Roadblock to Roadmap!

Ever heard of trim sizes, bleeds, and print margins?  Neither had I.

Turns out, children’s book publishing is a lot more technical than I expected.

But I was determined—and maybe a little naive. I thought I could figure it out on my own.

So I started researching and found Pint Size Productions, a U.S. board book manufacturer with great explanations on bleeds and layouts.  That’s when I realized: my book was way too complex for a board book.

I pivoted to KDP, then to IngramSpark. By then, I was pulling my hair out.

The templates were overwhelming.  The formatting was confusing.  And my drawings? Let’s just say they looked like a grade school art project. 🙈

It felt like a dead end.

Then, two things happened—back to back.

• First, I took an online class with Miriam Laundry (more on her later).

• Second, I went to my daughters’ high school Holiday Bazaar.  There were the usual vendors—brownies, candles, cutting boards.

And then… across the gym, I saw her.

She was small but mighty, full of energy, and beaming at everyone who passed her booth. Her book title?  “Goodnight Menopause.” 

I stopped.

Then sprinted over and blurted something very cool and professional like: “Hi, are you an author? I want to be an author. Can you help me?”

And guess what?

She was incredibly kind. Her name was Melissa, and she told me about Fiverr, where she found a woman named Bryony who could help me with a page plan—so the illustrator would know exactly what to draw. See a sample below!

Bingo. 💡 That one conversation cracked open a whole world I hadn’t known existed.

Suddenly, my roadblock became a roadmap.

Now all I needed… was an illustrator.

And that’s where Miriam came in.

(More on that in the next post.)

💬 Have you ever had one conversation that changed everything?