Teeinblue + Shopify Expert Needed to Build & Automate Personalized Children's Books

Potential ongoing work Summary We are launching a Shopify business selling fully personalized children's books and are looking for an experienced freelancer/developer who can help us build the complete personalization and print-fulfillment workflow. We are currently using Teeinblue + Shopify, but we need someone who can determine and implement the best production workflow for personalized books. Our preferred printing/fulfillment solution is Lulu, if a reliable automated workflow can be created. We are also open to Gelato, Printify, or another print-on-demand book provider if it provides a better solution. This is more than a standard Teeinblue campaign setup. What the finished system needs to do A customer visits our Shopify store and purchases a personalized children's book. They may select: Child's name Character/avatar Gender Skin tone Hair color/style Other book-specific personalization The customer should see an accurate preview of their personalized book. Their choices then need to automatically carry through the entire multi-page book. For example: A customer chooses: Name: Olivia Character: Black Girl The book may contain 20 illustrated pages. The Black Girl character has 20 different PNGs/poses, with a different illustration specifically created for each page. The system should automatically produce: Page 1 → Black Girl Pose 1 + Olivia Page 2 → Black Girl Pose 2 + Olivia Page 3 → Black Girl Pose 3 + Olivia etc. If the customer changes their selection to Blonde Girl, all applicable pages should automatically change to the corresponding Blonde Girl artwork. The customer should select their character only once — not separately on every page. Scope of Work We need someone who can handle or architect the entire workflow, including: Teeinblue Build multi-page personalized book artwork Configure Global Options Configure clipart/avatar selections Set up conditional logic Link personalization across multiple book pages Populate the child's name throughout the book Configure live previews Generate production-quality personalized artwork/files Book Production Determine how the completed personalized pages should be assembled into the final book Generate a print-ready interior PDF for each customer's unique book Generate the appropriate print-ready cover/spine file Correctly handle trim size, bleed, safe areas, page order, resolution, color requirements, etc. Ensure files meet the selected printer's specifications Fulfillment Research/recommend the best fulfillment workflow Lulu is preferred if feasible Gelato, Printify, or another POD book printer can be considered Configure the connection between Shopify/Teeinblue and fulfillment Ideally automate submission of each customer's unique book to the printer Test an actual sample order from personalization through printing Lulu Experience Is a Major Plus We are particularly interested in candidates who have experience with: Lulu Print API Lulu Direct Dynamically generated book PDFs Shopify + Lulu Personalized book fulfillment API/webhook-based fulfillment workflows We understand that Teeinblue may not have a native direct integration with Lulu. If custom development/middleware is required to take the personalized output from Teeinblue/Shopify, assemble the book PDF, and submit it to Lulu's Print API, we are open to that solution. We need someone who can determine the most reliable architecture rather than forcing a particular platform if it isn't appropriate. What We Provide We will provide the creative direction and book assets, including items such as: Illustrated book backgrounds/pages Character/avatar artwork Multiple character poses Book text Personalization requirements Character variations General page layouts You may need to prepare, resize, organize, or assemble these assets for Teeinblue and the final printer. Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign or similar production-design experience is therefore strongly preferred. Phase 1 — Paid Proof of Concept We do not want to build an entire book before proving the workflow. The first milestone will be a small personalized book prototype. We will provide approximately 2–3 book pages and multiple character variations. The freelancer should demonstrate: Customer enters a child's name once. Name automatically appears on all appropriate pages. Customer selects a character once. Each page automatically uses the correct page-specific pose for that character. Live preview works. A print-ready multi-page book file can be generated from the personalization. The personalized file can be submitted to the proposed book printer/fulfillment system. Ideally, we place one real sample order and receive the physical book. If successful, we will proceed with building the complete book and additional book titles. Ideal Candidate You may be a great fit if you have experience with some combination of: Teeinblue Shopify Personalized children's books Multi-page personalized products Lulu Print API Gelato Print-on-demand book production Dynamic PDF generation API integrations Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign Print-ready book production Conditional personalization logic We strongly prefer someone who can own the entire technical workflow, rather than only setting up individual Teeinblue layers. Screening Questions Please answer each question specifically: How many Teeinblue projects have you personally built? Have you ever built a multi-page personalized book? Please describe it. Have you worked with the Lulu Print API? If yes, describe what you built. Have you built personalized books using Gelato or another POD book printer? How would you make one character selection control different character poses across 20+ book pages? How would you generate a unique multi-page print-ready PDF for every customer's order? How would you connect that unique PDF to Lulu or another book fulfillment provider? Can you handle both the Teeinblue setup and the technical/API portion? If not, which portion can you handle? Please provide examples/screenshots/videos of relevant personalization systems you've built. What would you charge for a paid 2–3 page proof of concept? What would you estimate for building the complete system after the proof of concept? Are you comfortable documenting the system so we can add additional books later? Important Please do not apply if your only personalization experience is adding names/photos to simple products such as shirts, mugs, or ornaments. We specifically need someone comfortable thinking through multi-page personalized products, dynamic artwork, print-ready book generation, and automated fulfillment. One change I'd make to your hiring strategy I would actually advertise this as potentially needing two skill sets, because finding one person who's excellent at both Teeinblue and API-based book fulfillment may be difficult. One person could be the Teeinblue/personalization specialist who builds all the book logic and pages. The other could be a Shopify/API developer who handles the final personalized PDF → Lulu Print API → automated fulfillment pipeline. That's also why your original "Needs to hire 2 Freelancers" could work extremely well here. And I would not require Printify. Based on the current capabilities I found, I'd tell applicants your order of preference is approximately Lulu first, Gelato second, alternative book POD if they can justify it. Gelato is especially worth evaluating because it already has photo-book production and personalization capabilities, while Lulu appears particularly strong for true book manufacturing and explicitly supports unique personalized books through its Print API. Lulu personalized book printing & API overview Gelato photo book information Teeinblue fulfillment integrations