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DartFrog Kids
is a curated hybrid publishing program geared specifically for authors wanting to publish a children’s picture book, board book, early reader or chapter book. Evaluation of every manuscript is free and if invited to publish through DarFrog Kids, there is no obligation to accept. 

Features of the DartFrog Kids Publishing Program

A full proofread of the manuscript is always performed before the formatting process begins. 

If an author comes to us with an idea for a children’s story but no written manuscript, or a loose compilation of notes that need to be formed into a story, we may decide to assign the project to a ghostwriter. The writing process includes communication with the author, sending of drafts for the author’s review, and then sending to the proofreader for the final polish once the story is finished and approved by the author.  Ghostwriting is not included as part of the flat rate. 

We manage the interior design & formatting process (for hardcover, paperback & ebook) as well as the cover design process (for hardcover, paperback & ebook). In the case of picture books, the epub is designed as a fixed layout epub to ensure the illustrations convert properly to the screen.

We provider enhanced Amazon optimization for every DartFrog Kids book, which includes selection of keywords and categories that will give it the best chance to successfully engage Amazon’s algorithms and achieve ranking status. 

Every DartFrog Plus Kids project includes a custom marketing report by the former head of worldwide publishing at Disney & former head of marketing at Scholastic. This report provides the author with a detailed and custom analysis of the steps to take for engaging schools and media (including the introductory letters already written for you), suggestions of bloggers and podcasts to approach, and more. 

We also write and distribute a press release for all DartFrog Kids titles and provide you with a distribution report of the outlets that picked the release up.  

Each DartFrog Kids title is advertised in Advance Children’s (Ingram’s premier catalog for Children’s titles), for the purpose of generating awareness among bookstores and libraries. 

Every DartFrog Kids author has a project manager with whom they can correspond through Basecamp (the platform we use for all team communications), or through our dedicated video call channel if a face to face meeting is required. The project manager oversees the team working on your book, is your direct point of contact, and also manages the administrative tasks that are important to the publishing process (the assigning of ISBNS, Library of Congress registration, uploading files, etc). 

We connect every DartFrog Kids book to influencers in our own network who read your book and share their honest opinion with their audience.  We guarantee at least 10 influencers will review your book. 

We commission a professional review from Midwest Book Review, Kirkus Review and Feathered Quill for every DartFrog Kids title. Reviews are submitted once the interior formatting is finished, in the hopes that we can add excerpts from positive reviews to the cover before releasing the book. We also create a review campaign through Book Sirens to generate reviews from readers.

Finally, we create an interactive electronic press kit for you to use in your own outreach. 

DartFrog will create a custom banner for your book to appear on our website homepage and three social media designs to post on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Additionally, we will design A+ content for the Publisher section of your Amazon product page to give it a fully custom and polished feel. 

DartFrog will place your book in 3 independent bookstores. The book will be displayed face front in a genre appropriate section of the store at eye level, with a handwritten shelf reader card attached. The store also typically includes the book in an email newsletter to its customer base. We will provide a photo of the book on display in the store, which you can then share on your social media. 

DartFrog has a team of illustrators who can produce virtually any style of illustration. When a project comes to us that needs an illustrator, we determine which style and illustrator will be the best fit for the book. Sample illustrations are available here. Illustrations are not included as part of the flat rate. 

We utilize Print on Demand technology for most of our projects, which also includes the capability for a dust jacket. Print on Demand technology ensures unlimited scalability and availability, but is also now totally equal in quality and cost to an offset printed book.

In some cirmcumstances, we may recommend an offset printing process and distribution through our third party distribution partner if the print requirements for the book exceed the capabilities of POD.

As a DartFrog Kids author, you earn a 100% royalty from all sales of the book. We list your book on Amazon and Ingram which (through their partnerships with Barnes & Noble, Gardners, Target, etc) ensures your book will be available everywhere books are sold. 

DartFrog Kids

DartFrog's Curated Hybrid Program for Children's Authors
$ 6500 Payable in Installments
  • No payment or obligation with submission
  • Illustrations not included as part of flat rate