Distributed, Embedded Completion of the Bedtime Routine using Book Flaps. A Science-Based Tactic Being Built within Sleepy Star

Kevin Luczynski — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:50:21 GMT

Editor’s Note: Derek and I have never published a children’s book, and we are doing it as independent publishers. We know that other people may want to improve and entertain the world through publishing their own children’s book. We want to share our experience along the way.

Children’s Book Journey Update 02: Gary Wilkinson, our British illustrator who resides in Japan, as of June is solely focused on crafting the character sketches for Sleepy Star.

As we wait to review his creative work, Dr. Derek Reed, Melinda Martin (our Editor and Literary Agent), and myself have mapped out the book pages for Sleepy Star: A Children’s Book as Bedtime Aid for Parents. Important Note: All the images below are for illustrative purpose; they do not represent the illustrations that will be used in the finalized book.

One feature of the book-mapping process is determining the distribution of pages that entail a flap that folds out and is dry-erase.

Each page with a dry-erase flap as illustrated above and below will be used in two ways.

Primary Use: To complete a step of the bedtime routine. One neat aspect is that the order and type of bedtime step is personalized to the family and what would best for each night.

Flap on right page of book is closed.

Flap on the right page of book is open, and it is a drawing of the bedtime step of brushing teeth.

Secondary Use: Sometimes a dry-erase book flap reveals something fun to do for a short period of time (e.g., 3 minutes) instead of a step in the bedtime routine. In other words, we want parents to build in unpredictable fun moments such that when their child turns the flap, they may get to return to some of the fun stuff. In this case, shooting a bit more on the Little Tikes basketball hoop in the basement.

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Embedding dry-erase flaps throughout the book allows parents to avoid The Bedtime Cliff, during which there can be a stark shift for fun to little fun when the bedtime routine starts.

We want to avoid shifting from a period of love and interaction during playtime to completing the less desirable steps associated with the bedtime routine.

Instead, we are working to create within Sleepy Star a more gentle and peaceful way to complete the bedtime routine. That is, to avoid the Bedtime Cliff, we are building the Distributed Path. That is, distributed completion of the bedtime steps throughout the book.

Derek and I will share more about how we embedded multiple evidence-based tactics within this children’s book. Please keep reading.

Profit & Loss Calculator for Independently Publishing a Hardcover Children's Book

Kevin Luczynski — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:55:33 GMT

In the near future, Dr. Gregory Madden and Dr. Florence DiGennaro-Reed will publish the second edition of the APA Handbook for Behavior Analysis.

I had the rare opportunity to write a chapter with my wife, Dr. Nicole Rodriguez, on Pediatric Sleep: A Behavioral Account.

While writing, Dr. Derek Reed suggested we co-author and independently publish a children’s book to support parents. A bedtime book that could help parents peacefully complete the bedtime routine and initiate sleep in the desired location without extensive negotiation seemed to fit the mission.

So, we have been deep in designing and crafting a children’s book that has several evidence-based strategies built into the book itself. We have not found another children’s book that takes this approach, which requires specialty printed features.

We have partnered with Melinda Martin as our publishing consultant and editor (and all-around solution finder). She has been a perfect it. Three weeks ago we officially partnered with the illustrator, Gary Wilkinson, to bring Sleepy Star: Bedtime by the Book to life.

One of the first steps for Derek and myself was to try to make some sense of the economics of our decision to independently publish a self-help tool for parents as a children’s book.

In response, we built a calculator in an attempt to predict cost, revenue, and profit. We built ways to toggle the type of sales channel (e.g., Direct, Amazon, Distributor, etc.) and fulfillment provider (e.g., Amazon MCF, Acutrack, Fulfillrite, etc.). In addition, we attempted to take into account all the expenses associated with the initial costs of creating the book and costs as more books are printed and sold.

We know there are likely errors in the calculator, and it was built around the idea of an 8 by 8 hardcover children’s book.

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I have been inspired by people who talk about the journey of publishing while trying to help people, such as Jonathan Goodman, Alex Wiechowski, Ben Putano, and Paul Millerd. As such, we created a generic version of the calculator in case it could help anyone else in a similar position.

Here is a link to the Book Calculator on the web.

If you find value in it or want to make modifications, here is a link to download the HTML file here.

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