As a homeschooling family, we’ve made the choice to sacrifice that double full time income life. I am often looking for ways I can contribute to the family financially while still being home with the kids. With a newborn baby soon to make his debut, I started thinking about finding something I could do on my laptop during the many hours spent feeding/ holding a sleepy babe. I wanted to find something part time and flexible that I can work on here and there at my own pace. I stumbled upon Amazon KDP. It’s basically a way for anybody to be able to design and self publish books. These can be physical books or e-books. So far I’ve been drawn to designing physical books geared towards kids.
Back in the day I used to love playing around on Shutterfly and would use our favourite photos to design personalised family yearbooks for every year. I loved using this method to summarize each year’s highlights but unfortunately with the chaos that raising young kids brings, it’s something that has been pushed to the back burner. To be honest, I think I’m about 7 years behind! I really cherish these books and I do intend to get back to them eventually. I love the memories they provide, but I also really loved the actual design aspect of it. With my return to digital design through Amazon KDP, I’ve been able to tap into that creative outlet again and it feels good!
As with anything new, there’s definitely a learning curve. The designing comes naturally to me but figuring out the marketing side of things – key words, advertising strategies etc, is a whole new ball game! I’m sure those skills will come with time. For now, I thought I would share my first couple designs with you. I’ve tried a couple different styles of books – journals, primary composition books, sketch books, and even a coupon book! Good quality children’s picture books have always had a special place in my heart and I’ve always wanted to write a few… so hopefully this journey will lead me there in the future! Check out my first couple of books and let me know what you think, what you’d like to see, or any other feedback. It would be greatly appreciated!
My first design is a one-line-a-day gratitude journal that helps people look for the glimmers of joy that can be found every day. I ordered a copy of this one so I could see the quality of the product and it did not disappoint!
I designed two different dream journals which kids can use to record their dreams to help remember them and discover more about themselves and their subconscious mind.
When my kids saw what I was doing they wanted to try so I let them each design a cover for a sketchbook. The Dog Lovers Sketchbook is Maddy’s design, Unicorn Lovers Sketchbook is Zoey’s, and Ben helped with the Robot Sketchbook design.
I also designed this primary composition book. Geared towards kids ages 5-8, It has space for writing and drawing. This one is a summer journal for Mermaids, but I intend to design a couple more cover options soon!
This last one is a fun birthday gift. I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff my kids have accumulated over the years and have started looking for experience based gifts. A coupon book is a great way to give experiences instead of toys and can be personalised to your child/ grandchild/ niece/ nephew etc. A fun way to get creative – they are sure to love it! It’s inspired by my long distance bestie, Erin, who gifted me a homemade coupon book for one of my birthdays as a child and I still remember it fondly. I probably even have a couple coupons left to cash in on if I can find it!
You can click on each book to check them out on Amazon. If you end up ordering one, please be sure to leave a review and let me know your feedback, I appreciate it!
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