How we made The Scariest Places in Story
A 60-page literary horror coloring paperback on Amazon KDP: 24 black-and-white scenes inspired by public-domain literature and folklore.
By Shawn Neville · View the live product
Snapshot
| Marketplace | Amazon KDP paperback |
|---|---|
| Author | Shawn Neville |
| ASIN | B0HMZZ5L45 |
| Trim / pages | 8.5 × 11 in · 60 pages · B&W on white · glossy cover · no bleed |
| List price | $9.99 |
| Contents | 24 original B&W plates (10 destinations, 10 companions, 4 thematic) with blank reverses |
| Time note | Multi-week plate + layout cycle (recipe band for a similar book: 1–3 days once plates exist) |
The actual workflow
1 Source the destinations
Locked ten public-domain literary and folklore places (Usher, Sleepy Hollow, a generic Transylvanian cliff castle, a Frankenstein-inspired tower, Dante’s gates of Dis, Baba Yaga’s hut, Knossos labyrinth, Bluebeard’s corridor, the River Styx, the City of Brass). Source ledger keeps each plate tied to its basis and forbids modern film or franchise designs.
2 Generate and normalize line art
Interior plates are AI-generated or AI-derived images, then human-selected, rejected, and converted to two-level black-and-white line art. Companion and thematic masters were remastered as native bilevel 2550×3300 art; at least one thematic plate used GenerateImage → potrace → rsvg. The exact image model for the ten principal plates that began life in an earlier digital edition was not recorded in the ledger — treat that step as generic AI image generation, not a named Midjourney or Canva claim.
3 Assemble interior and cover PDFs
Local Python/PDF tooling laid out the 60-page interior and a single-piece cover wrap sized for KDP (17.38512 × 11.25 in, spine under the 79-page text threshold so the spine stays blank). Cover art was colored for the wrap; back cover reuses a darkened vignette.
4 Write metadata and disclose AI on KDP
Title, subtitle, description, seven keywords, and categories were drafted from the locked metadata sheet. KDP AI disclosure for this title: images = AI-generated with extensive editing; text = some sections AI-drafted with extensive editing. Copyright page states illustrations were created with generative AI under human art direction and editing.
5 Publish the paperback
Uploaded interior and cover PDFs, free KDP ISBN, glossy finish, list price $9.99. Live ASIN B0HMZZ5L45.
Steps we could not fully verify
- Exact AI image tool name for the ten principal plates (ledger says tool was not recorded).
- Whether Book Bolt, Publisher Rocket, or BookBeam was used for keyword research on this title (keywords exist; research tool not logged).
Where a tool name was not in the production log, we say so instead of inventing one.
Compliance notes
KDP AI disclosure
Answered images as AI-generated (with extensive editing) and text as some sections AI-generated with extensive editing. Printed copyright page matches: generative AI under human direction, selection, editing, B&W normalization, layout, and review.
Public-domain inspiration, original art
Story bases are public domain; illustrations are original interpretations. Listing and interior state the book is not affiliated with modern film, TV, game, or franchise adaptations.
What shipped
- Live Amazon paperback: The Scariest Places in Story (ASIN B0HMZZ5L45).
- 60-page 8.5 × 11 B&W interior PDF + full-wrap glossy cover PDF.
- 24 coloring scenes with blank reverse pages to reduce bleed-through while coloring.
Lessons
- Keep a source ledger that separates public-domain literary bases from original companion art — it makes KDP description and rights answers honest.
- If the image tool for early plates was never logged, say “AI image generation” instead of inventing Midjourney or Canva after the fact.
- Disclose AI on KDP even when you edited heavily; KDP’s form asks about generation, not whether the final page looks hand-drawn.
Try the recipe
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