5 self-publishing changes children's book authors need to know (2026)

The KidLit Creator's Chronicle - Issue #54

There have been several changes in the self-publishing industry in a fairly short time that I felt I needed to share with you. Some of these will affect you directly. I think they’re all worth knowing about even if they don’t change anything you do today. I’d rather you know about them than be caught off guard.

So, let’s get into it.

5 self-publishing changes children’s book authors need to know

1. Publishing platforms are starting to charge fees (and tighten the rules)

Draft2Digital (D2D) recently announced two new fees. New accounts will pay a one-time $20 setup fee. And any account that earns less than $100 in net proceeds over 12 months will be charged a $12 annual maintenance fee. If you already have a D2D account and your books are selling, this doesn’t affect you.

The reason D2D gave is important. In some recent months, up to 70% of books submitted to their platform were blocked for being low-quality, AI-generated “book spam.” The fees are primarily aimed at deterring low-quality (we can call it “book spam”), not penalising real authors.

Barnes & Noble Press made changes at the same time. They’ve set a minimum retail price of $14.99 for print books on their platform. In plain terms, if your print book is listed below that on bn.com, it will be removed from sale. They’ve also capped accounts at 100 titles. Both changes are their response to the same problem: low-quality, high-volume publishing overwhelming the platform.

Picture books are already priced higher than most genres because of full-colour printing, so many of you will already be above that threshold. If not, you’ll need to adjust your price.

It’s also worth noting that the landscape isn’t uniformly moving in one direction. IngramSpark eliminated their $49 per-title setup fee back in 2023, which made publishing through them more accessible. But print costs on their platform have gone up since then (three increases between late 2024 and early 2026). That said, the removal of that upfront fee was good news for new authors.

What this means for you: Check your D2D account if you have one and know where you stand. If you publish print books through Barnes & Noble Press, check your pricing.

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2. Print-on-demand costs are rising, and picture books feel it most

Print costs have been climbing across the board. IngramSpark raised their pricing three times between late 2024 and early 2026. For most genres, a modest cost increase is manageable. For picture books, it’s more of a problem. Full-colour interiors are expensive to print, and the price parents are willing to pay for a children’s book has its own ceiling. That gap between picture book authors’ print cost and what the market will pay is already tight. Each time print costs go up, it gets even tighter.

This is one of the reasons direct sales and school visits matter so much. When you sell directly, you keep the full retail price, rather than receiving a royalty after the retailer’s cut. Your print cost is the same, but you’re not splitting the revenue with a platform.

One option that can help with this is doing a bulk print run through a dedicated printer rather than relying on POD for every copy. I recommend MCRL and IAPC Books. The quality and pricing are in a different league to what you’d get through IngramSpark’s offset printing. The per-unit cost drops significantly when you print in volume.

One important caveat: this only makes sense if you have a plan to sell those copies. A school visit program, a direct sales strategy, a relationship with a local bookstore or library… some clear path to selling those books. Going into a bulk print run without that plan means boxes of books sitting in your garage. But if you’ve done the groundwork, it can be a smart way to recoup costs and start making decent profits much faster.

What this means for you: Revisit your pricing if you haven’t recently, especially if you’re on IngramSpark. And if you haven’t explored the school visit or direct sales model yet, now is a good time to start thinking about it seriously.

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3. AI-generated book spam is changing the rules for everyone

This one isn’t just a D2D story. It’s an industry-wide change.

AI has made it possible to generate and upload hundreds of books with almost no effort or cost. Platforms have been flooded with low-quality, machine-generated content, and it’s causing real problems, not just for the platforms, but for legitimate indie authors whose books get lost in the noise.

The response from platforms has been swift. Quality controls are tightening. Barnes & Noble Press introduced its title limit. D2D introduced fees and has been blocking AI-generated submissions at scale. The direction is clear: platforms are investing in filtering and gatekeeping in ways they never had to before.

