How I Created the Book, D is for Data

This is part three in the series about my new children’s book, D is for Data, The ABCs of Data Analytics. Today, I want tell you how I made this book. Believe it or not, I made most of this book on my phone! But before we get into that, let’s address the elephant in the room—yes, I used an AI. Here is the stack that I used…

MidJourney for Image Generation
TraceJourney for UpScaling
Canva for Layout
KDP for Publishing

What is MidJourney? MidJourney is a chatbot that turns text into images. For example, you prompt the MidJourney bot to “imagine an elephant in a boardroom” and it would come back with four images. One of those images might look like the one below. Of course, it doesn’t get it right the first time. So, you have to try other words to get just what you want. You can do this all on your phone while you wait in line to pick up kids from school. The illustrations and images that MidJourney creates are stunning, as you can see below. I paid a small monthly fee ($10 or so, can’t remember) that allows me to use the images for any commercial purpose and even if I cancel my subscription, I retain the right to use any images created during that time.

So, I just worked my way through the alphabet starting with A is for Aggregation. I’d figure out how I wanted to explain it and then go to work trying to generate a matching image. Once I got the image, I’d upscale it using TraceBot. This just means making it high resolution so that it doesn’t look blurry when you print it out. This used to be impossible, but AI makes this possible now.

Once I had both the image and the text, I’d lay out the page in Canva. Again, I did it mostly on my phone. Yes, I had to refine it later on my computer, but I’d say 80% of it was done on the phone.

Once I had all of the letters, A-Z, I watched some YouTube videos on how to create a cover and title pages. Then, I uploaded everything to KDP and ordered a sample book. I wasn’t sure how the images would look when printed, since I’d only ever seen them on the screen, but they are amazing! They really do a good job printing glossy ink on each page.

Once I got the sample in the mail, I showed it to the kids and got a lot of feedback. I changed out a bunch of the images and changed the definitions to make them more understandable. It helped to have a second-grader and fifth-grader in-house to give immediate feedback. I also engaged friends and family to help proof read.

Since KDP is part of Amazon, they handle all of the printing, sales and distribution. I just upload the PDF and wait for them to send royalty checks. I only get around $1.50 per book in royalties, but it is zero risk on my part. I don’t have to put any money up-front. There is no minimum purchase. Nothing. If it sells, I make money. If not, I’m not out anything except my time.

I hope you get as much enjoyment out of reading this book as I had making it. It will be available tomorrow, Oct 1!