When you place an order, our team gets to work immediately — but before your book lands in your hands (or on your screen), it goes through a thorough quality assurance review. Here's what that looks like.
What happens after payment?
Once payment is confirmed, we begin generating your personalised story and illustrations. This involves several automated steps — story writing, illustration creation, and layout composition — all tailored to your child's details, photo, and chosen adventure theme.
Once generation is complete, the book enters our quality assurance queue.
What does the QA review check?
A member of our team manually reviews every book before it's made available for your preview. They check:
Illustration quality — Are the illustrations clear, detailed, and visually consistent throughout the book?
Character likeness — Does the illustrated character look like the child in the photo you uploaded?
Story accuracy — Does the story correctly use the child's name, age, interests, and the details you provided?
Text quality — Are there any typos, grammatical errors, or awkward phrasing?
Layout and formatting — Is the text well-positioned on each page, and does it flow naturally with the illustrations?
Overall book quality — Does the finished product meet the standard we'd be proud to put our name on?
If anything doesn't meet the bar, it goes back for corrections before we send it to you.
Why do we do this?
A Toddles book is a keepsake. It's the kind of thing families hold onto for years. We take that seriously — which is why we don't just generate and ship. Every book is personally reviewed to make sure what you receive is something you'll be proud to share and treasure.
How long does the QA process take?
We aim to complete quality assurance within 16 business hours of your order being placed. Business hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:00 SAST.
So if you order on a Friday afternoon, your preview may be ready by Tuesday. We'll always notify you by email the moment your book is ready.
What happens after QA is complete?
Once your book passes review, you'll receive an email letting you know your preview is ready. You'll then have 24 hours to review the book, approve it, or request any changes.
See our article on Previewing and Approving Your Book for a step-by-step guide on what to do next.