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Whether you are looking for help with your book project, want to learn more about our products or are simply looking for advice, fill in the form below and we will be in touch as soon as we can.
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Contact info
Located in Ness, Isle of Lewis
FAQs
Do you only work with authors who are self publishing children's books?
No, not at all. Although we specialise in children’s books, we do also take on other projects that involve a mixture of our services.
Check out our gallery where we have examples of other projects, including a couple of journals and marketing illustrations.
Who owns the copyright for my books?
As we are not a Publisher, we do not have any claim over your copyright for the conent you provide us to work with.
As the author, you retain all copyright ownership of your story. Depending on who provided your illustrations and the agreement with the illustrator, you may also own the copyright of all of the illustratsion too. Please check with your illustrator so you know who owns the illustration copyright.
For our illustration services, we provide each client with copyright ownership of the illustrations. This is done through a Copyright Agreement, which specifies the provision and terms of exclusive usage rights to the client.
We do keep the right to use the works (illustrations and book design) we create for marketing use. E.g. sharing images on our website and on social media.
Do you work under contract?
Yes, we provide creative contracts covering the whole project and all of the services we undertake. This covers changes to works, timescales, project costs and payments among other things.
In addition to a contract, we also provide copyright ownership information, usually as a seperate document.
Do you work for royalties?
We only work on a fee basis for the projects we undertake.
Royalty deals can be difficult to manage. If you decide to work with someone else on a royalties deal, remember to consider how the royalties will be managed. I.e. who will record books sales, calculate the royalties due, and how often royalities are shared. These are just a few things to consider.
What are the turn around times for a project?
There are no standard turn around times as each project is different. When we start a project, each project phase will have an expected turn aorund time agreed with you.
For a 32 page book project involving illustration, design and other services, the average turnaround time is 3-4 months.
If there is likely to be a change or delay for any reason, then we’ll let you know as soon as possible and keep you up to date we progess and expected completion times.
Do you do illustration samples?
Yes, we do paid samples and highly recommend using your sample for a character design.
With an illustration sample, we can add a sample background on request. This will give a good idea of how we would create illustrations for your book.
Do you offer any discounts for your services?
Our full creative package includes a discount for using both of our illustration and book formatting services we undertake.
For projects involving multiple books, we are happy to discuss other possible discounts for the book series.
If you want to find out more about the discounts we offer get in touch and we can discuss your project.
What can I expect from your full creative package?
With our full creative package, we take care of all your children’s book illustration and design needs.
As there is no ‘one size fits all’ with book illustration and design, we start by getting a good understanding of your project.
We then work methodically through the project, going through the following stages:
- Character design;
- Storyboarding and layout;
- Illustration sketches;
- Illustration lineart and colour;
- Book design and formatting.
At the end of the project, you are given the print ready files necessary to get your children’s book published.
What's included with book formatting?
The process for book formatting is fairly straight forward. You provide the story’s text, illustrations, blurb, ISBN, print spoecifications, and any other book information we request, and we create the print ready files needed to publish your book.
If we are also working on the illustrations for your children’s book, we also provide character designs, storyboarding and book layout at the beginning of the project.
Here’s a summary of what our book formatting service can do:
- Trimming and placement of your illustrations on each page;
- Finding fonts that work for your book;
- Typesetting;
- Design of the cover (front and back);
- Adding informational pages such as copyright information and dedications;
- Creation of the files in the formats you need.
Is Rock Sheep Studio a Publisher?
Yes and no! We are not a vanity or any other type of publisher as we do not publish other people’s books.
We only publish our own books through Rock Sheep Studio. We help our book project clients to self publish their children’s books through their own accounts and ISBNs.
Is self publishing children's books complicated?
It doesn’t have to be.
There are plenty of things to consider along the publishing journey and that’s why we offer the services we do.
The main things to consider are:
- Concept and product planning
- Editing
- Illustration
- Design
- ISBN and book registration
- Printing and distribution
- Marketing
For ISBNs – check out the Nielsen site for the UK and Bowker for the USA.
If you have any more questions about publishing or the book creation process, get in touch to arrange a video call.
How can I get my children's books into readers hands?
When self publishing, there are generally 3 options most authors consider when deciding how to print and distribute their children’s books.
You could choose to go down the print on demand route and only get books printed when they are ordered. Amazon (KDP), Ingram Spark and Barnes & Noble are very popular options for this.
Alternatively, you could get your children’s books printed by one of the many offset printing companies around the world. These could be short runs or large runs to reduce the cost per book.
The third option is to consider doing a combination of a print run and print on demand options.
With any of the above options, you are responsible for registering and getting your book stocked by distributors, bookshops, and libraries.