Frequently Asked Questions

Your free plan includes 1 character (a single preview), with no portrait redraws. On a paid plan, character creates and portrait redraws share one monthly pool that scales with your plan — 10 per book in your plan: • Author (3 books/month): 30 character creates & redraws • Publisher (10 books/month): 100 • Studio (25 books/month): 250 Creating a new character and redrawing a character's portrait each use one from this pool, and one-click "Surprise me" books draw from it too for the characters they invent. The pool refreshes every month alongside your book allowance. Good to know: if you delete a character before approving it, that slot is refunded — so a first try that didn't come out right never costs you.

Yes. BookBudKids invents each character once and reuses it as a visual reference on every page, so the same child, animal, or grown-up looks like the same character throughout the book. For multi-character books we also build a cast size-comparison sheet so relative heights stay consistent too.

Each paid plan includes a monthly allowance of managed retail launches through our sister service SelfPublishing.pro -- Author gets 1 per month, Publisher 3, and Studio 10. Once submitted, your ebook goes to all major retailers (Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo and more) and your print book goes through IngramSpark, with a free ISBN assigned for each format. Need to launch more titles than your monthly allowance covers? An extra managed launch is $49 per book, or you can always download the files and publish anywhere yourself.

Surprise me is a one-click book creator available on all paid plans. Click the button and BookBudKids invents the characters, picks a genre, age band, and life lesson, then writes and illustrates the whole book for you — no choices needed. It's great if you want a fast result or want inspiration before customizing. A unique author pen name is assigned automatically so the book is ready to publish.

Yes -- every paid book includes a narrated 5-page trailer video with your choice of storyteller voice (Penny, Gus, or Willow). Publisher and Studio plans include a full read-along of all 20 pages; on the Author plan, a full read-along can be unlocked per title for $19. Either way you get a widescreen MP4 to download, plus a YouTube thumbnail sized from your cover.

No. Full-book illustration runs in a background queue on our server, so you can close your browser or come back later and it keeps going. Studio books get top priority, followed by Publisher, then Author, then free previews. Check your book's Content tab any time to see progress and know when it's ready.

You get a fixed-layout EPUB, a print-ready interior PDF (8.5×8.5", 300 DPI), cover PDFs formatted for both Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, a cover image, and a metadata sheet. The print specs are validated for KDP and IngramSpark so they upload cleanly.

There are three styles: Watercolor Storybook (soft, warm, traditional picture-book look), 3D Animated (rounded, cheerful, modern animated-movie style), and Flat Modern (bold, playful shapes with a contemporary edge). The style you choose applies consistently to every illustration — character portraits, page scenes, and the cover. The art style is set when you create a character and must match the book you put them in.

Yes — on any paid plan, your approved characters are saved to a reusable Character Library. When you start a new book you can pick any of them from the cast picker, and the "Continue this series" button prefills the same cast, art style, and series name for a sequel. The AI also has context from the previous book when writing the next, so characters and tone stay consistent across volumes.

Yes, on any paid plan. You can regenerate a page from scratch, or give specific instructions ("make the sky stormy", "change her dress to red") and the AI redraws only what you describe while keeping the characters consistent. The free preview does not include redraws — each page is illustrated once and cannot be changed without upgrading.

Every BookBudKids book is 24 pages: 20 fully illustrated content pages plus a title page, copyright and AI-disclosure page, "The End" page, and a closing blank. The format is 8.5×8.5" square — the standard size that uploads cleanly to both Amazon KDP and IngramSpark.

Not automatically. Characters invented by Surprise Me are kept with that book but not added to your reusable library right away. Once the book is finished, you'll see an option to save any of them to your Character Library so you can pick them for future books. Characters you create yourself are always saved to the library as soon as they're approved.

Yes. Open the Book Content tab in your book and click any page to edit its text. Save your changes, then redraw the page — the new illustration will be built around your revised words. You can also save the text without redrawing if you are happy with the existing art.

Yes. Open the Overview tab of any book and use the Cast panel. You can add any approved character from your library — they must share the same art style as the book — or remove existing cast members. Adding or removing a character does not rewrite story text that is already written, but it affects every page you illustrate or redraw going forward.

Your account moves to the free tier at the end of your current billing period, with a 7-day grace window before that happens. Your books and files stay accessible for 30 days after the grace period ends — we recommend downloading anything you want to keep before that window closes. Books that are already finished are yours to keep; you just lose the ability to create new finished books without an active paid plan.

One-time book packs let you buy a set number of finished-book credits without a subscription: 1 book for $19, 5 for $49, or 10 for $89 -- credits never expire. Each book credit also includes 10 character portrait credits and full DIY export files. Managed SelfPublishing.pro distribution is not included with packs, but you can add a $49 per-title launch or publish the files yourself. If you already have a subscription, purchased credits are spent automatically after your monthly allowance runs out.

Describe an idea — a character, a theme, and a life lesson — and BookBudKids writes the story and illustrates every page with consistent characters. You get a cover, a print-ready 8.5×8.5" interior, and a fixed-layout ebook. From there you can send it to SelfPublishing.pro for distribution or download the files and publish it yourself.

Every story goes through an automated child-safety check before any illustrations are generated. If a story triggers a flag, the book is placed on hold and you'll see a 'Request human review' option in the book view. Clicking it notifies our team, who read the full story and either clear it for distribution or let you know it can't go through the platform. If a book is declined, you keep full access to download all your files (EPUB, print PDF, cover) to self-publish anywhere you choose.

Free lets you try the whole flow with one watermarked preview. Paid plans are metered by finished books per month: Author ($19/mo, 3 books), Publisher ($49/mo, 10 books), and Studio ($99/mo, 25 books). Annual billing is 10x monthly, so you get two months free. Each paid plan also includes a monthly allowance of managed SelfPublishing.pro retail launches (Author 1, Publisher 3, Studio 10); extra launches are $49 per title. If you prefer to pay as you go, one-time book packs start at $19 for a single book -- credits never expire and work alongside any plan.

Yes. BookBudKids automates the children's picture-book illustration workflow, but it also writes the story, keeps characters consistent, creates the cover, drafts metadata, exports print and ebook files, and can route paid-plan books to SelfPublishing.pro for distribution help.

A general image generator is useful for one-off art. BookBudKids is built for complete children's picture books: story text, character approval, consistent page art, cover, retail metadata, fixed-layout EPUB, print PDFs, and distribution handoff options stay together in one workflow.

BookBudKids is best for standard 8.5x8.5 picture books such as life-lesson stories, bedtime books, animal adventures, classroom-friendly stories, seasonal titles, and series experiments with recurring characters.

BookBudKids is not the right fit for custom human illustration, unusual trim sizes, board-book manufacturing, pop-up books, projects requiring non-AI art rights, or one-off art prompts where you do not intend to produce a finished book.

Yes. Use the project intake form on the homepage or the contact page. Include the reader age range, theme, timeline, publishing goal, and whether you want to download files yourself or use SelfPublishing.pro distribution help.

Yes. Every book carries an AI-assistance disclosure where retailers require it, and the content passes a child-safety moderation check before any illustrations are generated. Books flagged for review are held until a human clears them.