What started as a midnight thought, took three months for work to come to life! Lots of frustrations and breakthrough moments! Here’s what I learned from self-publishing my Islamic children’s book:

The Illustrator Hunt: Why “Perfect” Doesn’t Exist

Finding a good children’s book illustrator is one of the biggest hurdles new authors face. It’s a real struggle to find someone who has the same vision as you. In fact I can tell you now that this is impossible. No one knows or thinks like you. The way you have created images in your imagination will unfortunately not turn out to be the way you wanted.

After going through many portfolios of new up-and-coming and established illustrators, I could see that every illustrator had a downside: drawing style was not what I was thinking, price too high, long process (one illustrator told me that a 32-page book takes 6 months to complete all edits and changes! It goes without saying I immediately stopped looking at his portfolio).

I ended up hiring a Brazilian illustrator I found on a facebook group. His style was just spot on! Characters with big bright cute eyes and lively personalities that just pop out of the pictures! There was only one issue: his knowledge about Islamic values, Muslim traditions, Ramadan, etc. was very limited! It took a few back-and-forth to make him understand what I wanted.
Actionable Tip: Create a detailed style guide and mood board before outreach to minimise revisions. It helps if you have an artistic touch yourself!

Human-drawn vs AI Illustration for Kids’ Books

Forget DALLE/Midjourney/AI generated images. After prompting these AI-powered apps, prompt after prompt, it was very clear that the outcome will never be like a real artist. With every attempt my prompt got longer trying to make it as precise as possible for these “clever” apps. But characters changed slightly from one page to the next. It was a subtle difference, but obvious enough for me. And if it was obvious for me it would have been obvious for everyone else I am sure!

After spending hours with each model, it was clear to me that I would go nowhere. Even if I was partly successful, when I objectively looked at the images, there was no life. The vibes no matter how I tried to make it lively had a dim hue to it!

Actionable Tip: AI generated images are not a complete waste of time! Brainstorm and use the endless ideas generated by AI to inspire more originality from yourself! Trial and play with apps to get ideas and see if things can be done differently but still aim to invest in a collaboration with a human artist.

Self-Publishing Marketing

No matter how amazing your book was, it will not sell itself in 2025! Let’s be clear, despite the challenges and the long time spent to make this book, I thoroughly enjoyed making it. The problem is the marketing that is needed after publishing your book. It’s far from fun. It’s not just boring but it’s a burden both physically and emotionally. Having said that, there is no way around it.

Marketing through social media, email lists, and collaborations are important if you want to be a self-publisher. The good news is: you don’t need to sell your book in the first month or even year! It’s a marathon, not a sprint! The same book will slowly sell over the course of a long time. Persistence is key.

Actionable Tip: Plan a 12-month marketing calendar with monthly goals like guest posts, giveaways, and seasonal promotions. This way you will stay motivated without exhausting yourself. Keep goals SMART.. particularly simple and realistic. Example: In March I will: post once a week on pinterest + find parenting groups who would be interested + test the market with a small AWS budget. Then double down on what works!

Children’s Books Need to Carry Emotion

After reading and making up hundreds of bedtime stories for my son, the stories that stay with him are often ones that spark an emotion. You can put all the Islamic values you want in a book and have the best illustrations. You can be the best! But your child will not enjoy reading it again and again unless it sparks.. unless it touches something in him.

That emotion in the story that kids can reflect on or compare to how they feel in a certain way will make the story special.

Actionable Tip: Have at least one core emotion per story and weave sensory details to evoke it effectively. Repetition of certain parts of the story in a teasing fun way is another effective way to make it appealing to kids.

Self-publishing Islamic Children’s Book: Age Matters

Different ages have different appeals. When self-publishing an Islamic children’s book, it is important to be very age-specific!

2-4 kids are not like 4-6 are not like 7-8
Kids grow very quickly and with every year their interests shift massively. It is very difficult to teach Islamic values in a deep meaningful way to 4 year olds. I have tried many times to instil meaningful ideas in my son at that age but he just wanted to go on the merry-go-round! If you are writing a book you need to be particular about your target audience and modify as such. It doesn’t matter if you have the best story in the world, it will not appeal to kids if addressed improperly.

• Ages 2–4: These children love repetition, simple plots, and vibrant visuals. They respond well to stories with familiar routines and animal characters.
• Ages 4–6: They begin to understand simple morals, humor, and slightly more detailed plots. Interaction (e.g., questions or sounds) keeps them engaged.
• Ages 7–8: Kids at this age can handle more complex narratives, character growth, and subtle values. They start to connect story events with real-life emotions.

Actionable Tip: Create reader personas for a specific age bracket and test story beats with a small group of kids of similar age (not just your own kids!)

“I Wrote My Book in 2 Hours!”

Writing an Islamic Children’s book can take a few hours!
Yes, you can develop the idea and write a children’s book which normally takes less than 1000 words in just an hour or two! This part of the book was never a challenging part however! It is the writing, revising, illustrating, editing, problem-solving, finding the time, hustling, marketing, structuring, refining that can take months. My book took me three months to be ready even though I envisioned the whole book from the very first day!

Actionable Tip: Time-block your writing and editing separately. Example: one hour concept writing, one hour editing so you track progress more accurately. I gave up making an unachievable to-do list. Now I just set a reasonable time. Whatever I can achieve in that dedicated time slot, I will be very happy with!

Mini Takeaway: Writing can be fast but completing a book is a marathon. Plan realistically, and pace yourself!

Self-publishing Islamic Children’s Book: Profits Demand Volume

No one book will sell properly. If you want to be a profitable self-published author, you are either looking to invest a ridiculous amount of money without seeing much profit initially or you need to have a minimum of 5 books. Self-publishing a single Islamic children’s book is not going to get you far. With every book you are establishing yourself bit by bit. You will eventually have the audience who wait for your publications. Growth is exponential. I knew this quite well and therefore I’m looking forward to more books until I create a library of my own. Publishing one book was never my end goal (even if I make a small profit on the way).

Actionable Tip: Draft a series roadmap with themes, timelines, and cross-promotions to maximise backlist discovery. For the very first book you can think of series or book bundles that you are trying to achieve. It’s way easier to connect your books if you plan things carefully from the start. Don’t spend to much thinking though. Think, assess quickly and make a start!

Beyond Royalties: Self-Publishing An Islamic Children’s Book

Halal content is scarce! Writing a book will make you happy if it adds value to people. It is often the little (sometimes unexpected) things in life that add value and meaning in your life. I always thought that being an accomplished doctor or a surgeon would make me very content. Slowly I am realising that writing a blog/diary/books and teaching Arabic can be a much more enjoyable and stress-relief therapy than my day-to-day work. Hobbies particularly journalling and writing are miraculously satisfying. Once you start, there is no going back.

Actionable Tip: Set aside a weekly “creative hour” to journal or draft ideas to maintain momentum and joy. I aim for an hour but end up doing more. Brainstorming, planning and thinking of the smallest details are my strong points.. or at least I like to think so!