My first challenge was finding the right artist to illustrate my stories. In an effort to keep it simple I tried modifying photos I had taken in PhotoShop but was not able to get them dialed in. I asked a friend who had done some cartoons in the past if he would be interested but he wasn't able to get me what I wanted either. It was then I thought about approaching the art department at the college I work at to see if maybe there was a student who was proficient in watercolor artwork who needed a project to work on for classwork. The director of our art department put me in contact with Crystal Cochell, a senior at the time, who had recently done a watercolor map of the college campus. As soon as I saw her watercolor work I knew she would be the perfect illustrator for my children's books. We met a few times to go over my vision for the artwork and before I knew it, she had proofs for me to approve and we were off and running. Aside from that I think the biggest challenge with self-publishing would be the fact that you also have to self-market your work. To maximize my efforts I try to market directly to my target demographic. You have to really know your audience and then think of creative ways to get your info to them. Having had two kids come up through pre-school, daycare, and kindergarten I already had a pretty good network of people to connect with. I combined that with a list of folks I had worked with over the years who also had young children or who may know others with kids who might like to know about my books. On top of that I've tried to leverage the power of social media, as well as creating posters, flyers, and ads that, in addition to actually printing hard copies, I send them out through GMAIL, Google+ and post on my personal website.