10 Children’s Book Self-Publishing Companies (3 Free)

You have written a children’s book, or your child has, and you want to see it in print without signing the rights over to a traditional publisher.

The companies that come up for this are not all the same kind of thing. Some are platforms you upload to yourself, where the only money that changes hands is for printing. Some are services that handle the layout, cover, illustration, and distribution for a fee they publish on their site. A few are well-known children’s publishers that were never self-publishing routes, and two names that used to belong on this kind of list have changed what they do. They are grouped below by what they offer a first-time author. For more guides like this, see my full publishing company collection.

Platforms you publish through yourself

These three cost nothing to open an account and upload a book. You pay for printing, and on each sale a per-copy manufacturing cost and a distribution fee come off what you earn. You keep the rights and you set the price.

1. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

KDP is Amazon’s own self-publishing platform, and for most children’s authors it is the first stop because it reaches the largest store. KDP accepts manuscripts uploaded straight by the author in ebook, paperback, and hardcover, and there is no charge to publish; Amazon takes its share from each sale. The dedicated children’s books area covers illustrated and picture-book formats and the layout tools for them. Print quality is good for text-led books; for a full-colour picture book, order a proof copy before you announce it.

Working on a book of your own? You can publish it yourself with PublishDrive (affiliate link).

2. IngramSpark

IngramSpark is the self-publishing arm of Ingram, the largest book distributor in the world, so a title set up here can be ordered by bookshops and libraries as well as sold online. IngramSpark accepts manuscripts uploaded by the author, and its pricing page states that opening an account and uploading a print or ebook file costs nothing; you pay per printed copy and a distribution fee on sales. It is stricter about file formatting than KDP, so read the setup guide first. Many children’s authors use IngramSpark for wide distribution and KDP for Amazon.

3. Blurb

Blurb is built around illustrated and photo-heavy books, which makes it a natural fit for a picture book with full-bleed artwork. Blurb accepts manuscripts and book projects put together by the author in its free desktop software or through an InDesign plugin, and you can sell the result in its own bookstore or push it to Amazon and Ingram. As with the others, making the book is free and you pay for print copies. Its trim sizes and premium papers are the draw; the plain trade-book side is thinner than a dedicated print-on-demand service.

Services that publish the book for a fee

These two do the work you would otherwise hire out, the editing, design, illustration briefs, formatting, and distribution, and they charge for it. Both list their prices on their own sites. Price each piece separately before you buy a bundle, and check that you keep your rights.

4. BookBaby

BookBaby is a self-publishing services company: you bring the manuscript and it sells the editing, cover design, printing, and distribution around it. BookBaby accepts manuscripts from any author, with no gate to get in, and it publishes its prices, with hardcover children’s books from a few dollars a copy and cover design from a few hundred. Authors keep full rights and the sales royalties. It is a reasonable choice if you want one company to handle production and you have priced the pieces elsewhere first.

5. Luminare Press

Luminare Press is a publishing services company in Eugene, Oregon that works with authors anywhere. Luminare Press accepts manuscripts for its paid packages, and its children’s book package, for short illustrated books where you supply the art, is listed on the site at a fixed price (currently $2,199). A free consultation is the way in. Its blog keeps up a steady line warning authors about publishing scams and fake solicitations, which is a good sign in this corner of the market.

Traditional children’s publishers, not self-publishing routes

These three get swept into self-publishing lists because they are famous children’s names. None of them is a self-publishing service. The traditional route is what they offer, if anything: you submit, they decide, and they pay you.

6. Annick Press

Annick Press is a Canadian children’s publisher in Toronto with a fifty-year history in picture books, chapter books, and young adult fiction. It is a royalty publisher, not a paid service, and it is one of the few houses its size still open to writers with no agent. Annick Press accepts submissions of picture books, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, and non-fiction by email, asks for the full manuscript as a .docx or PDF file, and says it prioritises creators from backgrounds long left out of children’s publishing.

7. Candlewick Press

Candlewick Press is one of the best-known independent children’s publishers in the United States, part of the Walker Books Group and owned by Trustbridge Global Media. It is a traditional house that pays advances and royalties. Candlewick Press is not accepting unsolicited manuscripts or art submissions, and states that plainly on its contact page; the realistic route in is a literary agent. Its own fraud notice is worth a look as well: it warns that scammers impersonate the company and that it never charges a fee to review a manuscript.

8. Ladybird Education

Ladybird Education is the English-language-teaching brand of Penguin Random House, aimed at children learning English as a foreign language: graded readers, phonics, the Key Words with Peter and Jane scheme, grammar workbooks, and Peppa Pig titles mapped to the Cambridge exams. The site is a catalogue for teachers and parents, not a self-publishing service, and the list is commissioned in-house. A writer with a picture-book manuscript is not its audience.

No longer a self-publishing route

9. Smashwords

Smashwords was, for years, a free platform where an author could upload a manuscript and have it converted and distributed to the major ebook retailers. That changed after its 2022 merger with Draft2Digital. Smashwords no longer accepts manuscripts from authors; as of January 2026 it is an ebook store only, and the self-publishing and distribution side runs entirely through Draft2Digital. If a guide still points you to Smashwords to publish a book, it is out of date: sign up at Draft2Digital, and your book appears in the Smashwords store anyway.

Names you may be looking for

Lulu Jr. Lulu Jr. sold book-making kits for children, IlluStory and My Comic Book Kit, that a child filled in by hand and mailed back to be turned into a printed hardcover. Those kits are no longer sold. A completed kit can still be mailed in and redeemed, and extra copies ordered, but there is no way to start a new one. Its parent company, Lulu, still runs a print-on-demand platform that anyone can use to self-publish.

Before you publish

A few decisions save money and regret. Work out first whether you want a platform you drive yourself or a service that drives it for you; the cost gap is large and so is the time gap. If you go the service route, price the editing, the cover, and the illustration separately before you buy a bundle. Order a printed proof of any illustrated book before you tell anyone it exists. And keep your rights and your source files, whichever way you go.

Submission policies and prices change without notice, so check each company’s own page before you commit. Last verified: August 27, 2026.

For more on getting a book into the world, see my full publishing company collection, or the guide to children’s book publishers if the traditional route is what you want.