Custom coloring books
A custom coloring book from your own photos
A coloring book of the grandchildren, the dog or last summer’s holiday is one of the few gifts children color in and adults keep. Making the pages is the easy part. This guide is about the book: how many pages, how to bind it, and what each way of printing costs.
Plan the book before converting anything
- 12 to 20 photos. Fewer feels like a handout; more than about 20 is rarely finished by a young child.
- One subject per page. The photo test showed what distance does: crop each photo so the person or pet fills it.
- Match detail to age. For under-fives, Shapes with Colors at 6 gives a few big areas; for older children and adults, 10 to 12.
- Add a few easy pages. Huepad’s free coloring pages and patterns can fill gaps between the photo pages, with the same paper size. For a December book, the Christmas pages are sorted by age, so you can match them to each child.
- Name the pages. The optional Caption field prints a line under the drawing: “Grandpa’s boat, 2025”.
Making the pages
Convert each photo in the photo tool and download it as a PDF in the size you will print. Huepad makes one PDF page per photo; to combine them into one file, open the first PDF in your computer’s PDF viewer and drag the others into its page sidebar (Preview on a Mac does this), or simply print them one after another. Pattern pages can be made as a whole book at once with the Coloring book PDF builder on the generator.
Three ways to print it
| Print at home | KDP proof copy | Order from a photo-book service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Loose sheets you bind yourself | A bound paperback, marked “Not for Resale” | A bound book, made for you |
| Printing cost | Your paper and ink | $2.84 for an 8.5 × 11 in book of 24 to 110 pages (black ink, Amazon.com), plus shipping | ReallyColor: $17.99 for one 12-page book, $8.99 each extra copy |
| Work | Print, trim, bind | KDP account, interior PDF, a cover file | Upload photos and order |
| Photo uploaded | No | Line art only, not the photos | Yes, the photos |
Sources, read 29 October 2026: KDP paperback printing cost (large trim, 24–110 pages: fixed $2.84); KDP proof and author copies (proofs carry a “Not for Resale” watermark; author copies are prints of a live book at print cost); KDP proof shipping (no free or Prime shipping); ReallyColor pricing.
Printing at home
Print one side only: markers soak through, and a page colored on both sides ruins one of them. A 20-page book is 20 sheets. For a cover, print the first page on thicker card; the paper guide lists the weights. Bind with two staples on the left edge, a hole punch and ribbon, or a binder clip so pages can come out for the fridge. Huepad’s pages keep about 12 mm of white margin on every side, which leaves room for staples and holes without cutting into the drawing.
A bound copy through KDP, without selling it
Amazon KDP prints proof copies so authors can check a book before publishing. Nothing forces you to publish afterwards. A 40-page interior (20 photo pages with blank backs) at 8.5 × 11 in costs the same $2.84 to print as a 24-page one, because KDP charges a flat fee up to 110 pages for that size. You pay shipping on top, and the copy carries a “Not for Resale” mark. You need a KDP account, a cover PDF and an interior PDF that follows KDP’s size rules; the KDP guide covers both. Proof copies are made from the files you upload: the original photos never leave your computer, only the line art.
Ordering a finished book
Services such as ReallyColor turn your photos into pages and post a bound book. It is the least work, and the most expensive per page: their 12-page book is $17.99, about $1.50 a page, before shipping. You also hand over the original photos.
Which to choose
- One gift, this weekend: print at home.
- Several copies for the family, a few weeks ahead: KDP proofs. Each extra copy is another $2.84 plus shipping.
- No time and no printer: a service.
Prices. KDP prices are for Amazon.com, black ink on white paper, read 29 October 2026; shipping depends on the order and is shown only at checkout. Check the linked pages before ordering.
Make the pages from your photos →
Sources
- Paperback Printing Cost · KDP Help · read 29 October 2026
- Proof and Author Copies · KDP Help · read 29 October 2026
- How much do proof or author copies cost? · KDP Help · read 29 October 2026
- What is the cost to ship my proof or author copy? · KDP Help · read 29 October 2026
- Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins · KDP Help · read 29 October 2026
- Pricing · ReallyColor · read 29 October 2026
Read next
Photo to coloring pageHow to turn a photo into a coloring pageTurn a photo into a printable coloring page in five steps, plus a test of what makes a photo convert well: we ran one picture six ways and counted the areas.
Amazon KDP coloring booksHow to make a coloring book to sell on Amazon KDPMake and publish a coloring book on Amazon KDP: trim size, page count, bleed, printing cost and royalty worked out from KDP’s own help pages, and the AI disclosure rule.
Printing coloring pagesColoring page sizes and paper, worked outWhat size to print coloring pages, what happens when an A4 page meets Letter paper, how line weight changes with size, and which paper weight to use, in lb and gsm.