On March 21, 2026, Kasie and Rex took were joined in the studio by a children’s book publisher. Here are the show notes:

Topic: Children’s Books

Agenda:

• Quick catch up
• Children’s books basics
• The publishing landscape for children’s books
• How to do it

Segment 1

We’ve never had a Children’s Book specialist on the show. We’ve had Alexa Bigwarfe, whose publishing empire includes the imprint Purple Butterfly Press, but we didn’t talk children’s books when she was here. Speaking of Alexa, though, she has an event upcoming here in Columbia that I’d like to promote and highlight for any of you leaning in to self-publishing:

Alexa already runs the biggest online publishing summit for new, emerging authors called the Women in Publishing Summit. That BIG event was last week online. But next week she’s hosting WIP Live in Columbia. It’s an onsite, in person event for authors, publishers, and creative entrepreneurs. It’s focused on building the business side of your writing life.

There are only a few spots left but this will be well worth the investment. So act now and invest in yourself and your writing business with help from Write|Publish|Sell and Alexa, best in the biz.

One of the speakers for that event is joining us today. WINCON is March 26-29 in Columbia, S.C. Annette Flavel, of Lucky Rabbit Publishing is one of the expert speakers at Alexa’s event. 

If you Google Annette, you’ll find an article in the Free Times announcing the launch of Lucky Rabbit as well as a podcast with our pals at All Good Books in Five Points. 

You’ll also find Annette is the publisher behind our dear friend Heather Harris-Bergevin’s debut book, Enough Elizabeths. Following this show, we’ll all be heading to All Good Books for the event.

We’ll tackle all this and more with Annette live in the studio on this episode.

Let’s start with the origin of Lucky Rabbit Publishing.

Segments 2 & 3

Moving into the children’s book industry as a whole, let’s talk about these AI-generated topics (thanks, Gemini):

According to this blog, some trends in the children’s book world include vibrant and diverse stories, mental health awareness, strong visuals and good illustrations, and platforms that encourage kids to write and publish their own stories.

Where do you find the authors you work with? What is that query process like?

The best selling title from an indie author in this space in 2025 was Lights Out by Navessa Allen which sold 595,000 copies. So despite the industry being dominated by the big publishing houses, there are some indie labels moving a ton of product. 

What makes a good children’s book? Is likeable and sellable the same thing in this market?

Less than 10–20% of kids authors receive advances (and that’s at the big houses) so what advice do you have for authors who want this to be their full-time gig?

Only 2% of books sell more than 5000 copies with most books selling about 3000 over the life of the book – so for all time. How do you find a return-on-investment model for such a pricey product to create? I mean, children’s books aren’t cheap to make but they’re not expected to be expensive to buy, either.

Like any other genre, the author’s abilities and brand and the story’s authenticity and originality are the key ingredients for a successful product. What are some tactics you’d suggest for getting the book in the hands of readers?

Segment 4

Here we’ll deliver some actionable steps for entering the children’s book market and delivering a good product, if not building a full career.