Practical tools, templates and hand-picked resources for children’s book authors and independent publishers. Plan, publish and manage your books — all in one place.
Created to make the business side of publishing a little easier.
Free tools
Illustration Budget Calculator
Find out what your illustrations will really cost — and how many copies you’ll need to sell to earn it back.
Picture Book Dummy Planner
Paste your manuscript, spread it across 32 pages, and plan every page turn before the illustrator starts.
Library & School Readiness Checker
Check your book against what librarians and schools look for — ISBN, distribution, reviews, metadata — before you pitch.
Guides for authors
Plain-English answers to the questions every indie author googles at midnight.
Browse by category
We’re stocking these shelves one tool at a time. Join the list below to hear when each one opens.
Coming soon
Book Planning & Writing
Templates for manuscripts, picture book layouts, page turns and series planning.
Coming soon
Publishing & Production
Checklists and guides for getting your book print-ready — from trim size to proof copy.
Coming soon
Author Business & Finance
Track your book inventory, event sales, signed copies and what each title really earns.
Coming soon
School Visits & Book Fairs
Planning kits, order forms for parents and checklists for selling books in person.
Hand-picked free tools from around the web
Why reinvent the wheel? These are the free tools I’d send a friend to first. They’re made by other people — I just link to them.
- Reedsy Children’s Book Storyboard Template — a free 32-page template for mapping your story across spreads.
- Picture Book Basics by Scott E. Franson — pay-what-you-want PDF with tall, wide and square dummy layouts.
- KDP Cover Template Generator — Amazon’s official cover template for your exact trim size and page count.
- Kindlepreneur ISBN Barcode Generator — turn an ISBN you own into a print-ready barcode, no signup.
- Damonza ISBN Barcode Creator — free barcode as a high-res PNG or vector PDF, with an optional price code.
- IngramSpark Print & Ship Calculator — check what printing a color picture book will actually cost before you set your price.
- Lulu Pricing Calculator — handy for comparing print costs and bulk discounts for event copies.
- Kindlepreneur Free Tools — royalty calculator, Amazon sales estimator and more.
Tools made by Ameliessa Books are free for personal use. External resources belong to their creators — we link to them, we never host or resell them. Nothing on this page is sponsored.