Question 1

Could a book about the dark make bedtime worse?

Accepted Answer

No, and it is built to avoid exactly that. Nothing jumps out and nothing is left unexplained: the wood turns out to be full of animals who are wide awake and unbothered, and the monster with claws turns out to be a coat, a plant and a bit of old dust. The last page has your child getting into bed on their own and telling the dark to come in.

Question 2

My child is two. Is it too long for them?

Accepted Answer

It is thirteen spreads in rhyme and reads in about six minutes. At two most children follow the rhythm and the pictures rather than the plot, and that is enough. From about four they start following the reason the dark stops being frightening.

Question 3

What if it comes out wrong?

Accepted Answer

Write to hello@dreamtalecartoons.com before it prints and we fix it for free, or cancel and refund you in full: books go to the printer shortly after you order, so write quickly. If it arrives damaged, send us a photo and we reprint it, and you keep the damaged one. If we got something wrong (a misspelled name, the wrong dedication, a printing fault), send us a photo and we reprint it at our cost, or refund you in full if you would rather.

Question 4

Can I preview it before paying?

Accepted Answer

That is the whole point of the free preview. Upload a photo and see them on the cover with their name, in about a minute, before you decide. No account, no card, nothing to cancel. One honest note: the preview is a first draft. Before anything is printed we check it page by page, and the printed book is sharper than what you see on screen. You choose softcover or hardcover after the preview.

Question 5

What do you do with the photo?

Accepted Answer

We look at it once to build the character, and from then on the character is what travels through the book. Your photo is never printed on a page. Thirty days after your book ships it is deleted from our systems. Want it deleted sooner? Write to hello@dreamtalecartoons.com and we delete it, no reason needed.

Question 6

How long does it take to arrive?

Accepted Answer

About eight business days. Your book does not exist until you order it, so it has to be printed, bound and shipped, and we count the printing inside that time. Weekends and holidays do not count, so leave room before a birthday: the book page and your cart show the real delivery dates before you pay. Shipping is $6.99 inside the US, and free on orders from $50.

Question 7

What kind of photo works?

Accepted Answer

For each person in the story, one clear shot of the face, looking roughly at the camera, in decent light. For a cat or dog, one daylight photo where their markings show. A phone photo is fine. A scan from an old album is fine too: the picture at the top of our home page is a photograph from the early nineties, scanned off film, and the character came straight from it.

Question 8

What is actually personalized?

Accepted Answer

Your child's face first: we draw them from your photo and keep that same face on the cover and all through the story, and anyone else in the book is drawn from their own photo. Their name goes under the title and into the verses, and you can add a dedication page, printed word for word. The story and the scenes around them are the same for everyone who picks this title, written and drawn before you arrive and approved page by page, so nothing strange can turn up in your child's book.

Question 9

What is the book physically?

Accepted Answer

Landscape, 11 by 8.3 inches (280 by 210 mm), thirty pages on 170gsm coated silk paper, printed in the United States. You choose softcover or hardcover after you see your preview.

Question 10

Can I put more than one child in the book?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in one story: The One Who Goes First is written for two children, both drawn from your photos. Sixteen of the others have one child, and eight of them add grown-ups or your pet: I Love You, Mom; I Love You, Dad; The House That Remembers; The Cat Who Knew the Way; One More Hour; Come and Find Me; The Unfinished One; and My Hero. Nobody in a book costs extra.

Question 11

Does anyone check the book before it prints?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every book is checked by a real artist before it is printed. If something is not right, we fix it before it prints, or refund you in full.

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