I Built an AI Children's Book Generator (PictureBooks.io) - Looking for feedback!

[Thunderfall]

Made a new logo for the site today. It's live.

 

[amadeus]

I have tried again to produce a storybook and twice it got to 12 of 13 (12 page book, one cover page) pages before failing without explanation.

It has eaten 24 of my bananas. I closed my browser and reopened to see if it would refresh, but still shows the bananas eaten.

I’m doing this all from my iPhone, Google Chrome browser.

Mid-post: I tried it a third time, changing the prompt and it still ate the bananas, this time 13. No story. Let me know if you need any further detail.

 

[Thunderfall]

Thanks for reporting. Will investigate.

 

[Thunderfall]

I

I have tried again to produce a storybook and twice it got to 12 of 13 (12 page book, one cover page) pages before failing without explanation.

It has eaten 24 of my bananas. I closed my browser and reopened to see if it would refresh, but still shows the bananas eaten.

I’m doing this all from my iPhone, Google Chrome browser.

Mid-post: I tried it a third time, changing the prompt and it still ate the bananas, this time 13. No story. Let me know if you need any further detail.

I have put in a fix for it.
Image generation credit should only be deducted upon successful generartion.
Also, a failed image generation (such as due to safety check) will not deduct any credit.
Any failed image generation will also not block the book from being created; it will just not have an image on the page that failed image generation.

Please give it a try and let me know if any issue.

 

[Thunderfall]

Added a global dark mode to the site. To switch between light/dark mode, simply click that sun/moon icon in site header:

 

[Thorgalaeg]

What AI model does it use? It is the same for both the text and the images?

 

[Thunderfall]

We use Nano Banana for the image generation. For text, it's similar.

 

[Sephi]

Hi Thunderfall,

thanks for sharing this project with us. I wish you big success with this one!

I am not a marketing expert but I googled "picture books" and found all kind of sites but not yours. Maybe the name is too generic? I think you have millions of potential users out there, I hope you find a way to connect to them.

 

[Thunderfall]

Thanks Sephi,

As the site is new, it's ranked very low in Google search results now.
You may be right the search term "picture books" may be too generic, as even some photo books are called picture books.

I may have to do some advertising campaigns on Facebook in the near future to get more reach. It's hard to get new customers at this stage!

For now, I try to improve it as much as possible.

 

[Thunderfall]

Made some improvements to the mobile UI.
Among the changes is on the story page, you can now swipe left or right to go to next page or previous page.

 

[amadeus]

Made some improvements to the mobile UI.
Among the changes is on the story page, you can now swipe left or right to go to next page or previous page.

I don’t have anything to back this up so I’m speaking off the top of my head (or out of some unexposed orifice) but I think phones/tablets are going to be the primary way that customers would read these stories to their kids.

 

[Thunderfall]

I don’t have anything to back this up so I’m speaking off the top of my head (or out of some unexposed orifice) but I think phones/tablets are going to be the primary way that customers would read these stories to their kids.

Phone probably a bit too small. iPad/tablets make sense.
I am going to start working on an ios app version of the tool soon.
It should not be too crazy as this is a React app and I should be able to wrap it as a React native app.

 

[Theov]

how long and how much money did it take you to make this?

 

[Thunderfall]

how long and how much money did it take you to make this?

About 1 month.
Other than spending the time, it doesn't cost me much.
The main cost right now is the domain names.
API and hosting don't cost much yet.

 

[Thunderfall]

Just launched a major new personalization feature on PictureBooks: Avatar Studio!

You can access the Avatar Studio from the user drop down at top right, or directly from Create Story page.
This allows you to upload your own image, and AI will make an avatar version of it and also extract a detailed description of the person.
You can upload image of pets as well!
You can pick any of the supported art style for the avatar, The example avatars here are storbybook art style.
Any image uploaded will be used to create the avatar only and will not be saved.

On Create Story page, you can use these avatars as characters in the story.
For the avatars you selected to be included in the story, you can specify the relationship as well, such as main hero, dad, mom, etc.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

PictureBooks.io - Make Your Own Picture Books

The AI storyteller for parents. From first words to first chapters. Create personalized, magical stories for your child with AI.

picturebooks.io

 

[danjuno]

The pop-ups at the top of the site are annoying.

 

[amadeus]

The pop-ups at the top of the site are annoying.

A story of it’s own!

Title: These Pop-Ups Are Making Me Thirsty

by amadeus

Page 1: one day the prolific and dexterous poster Dan was on his favorite website

Page 2: what lurked at the top of the page was unprecedented, a closable ad

Page 3: “blasphemy!” shrieked Dan, his arms flailing like a tube man at a used car lot

Page 4: Dan thought hard, he knew he could not let such an egregious injustice stand

Page 5: a “huzzah!” was heard throughout the land for Dan had hatched a devious scheme

Page 6: “ha ha!” Dan proudly proclaimed, “for this shall be their ruin for interrupting my web surfing.”

Page 7: as the slow, obsolete dial-up modem loudly churned, bits and bytes flying through cyberspace, Dan opened a forum page

Page 8: “for if I to register my dissatisfaction, shan’t never again be such an evil box!” Dan said, his chest out proudly with the firmness of steel

Page 9: but then the amazing amadeus: attractive, brilliant, talented, and modest, intervened

Page 10: “doth thoust not know thine first rule of web administration?” amadeus asked handsomely

Page 11: this question vexed Dan, for he had no answer, and he unplugged his slow and assuredly ugly old modem

Page 12: amadeus, the undefeated victor of all internet arguments, was given a billion dollars by the site’s administrator and all was well again in the universe

THE END

?

 

[Thunderfall]

Nice one, amaeus! We can upload danjunio's avatar and your avatar over there to make the story!

PS: jokes aside, this Avatar Studio is a significant new personalization feature. That's why I retired the old notice and create a new notice just for this feature update. User can still dismiss the notice with 1 click.

 

[danjuno]

You've already used TTTE, why not get another multinational on your case with Rockstar (L.A. Noire publishers)?

 

[Thunderfall]

We simply cannot let amadeus's amazing book idea go wasted!

Here is the book and the steps I followed to made it!

1) Save the avatars of danjuno and amadeus
2) Use them to create character avatars in the new Avatar Studio
3) On Create story page, select the two new avatars as characters for the book, and use the amadeus post as the full prompt

And within seconds we have this amazing book!

These Pop-Ups Are Making Me Thirsty

https://picturebooks.io/story/WwGFz9nEtUkvOxyDaOdl/these-pop-ups-are-making-me-thirsty

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