I am personally very happy about this, and I would imagine for all children’s book authors publishing well-written, beautifully illustrated books, this is good news. The bar for what gets taken is rising, which means less noise to wade through to get your book in front of readers.

What this means for you: Keep your standards high. The children’s book space has always rewarded quality, and that’s becoming even more true as the noise increases.

Want to read more about AI. I have two other articles with loads of good information about AI

• Children Deserve Better Than AI-Generated Stories: How to Avoid AI scams, Create an Authentic Book, and More

• The Hidden Cost of Letting AI Do Your Writing: What the Research Says About Creativity, Craft, and Cognitive Decline

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4. Amazon changed how Kindle ebooks are distributed

In January 2026, Amazon made a change to how DRM (Digital Rights Management) works for KDP ebooks. If you’ve set your book as DRM-free, readers can now download it directly as a PDF or EPUB file, in addition to the standard Kindle format.

This was positioned as a convenience for readers. And in some ways it is. But it’s also a decision point for authors, because a PDF can be shared freely with anyone. There’s no copy protection once it’s on someone’s device.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m not sure there’s one right answer here. Personally, I wouldn’t set my book to DRM-free anymore. I used to recommend it and DRM-free has long been the preference of many indie authors who want readers to be able to read on any device. But PDF downloads are a different thing. A PDF of a beautifully illustrated picture book can be forwarded to friends and family and you have no control of it.

If you’ve never thought about your DRM setting, now is a good time to check it. Log into your KDP account, find your title settings, and look at your DRM option. If you do switch to DRM-free and later change your mind, you can update the setting, but any readers who already downloaded a PDF copy keep it. The change only affects future downloads.

What this means for you: This is worth five minutes of your time to check and make a decision.

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5. Platform-driven discovery has been weakening for years

This last shift isn’t new. But it’s important.

For a long time, it worked reasonably well (especially in less competitive niches) to publish your book on Amazon, optimise your keywords, and let the algorithm do the work. Getting your categories, keywords, and metadata right still makes a big difference. It’s the foundation and without it, you’re making things harder for yourself from the start. But it’s increasingly not enough on its own. Amazon’s categories are more crowded than they’ve ever been, and the algorithm favours books that are already generating their own sales and traffic. Discovery through the platform is still possible, but it rarely happens without something getting the ball rolling first.

And it’s not just Amazon. Across all platforms, categories are more competitive and algorithms are harder to crack. Readers have more to choose from. Platforms have more books to sort through. Standing out requires more than a well-optimised listing.

The good news is that there are more ways to get those initial sales going than you might think. An email list makes a huge difference. So does a school visit, or social posts on an account that you’ve built up to a decent amount of followers. Amazon ads can help.

Once a book has some sales activity behind it, the platform starts doing more of the work. You’re giving the algorithms something to work with. And the strategies that do this best are the ones we’ve been talking about in CBM for years: building an email list, doing school visits, creating social content that positions you as an author worth following, and developing relationships with librarians, educators, and parents.

What this means for you: If your book isn’t getting the traction you hoped for, ask, “What’s generating its initial sales?” If the answer is nothing, that’s where to focus. It doesn’t have to be everything at once. Pick one thing, whether that’s reaching out about a school visit, or sending an email to your list, and start there.

Over to You!

Do the little action steps in the “what this means for you sections” of this edition. That’s it!

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In case you missed it, the KidLit Creator’s Chronicle is now on YouTube as well, if you’d like to watch any of the issues in video format. The first 12 editions are already up there, covering topics like how to structure a picture book plot, the truth about AI-generated children’s books, and how to hire an illustrator without getting burned. The link is youtube.com/@childrensbookmastery1234.

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I hope this helps you make smart decisions in your self-publishing journey!

The common thread running through all five of these shifts is this: self-publishing is becoming more of a real business, with real overheads, real competition, and real rewards for the authors who treat it that way.

That’s been true for a while. It’s just more pronounced now.

Have a question about any of these changes? Hit reply. I read every email.

And if you found this helpful, feel free to share it with a fellow children’s book author!