I wrote a children's book called Sunny Day at Sunflower Ville in four days. It is a real book, live on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback, not a draft sitting in a folder somewhere. I wanted to write this post because I could not find anyone who actually told me what something like this costs, in real numbers, without trying to sell me a course first.
So here it is. Every dollar I spent and every hour it took, written down honestly.
Why I Wanted to Do This Fast
I had the story in my mind for a while before I sat down to write it. I know how easy it is to let a book idea sit for months, so I gave myself a weekend to start it and see it through. It ended up taking four days, start to finish, to write, illustrate, format, and get it live on KDP.
I also wanted to be honest about the cost, because most of what I found online was vague. Nobody tells you the actual number. So I tracked mine as I went.
A Few Things That Stayed True the Whole Way Through
Every word in the story is mine. I write the whole thing myself, always. Storybench, the tool I use, only helps with the illustrations and keeping the characters looking the same from page to page. It does not write any part of the story. That part matters to me, so I want to say it plainly here.
What It Cost
Storybench (illustration + consistency) - between $20–25 for a total of 14 illustrations. Image generation takes a minimum of 20 credits per illustration, depending on complexity, and 1 credit for any further small alterations each.
KDP proof copy (paperback) - I ordered an author copy for $10.
Total cost: $30–$35
What It Took in Time
Writing the story - I already had the story imagined and did some rough sketches of how it should look and sound, so it took me about 5–6 hours for this task.
Generating & revising illustrations - Image generation is one thing, and perfection is what I was chasing, so I kept at it until I got it right. This took roughly 6–8 hours for all 14 illustrations shown in the book.
Formatting for KDP - Storybench has a ready-to-export PDF option, so this was easy and took less than a few minutes. It also provides a cover-wrap export option.
Uploading, proofing, and publishing - For publishing on KDP, I had to fill in a lot of details. After that, I ran all the checks and submitted. My book went live on Amazon on Day 5.
A glimpse of my notes and sunflower lady sketch :
Check Sunflower lady watercolour art on my website - https://katzvue.com/posts/digital-watercolour-illustration/
Day 1 - Planning and writing draft
Day 2 - Creating illustrations and story pages
Day 3 - Finalizing and exporting
Day 4 - Publishing on KDP
Day 5 - Book live on Amazon
A Few Things That Surprised Me
Since Storybench took care of the illustrations with results that were almost exactly what I imagined, I was surprised that planning the pages and writing the draft took nearly as much time as creating the illustrations themselves. But it was all worth it, because the writing plays just as big a role as the illustrations in showing the idea behind the story. I cannot ask for a much lower cost than what I got, especially with that level of consistency. I did need a few alterations here and there, but Storybench did an incredible job of bringing my story to life.
What the Number Actually Means
I think most people imagine self-publishing a children's book costs somewhere between nothing and thousands of dollars, with no real sense of where the truth sits. For me, it landed at $35 total cost and 4 days. And at the end of it, I had a book that was fully mine, written in my own words, with illustrations that stayed consistent from the cover to the very last page.
For comparison, hiring a freelance illustrator for a picture book alone can run anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 or more, before you have even thought about marketing it.
Would I Do It This Fast Again?
My honest take: Creating book one is a little time-consuming, since it involves learning the tool, formatting, and studying prompts. But all that learning will definitely make book two, book three, and beyond much quicker, improving both time management and productivity.
If You Are Thinking About Doing This Yourself
You do not need a design background or a big budget to bring a story like this into the world. You need the story itself, and a few days you are willing to protect for it. If you want to see what came out of mine, Sunny Day at Sunflower Ville is live on Amazon now — https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Day-Sunflower-Ville-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0H7MQ6RTJ/