📝 The build log: Finicky Filbert and friends
✏️ From Homemade to Hardcover
➡️ : Buy Finicky Filbert on Amazon
It started with a homemade children’s book — Finicky Filbert, drawn, written, and bound by hand. Instead of letting it stay as a one-off, we decided to see what would happen if AI could help bring it to life for the world.
We scanned the original pages, cleaned them up, and dropped them into Canva. From there, AI generated supporting graphics: transparent backgrounds, food motifs, playful borders, and even embroidery-friendly versions for merch. The rough DIY sketches became consistent, print-ready illustrations.
📐 Learning the Hard Way (Bleed, Trim, DPI)
Amazon’s KDP has no patience for sloppy files. We learned fast:
Trim Size: 8.5” x 8.5” square, the sweet spot for picture books.
Bleed: essential — images should run edge-to-edge. Otherwise? White bars of doom.
Export Rules: PDFs must be exact dimensions with embedded fonts. Images need 300dpi or higher for print.
One failed upload later, we had the formula. Canva exports → upscaled images → properly sized PDFs. The process is now repeatable for every book in the series.
🎨 From Filbert to Friends
Filbert is just the first. Out of him grew the idea for the Finicky Friends Collection — quirky, rhyming picture books where each character wrestles with a tiny but relatable challenge. Parents smile, kids giggle, and everyone sees a bit of themselves in the characters.
Think: picky eaters, messy sleepers, bedtime resistors. Everyday habits turned into colorful adventures.
📦 The Market Plan
Publishing is only step one. Bringing Filbert to life means treating it like a product launch:
Amazon KDP Print + Kindle → distribution day one.
Landing Page → finickyfriends.com with email capture.
Social Media → TikToks of the original hand-bound copy vs. finished product, YouTube read-alouds, Instagram reels of AI-to-print transformations.
Local Push → copies donated to libraries, indie bookstore placements, school readings.
Brand Extension → coloring pages, stickers, plushies, and eventually a box set.
The hook? “Even the quirkiest habits can make a good story.”
🔮 What’s Next
The pipeline is clear:
Lock in Finicky Filbert on Amazon.
Expand into Book #2.
Launch Finicky Friends as a recognizable kids’ series.
Leverage AI to speed up illustration, layout, and marketing at every stage.
This wasn’t just about one book — it’s about proving that AI can take a hand-made creative spark and scale it into a polished, market-ready children’s brand.
⚡️ Wrap-Up
Finicky Filbert started as a quirky homemade story and became a professional children’s book because of careful iteration, a willingness to learn about trim and bleed, and AI as a creative partner. What used to take publishers years now takes weeks.
Want to bring your own wild ideas to market? That’s where the AI Concierge comes in. Let’s build it together.
