How it works

After 30 years of working with most major children's book publishers, we want to use our experience to help you to finally self-publish that story that has been in your head! Having already guided many authors towards realising their dream, we’ve created this step-by-step guide to help make the process clear and simple.

Here’s our simple guide to the process.

STEP

01

Upload your manuscript (Author)

Once you've got your story down on paper, you'll need to upload the manuscript to us, preferably as a Word document or a PDF. When you send over your manuscript, it's helpful to tell us a few details about your book's intended audience, and a brief synopsis of the story. The team here will then get in contact with you to kick off the process!

STEP

02

Review of manuscript (Editor)

One of our professional editors will review your manuscript and liaise with you to refine your work, if needed. The editor can help to hone your storytelling, ensuring that it's appropriate for your intended target audience and has market appeal. The editors costs will be agreed, and at this point, half of their fee will be invoiced.

STEP

03

Creation of art brief (Editor)

Upon payment of the first instalment, the editor will create an art brief with instructions to the illustrator. These directions will guide the illustrator on how best to visually accompany and enhance your story.

STEP

04

Creation of page layouts (Designer)

Upon full payment for the art brief, a designer will be enlisted to create the layouts for author approval. These layouts are vital in terms of determining the overall look of your finished product, as well as in guiding the illustrator with their work.

STEP

05

Pencil rough illustrations for initial characters (Illustrator)

Upon payment for the page layouts, the illustrator will start work on the pencil roughs. This will often start with sketches of the main characters, in order to solidify the desired style and make sure the illustrator has captured the spirit of your story. A payment schedule for the illustrator's work will also be agreed, with a portion to be invoiced upon commencement of work.

STEP

06

Pencil rough illustrations for the whole book (Illustrator)

Upon approval of any character sketches, the illustrator will start working from the brief to render the internal illustrations for the whole book. These will be available for review and comment, and the illustrator will be able to make minor amendments to the sketches for final approval.

STEP

07

Low-res colour finals (Illustrator)

Upon approval and payment for pencil roughs, the illustrator will move on to creating colour artwork from these sketches. These will be delivered as low-resolution files for final review, at which point the final instalment of payment for the illustrations will be made.

STEP

08

Delivery of final hi-res colour artwork (Illustrator)

Upon receipt of the final payment, the high-resolution print-ready and/or e-pub files are delivered.

STEP

09

Sales and Distribution (Author)

With your artwork now complete, you can choose how you wish to sell and market your book. You can create an account with Ingramspark.com who will walk you through their print, sales and distribution service and they'll liaise directly with you. Alternatively, there's iBooks Author and many other reputable options available. Kindlepreneur is a book marketing site that offers some great advice. Beehive doesn't get directly involved with print, sales and distribution.

COSTS

£

COSTS

The cost for editing your manuscript and creating the designs and illustrations will depend, to a great extent, on the length of your book and the amount of time involved. We've made a guide giving examples of different scenarios which you can access by clicking the link below.

We look forward to working with you to bring your project to life.


See cost examples/upload your manuscript