Meet With Us In Person in Houston
Color accuracy and print quality are easier to judge on a physical proof than a screen. Houston-area authors can schedule an in-person review of art proofs at our Suite B4 office before final files go to print.
Keach Publishing Agency is headquartered in Houston and provides custom children's book illustration for local authors: cover art, full interior spreads, and character design, built correctly for Amazon KDP and IngramSpark from the first sketch.
Houston authors can work with us by phone, video, and email, with in-person consultations available by appointment at our Suite B4 office to review art proofs directly.
The local chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the national children's-book professional organization. It holds monthly meetings and illustrator sketch nights at the Tracy Gee Community Center, open to anyone writing or illustrating for kids and teens.
Widely regarded as Houston's leading children's specialty bookstore, with half its shelf space devoted to kids' titles, a weekly Storytime, and three dedicated festivals for young readers: Bookworm Festival for picture books and emerging readers, Tweens Read, and TeenBookCon.
The Rice Village institution known citywide for author events, including children's and family programming.
Knowing this community shapes real decisions for a Houston author's illustrated book, from the visual style that reads well to a Blue Willow browsing family, to which local events are worth pursuing once the book is printed.
The same complete process applies whether you're working with us in person in Houston or entirely by video.
Rough, black-and-white layouts for every spread, plus initial character concepts.
Matched to the book's age range and genre, since a board book, a picture book, and an early reader call for noticeably different illustration approaches.
Locking in how each character looks so they're recognizable from the first page to the last, one of the most common quality failures in rushed or budget illustration work.
Every interior spread is fully rendered in color.
Front cover, full wraparound print cover, and a separate ebook cover.
Correct DPI, bleed, trim size, and color mode for both KDP and IngramSpark.
We keep revising until every spread is ready to print.
Illustration files that look great on a screen still get rejected on upload if the technical specs are wrong. We build every file to the current requirements for both platforms.
Trim sizes
Standard picture book trim sizes, including 8.5" x 8.5" and 8.5" x 11", alongside other trims on request.
KDP page count minimums
24 pages for a paperback, 75 pages for a hardcover; premium color interiors allow a 24-page minimum, while standard color interiors require at least 72 pages, which matters for shorter picture books.
300 DPI minimum
Every illustration file is built at 300 DPI or higher, so art prints sharp rather than blurry.
Bleed and safety margins
Art extended 0.125" past the trim edge, with safety margins so nothing important gets cut off in printing.
Color modes
CMYK for print files, matched separately for ebook-ready RGB files.
IngramSpark-ready packages
File packages alongside KDP, for authors who want their book in bookstores and libraries, not just on Amazon.
Amazon actively enforces its AI content disclosure policy: any book containing AI-generated cover or interior artwork must be disclosed during the KDP upload process, even if the art was edited afterward, and undisclosed AI content can get a title removed without warning. This doesn't affect a disclosed book's ranking, royalties, or category eligibility. It's a transparency requirement, not a penalty for using AI responsibly.
Suggested structure below. Confirm final pricing before publishing.
Front cover, wraparound print cover, and ebook cover.
A set number of full interior spreads (commonly 12, 20, or a full 32-page picture book's worth), priced per illustration based on complexity.
Cover plus full interior illustration, bundled with formatting and platform setup for KDP and IngramSpark.
Every package is billed as a flat fee agreed before work begins. You own the final artwork and files outright; there's no ongoing royalty or licensing fee on the illustrations once the project is complete.
Color accuracy and print quality are easier to judge on a physical proof than a screen. Houston-area authors can schedule an in-person review of art proofs at our Suite B4 office before final files go to print.
Yes. Keach Publishing Agency is based in Houston and provides full illustration services for children's books, from cover art through complete interior illustration, with in-person consultations available by appointment.
Yes. Houston-area clients can schedule an in-person proof review at our office, which makes it much easier to judge color accuracy than reviewing on a screen alone.
We can help make sure your book is technically ready for that conversation, correctly formatted, returnable, and priced in line with comparable titles, and offer guidance on making the pitch itself.
For most first-time picture book authors and illustrators, yes. It's a well-established, welcoming professional community with monthly meetings and illustrator-specific events, independent of who you eventually work with to publish.
Cover illustration typically runs $500-$3,000, and interior illustrations are commonly priced per spread. Exact Keach pricing is listed on our Pricing page.
Schedule a free consultation, in person in Houston or by video, and we'll talk through your manuscript and what a complete illustrated picture book project looks like.