Q – 

I have friends that want to know how to make their story come to life. There are many that want to write children’s books. Can you recommend an editor as well as a company that has illustrators to work with as a package?

Heidi

A –

Authors who are planning to self-publish should hire editors and illustrators SEPARATELY because almost every POD publisher claims all rights to the edited versions of manuscripts, and to the illustrations the authors have paid them to create (the production files). This includes cover design as well! It’s a despicable practice.

Please note that BookLocker.com authors own all rights to their production files! BookLocker does NOT take rights from authors.

NOTE: Contact Angela if you need professional cover design as a great price. You will, of course, own all rights to that cover!

Below is a list of freelance editors and illustrators we recommend.

Angela

CLICK HERE TO SEE FREELANCE EDITORS WE RECOMMEND.

WARNING: There is no licensing agency for editors and there are many online now who are not professional editors. We receive complaints almost daily from authors who hired an editor they found online, and then found even more errors in their “edited” book. References can be easily manufactured so you should only hire an editor who is referred to you by a real author who has been happy with their work.

NOTE: Many POD publishers claim ownership of edited manuscripts (what they call the production files) even though authors paid THEM to edit their books. We strongly recommend NOT paying a publisher to edit your manuscript. Freelance editors don’t try to claim ownership of an author’s files. Hire an editor directly.

CLICK HERE TO SEE FREELANCE ILLUSTRATORS WE RECOMMEND.

There are plenty of artistic styles to choose from!

NOTE: We **strongly** recommend you have your artist sign a work-for-hire contract. This will give you full ownership of the artwork you pay them to create. A sample work-for-hire contract is here: https://www.copylaw.com/forms/Workhire.html

WARNING: Many POD publishers claim ownership of illustrations even though authors paid THEM to create those illustrations. We strongly recommend that you *not* pay a publisher to illustrate your book. If you want to leave their service someday, you will have a very difficult time doing so because your book will need brand new illustrations. Publishers that claim ownership of illustrations are greedy, and should be avoided. They are simply trying to force authors to stay with them forever.

Have a question for Angela? Contact us here.