story you want to create.
Here’s what it generated when I tried:
But I don't recommend you to entirely use Gemini and create storybooks, since it will be more generic and maybe Amazon KDP won’t accept this. So it won’t be ideal for you.
Step 4: Create a stunning book cover
Now, let me be honest — even today, a book is judged by its cover.
And if you’re thinking that writing a great story and creating some illustrations will help you make millions, you are living in an illusion.
You even need an attention-grabbing cover image for your book. And for that, you have three simple options:
Option #1 — If you don’t want to complicate the process, simply hire a freelancer from Fiverr.
For that, you need to visit a platform like Fiverr, search for “book cover,” and then select one of the freelancers who will design your book cover for you.
Since the price is affordable, you can hire an expert in the range of just $10 to $100, based on your budget.
Option #2 — If you have some design experience, you can visit Canva and design a book cover by yourself.
But how? Simply go to Canva, search for “book covers,” and start designing one for yourself.
Option #3 — The last option is using AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and more to generate a stunning book cover, and then tweak a bit or edit your book cover on Canva.
Step 5: Format your children’s book
Now, here comes the boring part where you need to format your children’s book before uploading to Amazon KDP.
But why?
Because Amazon has strict guidelines, and if you don’t follow them, your book might not get approved or could end up poorly formatted.
And the KDP team recommends using their app “Kindle Create”.
Well, it’s basically an app from Amazon that allows you to easily format your book so that it can be published on KDP without any issues.
Here’s a great video that explains how to use Kindle Create:
Note that some even use Canva or Microsoft Word to format their book and even hire freelancers to do the same.
Of course, you can also go to Fiverr, search for “book formatting for Amazon KDP,” and hire the one you like.
Ultimately, it’s up to you which option you choose to format your book.
Step 6: Publish your children’s book on KDP
Now comes the fun part where you will be publishing your children’s book so that you can make money.
For that, simply visit the official KDP website and create your account.
Then click on the button “Create.”
Next, select what you want to create, like a Kindle eBook, Paperback, Hardcover, and more.
After that, the process is simple — you just need to add your book details, then the content, and lastly set the pricing as you want.
Here’s a step-by-step video if you want to see the complete flow:
Hope you like it.
That’s it — thanks.
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It's great to see a guide that breaks down the process so clearly. Using AI for research and illustrations is a smart approach that streamlines a lot of the initial work.
This is almost frighteningly easy