Wait… There's Still More to Do?
Fonts, Layouts, Book size and more
2/2/2025
You’d think that after writing the book and going through rounds of edits, I’d finally be done, right? Time to move on to a new project — maybe rewrite a few features or start a proper revision of my Ever & Kingsley short story (which is actually the basis for the short script of the same name).
But nope. Turns out, I was definitely not done.
Mia, who’s publishing the book through Kistemo, is giving us total creative control over how we want the final product to look — which I absolutely love and am so grateful for — but it also means I have to think about every. single. detail. And every one of those details needs to be agreed on between me and Daniel.
So, while I was ready to move onto the next project, I suddenly found myself in research mode again.
Fonts Matter (A Lot More Than I Thought)
It turns out there’s a lot more to choosing a font than simply picking something that looks fun.
The key is readability — you want the font to almost disappear so that kids focus on the story, not the letters. That means no fancy curls or ultra-thin lines, and ideally, letter shapes that mimic how children are taught to write. At this early stage of development, children are still learning to recognize their letters and having too fancy of a font can make the reader actually think the letters are part of the illustration.
I also learned that there are fonts specifically designed for kids with dyslexia — something I hadn’t considered before. Since many fonts use the same letter for both "b" and "d", dyslexic friendly fonts have differently shaped “b” and “d” letters to reduce confusion.
Daniel and I looked at a ton of fonts — some designed for dyslexia, some that looked like they were written by a young child, and some that just looked kid-friendly — and then I formatted a paragraph from the story in each font so we could see what they actually looked like in the context of our story.
Oh, and pro tip: always double-check font licenses. Some fonts are for private use only and using them in a commercial project could put all your hard work in jeopardy.
If you’re curious, here are a few helpful links:
- 10 Best Dyslexia-Friendly Fonts
- Typography in Children's Books
After much deliberation, we landed on this: "It's an igloo on the beach!!"
Hopefully it's a font that children like but doesn't distract them. It also uses a different shape for the "b" and "d".
Size Is Important
Daniel and I have read our fair share of children’s books, so we were familiar with the various sizes that children's books are sold in. Choosing a size for your own book is a different story though. Since one of the ongoing themes in our series is art (Yes, we're hoping to share more of Caleb's adventures!), and some of the illustrations will be pretty detailed, it made sense to go with a standard picture book size — something large enough for the artwork to shine.
- 8″ × 8″ (square)
- 8″ × 10″ (portrait)
- 10″ × 8″ (landscape)
But our book is written for slightly older readers. And since it's framed as Caleb’s diary — Caleb being our adventurous, art-loving polar bear cub — we wanted it to feel like something he had actually written in.
So, after some discussion, we decided on a 6″ × 9″ format — a common size for early readers and a great match for the diary-style.
This article has a lot of useful information: Design a Children's Picture Book
Layouts, Spreads, and All the Tiny Details
Once we had the size and font nailed down, I moved on to the layout. I started roughing out spreads in Clip Studio (I use the subscription version — otherwise I’d recommend GIMP or Krita as great free alternatives).
The goal was to make sure the text was laid out in way that flowed naturally across two-page spreads, left enough room for illustrations, and didn’t feel too crowded.
This article has some great examples of book layout dos and donts: - Guide to Art/Text Layout for Picture Books
Questions I didn’t realize I’d be answering:
- What color will the pages be? If the page is too dark, the text will be blend in too much and children won't easily be able to read it. If the pages are too light it can cause eye strain/visual stress.
- Text and illustrations: Will the images bleed into the text? If so, we'd have to be careful to make sure the text stands out enough.
- Diary style vs. readability: How do you balance Caleb’s “handwritten” diary tone with actual readability?
I also ran the manuscript through a few readability tools to check the reading level. There are several free ones, like this one: Flesch-Kincaid calculator
As well as paid ones: Reading level calculator
These tools let you estimate what grade level your book falls into. It's obviously not something you must follow, but using it gives you an idea of where you're at in regard to reader's age group and that's always a smart move. Our biggest issue? Some sentences were a bit too long. Caleb, being an excited cub, tends to ramble a bit. I trimmed where I could, but shortening all of them would have changed Caleb's voice.
So, Am I Done Now?
…Maybe?
Every time I check something off the list, something else pops up. But I’m trying to treat it less like an endless to-do list and more like part of the process.
It’s not just about writing a good book — it’s about making a good book. One our nieces and nephews will be excited to show their friends.
And while that means more work on the front end, it also means I’ll have something I can be proud of in the end.
If you're writing a children's book (or thinking about it) I've been putting together a YouTube playlist of helpful videos as I come across them.
Is there a helpful video I didn't include- let me know!
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