How a personalized picture book gets made

What you need before you start

Less than you'd think. Nothing here has to be complete or polished.

• Details only you know
  What they're obsessed with this year, what they're scared of, the thing they say that makes everyone laugh. This is what the story gets built from, and you type it straight into the payment page.
• Photos of them — two or three
  A clear view of their face is all we need. Upload them on the page right after checkout — that's the whole step. If you'd rather email them, send them to info@kater.jp instead.

The four steps

1. STEP 1

   You buy the book — $9.99

   Checkout takes about a minute and it's the only form you have to fill in. You tell us the kid's name and age right there, plus anything else you want in the story — what they're obsessed with this year, the thing they say that makes everyone laugh, the occasion.

2. STEP 2

   You upload two or three photos

   The page you land on straight after checkout has an upload box. Pick the photos and you're done — there's nothing to write and no attachment to remember. Any clear shot of their face works; a phone photo is fine. This is what we draw the character from, so it's the one thing we can't start without. If you'd rather email them, send them to info@kater.jp from the address you paid with instead.

3. STEP 3

   AI drafts it. An editor writes it.

   Our AI produces the first pass of the story and the illustrations in minutes. Then a human editor rewrites the words so they read well out loud, fixes the pacing, and throws out any art that came out wrong.

4. STEP 4

   The book comes back to you

   Within 7 business days of us having your photos, the finished book lands in your inbox as a print-ready PDF. Read it on a tablet, or print it at home or at a print shop.

Where the AI stops

Step 3 is the one people ask about, so here it is in plain terms. The AI writes the first draft of the story, produces the first pass of the illustrations, and lays out the pages. That's the whole of its job.

After that a person takes over. An editor rewrites the story so it reads well out loud, checks every page against what you told us, regenerates art that came out wrong, and approves the final book. Nothing is sent to you that a human hasn't read.

Why we say so instead of hiding it

AI is the reason a custom-written, custom-illustrated book costs $9.99 instead of several hundred. Pretending otherwise would mean charging you for a difference that isn't there.

What actually arrives

A print-ready PDF, by email. Nothing is shipped to you. Read it on a tablet, print it at home, or take the file to a print shop — it's yours to keep and reprint as many times as you want.

We print and bind hardcovers in Japan, but we don't ship printed books abroad yet, so a bound copy isn't something you can order here.

If something isn't right

Reply to the email with what's wrong and we'll redo it. A page whose art missed, a detail we got backwards, a name spelled the other way — tell us and it gets fixed. If it still isn't a book you'd want to read to them, tell us and we'll refund you.

The same goes for the clock: if we can't finish your book within 7 business days of receiving your photos, we refund you in full without being asked.

Related pages

• Pricing — what $9.99 covers, and why there's no hardcover price
• FAQ — photos, page count, printing, timing