For story creators
How to publish your own story.
Drafting a template means setting the story's shape once — audience, voice, art style, cast, pages, and layout — then proving it with one real, finished copy before anyone else can buy it.
Write a draft
Start with your own plot, cast roles, page beats, and tone. Drafts stay private while you shape the story.
Buy the proof
Generate and buy one real, finished copy of your template — the proof. It confirms the story and art hold up cover to cover before anyone else can buy it.
Publish when ready
Once the proof succeeds, your template is ready to share. Publishing is optional — you decide when, or whether, to make it public.
Earn on every sale
You earn a 50% share of profit — after generation, printing, shipping, and overhead — each time someone buys a book made from your template. Changes create a new version, so past orders keep the version they were made from.
What you set when drafting a story
- Title & description
- A title and a back-cover description; the description must reference every character slot by its placeholder so it personalises correctly.
- Ages & themes
- An age range (1–3 through 18+) and up to three themes, so readers can find your story by filter.
- Writing voice
- Pick the craft style our writer channels, or accept the voice we recommend for your age range and themes.
- Art style guide
- A written style guide that steers the look of every illustration in this template.
- 1–3 character slots
- Each slot has a role (child, parent, sibling, or other) and a default life stage. Readers upload their own photos for each slot when they personalise it.
- Up to 40 pages, including covers
- One row per page: a story beat (what happens), a scene hint (what to draw), a setting (reused wording keeps a location consistent across pages), and which cast members appear. The first page is always the front cover and the last is always the back cover. Templates with in-page text need at least 24 pages and facing-page templates at least 13, so the printed hardcover is full of story instead of blank padding.
- Text layout, font, and position
- Choose in-page text (words burned into the artwork) or facing-page text (words typeset beside a full-bleed image), plus a body font and, for facing-page text, whether it sits centred or near the top.
- Pricing
- Digital and hardcover prices are derived automatically from the book's size, page count, and cast — you don't set a price yourself.
Screenshot on the way
In-page text vs. facing-page text
- In-page text
- Words are illustrated into the artwork itself — closer to a classic picture book, and suited to shorter, punchier lines.
- Facing-page text
- The illustration stays clean and full-bleed; story text is typeset on the page beside it — suited to longer passages.
Screenshot on the way
Note: Readers inherit your layout choice
Whichever text layout, font, and position you set stay fixed for every book made from this template — readers can't change them when they personalise.
Note: Your layout choice affects readers' later edits, too
Pick text burned into the illustration, and every reader who later changes a page's words triggers a re-render that uses 1 generation. Pick facing-page text instead, and readers can edit their words afterwards as often as they like, for free.
Limitation: Pricing isn't a creator input
Digital and hardcover prices are calculated by the system from book size, length, and cast — you can't set your own price.
Warning: Publishing is optional, but changes always version
You choose if and when to publish. Once published, changes create a new draft version — past orders keep the version they were made from.
Note: Proofs can be shown publicly, or kept private
You can optionally show your proof on the public Examples page, story text and illustrations included. Use fictional names in the proof if you'd rather keep it private.
Keep reading
Common questions
- How do I start a story template?
- From the creator area, start a draft with your own plot, cast roles, page beats, and tone. Drafts are private until you publish them.
- What is the proof book?
- The proof is a real, fully generated copy of your template — cover to back cover — that you buy once to confirm the story works before anyone else can buy it.
- Do I have to buy the proof myself?
- Yes. Buying the digital proof pays for that generation and confirms the template produces a finished book that matches what customers will receive.
- Can I publish before buying a proof?
- No. A template only becomes ready to publish once its proof has generated successfully.
- Do I have to publish my template?
- No. You can keep refining a draft, or buy a proof and decide later whether to make it public.
- How much do creators earn?
- Creators earn a 50% share of profit — after generation, printing, shipping, and overhead — on every book bought from their template. Earnings are tracked in your creator dashboard.
- What happens if I change a published template?
- Edits create a new draft version. Existing projects and orders stay pinned to the version they were made from, so past customers' books never change underneath them.
- Do I choose the price for my template?
- No. Digital and hardcover prices are derived automatically from the book's size, page count, and required cast — pricing isn't a field you set.
- Does the reader choose the text layout?
- No. You set in-page or facing-page text, the font, and (for facing-page text) the text position once, when drafting the template. Every reader who personalises it inherits that choice.
- How many pages can a template have?
- Up to 40 pages, including the front cover as the first page and the back cover as the last. Templates with in-page text need at least 24 pages and facing-page templates at least 13 — that way the printed hardcover meets its 24-page interior minimum with story, not blank padding.