Children’s book ghostwriting services for every age category

Children’s book ghostwriting at AuthorWings costs $3,999 for Starter, $5,999 for Growth, or $11,499 for Authority. Every tier includes the manuscript, full-color illustrations, editing, formatting, rounds of changes, and 100% rights to the text and art. Tiers differ by word count and the number of illustrations, and longer books add words at 20 cents a word. The cover and publishing are separate services. The cost calculator builds your estimate.

Between 4 and 16 weeks, depending on the tier. Starter picture books take 4 to 6 weeks, Growth books 8 to 10, and Authority novels 12 to 16, with extra time for longer books. Illustration is the longest step, because it starts only after the text is approved and you review each page as a sketch and in color. Quick feedback from you keeps the schedule.

No. If you plan to query literary agents, submit the manuscript on its own. Traditional publishers usually choose the illustrator themselves, so art you pay for is unlikely to be used. We can write the manuscript alone, quoted on your free call, and our children’s publishing page explains when self-publishing becomes the better route.

Both. Your writer and illustrator are chosen for the same age group when the project starts, because picture books, chapter books, and novels each need a different drawing style and pace. You see sample work from that age group before you sign, so you know the style you are getting.

It gets caught at the sketch stage, before any final art. The text is approved first and goes to the illustrator with page-by-page art notes. You review each character and each page as a sketch before color, and fixes at that point fall inside your tier’s rounds of changes. Catching a mismatch at final color costs far more, which is why the order never changes.

Vocabulary and sentence length are checked against reading-level guidelines for your age group. Harder themes such as loss, divorce, illness, or identity are checked against how published books for that age handle them. For school or library use, tell us the grade on your free call, and the manuscript is written to it.

Yes, when the story calls for it. Rhyme done well drives the read-aloud rhythm children predict and chant along to. Done poorly, forced meter and near-rhymes stumble the moment a parent reads aloud. Rhyming lines are metered and drafted out loud so the stress pattern holds at bedtime, and stories that don’t need rhyme often work better as rhythmic prose. The choice is made at the brief stage.

It can, if that is the goal from the start. Books for classroom or library use are written for a specific grade, with school-appropriate themes and art suitable for institutional shelves. Books for home reading or specific audiences, such as faith-based or family-legacy titles, follow their own conventions. You choose at the brief stage, because a manuscript written to win both audiences usually wins neither.

With age-appropriate language, pacing, and resolution drawn from established titles in the same category, inside boundaries you set in writing at the brief stage. Grief, divorce, anxiety, illness, and family change are handled with care, and trauma is never shown in more detail than the age group allows. Therapist and counselor authors often add a clinical review before the text is approved.

You own 100% of the manuscript, every character, every illustration, the world, and all series, sequel, and spin-off rights. Editable art files and the Word file come with the print-ready files. If you write book two elsewhere, every character travels with you, and the writer and illustrator keep no claim, royalty, or derivative right. See how we handle full rights to the artwork.

Yes, with written consent. Legacy books, family-tradition stories, and named-character bedtime books often use a child’s name or likeness. The parent or legal guardian signs the consent, including when the author is someone else, such as a grandparent. Books for commercial release with a real child as a named character need extra rights paperwork, scoped on your free call before any contract is signed.

Yes. The manuscript is written to fit the art you already have, using the illustration-first workflow. Your illustrations go into the project at the brief stage, and the words are built around the pages and poses already drawn. Because the art is already paid for, these projects are quoted on your free call, as words only or as words plus new illustrations to fill any gaps.

The book stays confidential, and no AI is used. A confidentiality agreement (NDA) is signed before you share specifics, the confidentiality clause survives the project, and everyone on your book is bound by it. We never name children’s book clients without written permission. A human writer writes the manuscript and a human illustrator draws the art, and the no-AI clause is in every agreement before you sign.

No. Children’s publishing has used co-writers and ghostwriters for decades, including on some of the most loved series on the shelf. Hiring a children’s book ghostwriter is buying read-aloud craft the way you would hire any professional. The story, message, characters, and dedication stay yours, and the cover credit is yours alone. If you’d rather write it yourself, our guide on how to write a children’s book takes you through it step by step, and these children’s book ideas can get you started.

Yes. On your free call, your existing manuscript is checked against the four crafts (read-aloud rhythm, page-turn pacing, words for the age, and words and pictures together) for its age group. The rebuild keeps your story, world, characters, and series rights, and produces a manuscript built to be read again and again. Existing art either carries forward through the illustration-first workflow or gets redrawn to the new page plan.