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Archive for the ‘Independent Publishing’ Category

This two-part Q&A with Kathryn Otoshi was originally posted way back in 2013. I’m sure a lot has changed for Kathryn since then. But one thing I know for sure is her success continues to grow. I thought it might be fun to bring this oldie but goodie back for all you Kathryn fans. Following is the interview as it appeared in 2013.

Before I get started, I want to give a giant THANKS to Kathryn Otoshi for taking many hours out of her busy schedule to answer my questions and for sharing so much of herself with us in this interview. Today, I am happy to post Part 2 of my interview with Kathryn and even happier to first offer the bonus of Kathryn’s thoughts regarding THE TOP FIVE THINGS THAT MAKE A SUCCESSFUL INDEPENDENT PUBLISHED BOOK.

There are many definitions floating around for “Independent Publisher.” I tend to like the following: Jenkins Group, Inc., the organizers of the Independent Publisher Book Awards, define “independent” as 1) independently owned and operated; 2) operated by a foundation or university; or 3) long-time independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year.

Keep an eye out for future posts on independent publishing.

BONUS INTERVIEW QUESTION AND ANSWER

AKC: What are the top five things that you think make a successful independently published book?

KO:

  1. Write about a story or topic you feel strongly about — First and foremost there must be a real love and passion for the story you are writing about. I’ve always felt that the author must be absolutely fascinated with the story they are telling in order to be motivated to finish it. And also for the reader to be engaged with it as well! Another suggestion: do your research. Do your homework. If you want to connect with your readers, then start connecting with them before your book is published. Be willing to read a draft mock up to whoever your target audience is. I read to classrooms, teachers, booksellers, young kids, and parents to get their feedback on my children’s book. I found that experience invaluable. Then when your book is published, you will need to go out and do author visits. You must feel passionate about your story for you to be able to speak about it over and over, again and again and still keep it real.
  2. Strong production value — The saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ doesn’t apply to children’s books! With thousands of books for a reader to choose from, having a strong production value with appropriate design does indeed matter. An elegant embossment or appropriately placed foil stamp on a jacket, for example, is never lost on your readers. They might not be able to vocalize about exactly why one book might feel ‘good’ over another, but they will instinctively know that the loving details are in there. Graphic design is key. Bringing on a professional graphic designer for your book to have a strong visual appeal is necessary. If you are independently publishing a book, how your book ‘reads’ across a room or how you package it becomes a deciding factor on if your book is picked up – or not.
  3. Have a business plan and budget — While it’s true, that most of us agree that writing and illustrating is a labor of love, publishing is a business. You must factor in all aspects when you publish a book. Be willing to take off your creative hat momentarily to look at how much it will cost to properly produce your book. And how much will it cost to properly support your book in the market so that it will have the best chance for success?  Editing, designing, distributing, printing, marketing and advertising all have a price tag attached. Other questions that involve your overall budget are: how much should you list the book for?  How many copies of the book should you print for the first run? Will you print 2,000 copies of this book? Or 10,000 copies? And if it’s a success, do you have enough buffer in your budget to be able to push the print button right away?
  4. Marketing strategy and distribution is key — Almost 1/3 of my overall budget is set aside for Marketing. Consider the review copies that need to be sent out. Budgets need to be set aside for contests and awards, for conferences, travel, promotional materials, fliers, postcards, bookmarks, ads, website updates and social media. The list goes on. Decide up front how much you want to set aside to promote your book so you know how much you’ll need to budget for. And although Distribution should probably be in its own category, I put it next to Marketing here for the purpose of consolidation. But in a nutshell, having the right distributor for your company to get you into the right channels can make all the difference in the world for the success of your book. I found John Kremer’s web site very helpful in obtaining an initial list of book distributors to start the researching process.
  5. Get involved — Go out there and get involved in your book community! Do readings, go to conferences, meet booksellers, join organizations, have coffee with other authors and illustrators. Listen to your peers speak at events. While writing is by its very nature, introverted, the other part of getting your book out there is you getting yourself out there. So move away from your desk, out of your room, through the door and into the world. In today’s book market, part of sharing your story is also about sharing a part of you.

MORE ABOUT KATHRYN AND WRITING ILLUSTRATING

AKC: How many awards have your collective works received?

KO: Collectively over 20, I’d say.

Teacher’s Choice Award, the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor, and the Flicker Tale Award.

AKC: Which came first, the desire to illustrate picture books or the desire to write?

KO: My desire to simply tell a story rises above my desire to illustrate or write a children’s picture book.  If I absolutely had to make a decision between the two though, I’d probably choose writing…but whew – it would be a very close call.

AKC: Out of all the books you have illustrated, do you have a favorite? How about those you have written?

KO: I suppose I had fun illustrating ONE the most. In general, I’m a representational illustrator. So for my book ONE, where all the blobs of color are symbolic, this was very unique style for me, but also the most freeing. Originally, One started as a story about differences – physical differences. I thought, “What if I created a story about children with totally different colored faces?” Instead of using white, black, brown skin tones, etc – I could use completely different colors like green, purple, blue and orange!  Gradually in my quest to make One as simple as a story possible and boiling it down to its core essence – I ended up making the children’s faces into splotches of colors instead. It was a risk because of the abstraction, but I think that by doing so, I got more leeway to touch upon complex themes and subject matters.

AKC: Where did you get the idea or inspiration for your books?

KO: Mostly from life. “What Emily Saw” is about a day of discovery through the eyes of a little girl. But it’s also based on my own childhood memories. There’s a page spread in there where there’s a hill that transforms into the back of a dinosaur. That’s what I used to imagine when I was growing up! That the hills were the backs of sleeping dinos!

AKC: What advice would you give to writers?

KO: I would say…keep it authentic. And being passionate about your story.  It needs to be meaningful to you if it’s going to mean something to someone else. Everything is key to making a children’s book work because everything is so honed down: the text, the illustrations all the way to the graphic design and production of the book. Even the size of the book and the style of the font have a big influence on the overall look and feel of the book. A children’s book is so limited in text, you have to ask yourself  – What  is each page saying? Is it leading toward my theme? The core ingredients to making a children’s book really solid is to ask yourself a lot of questions about what is working and what is not. Is it really saying what I want it to say in the least amount of words possible? Then before the book is released, it is crucial to read the story to children, parents, teachers, booksellers, librarians – the book lovers in general. They are your audience. Stories are meant to be shared, after all.

AKC: What advice would you give to illustrators?

Before starting the illustration, ask yourself the question: What am I trying to say here? And then ask yourself, What else can I tell the reader that wasn’t in the text? The illustrations are just as important as the text in a children’s picture book. And the pictures should say what the text does not. If your story starts out as “Morris was a lonely mole” …the illustrator has this wonderful opportunity to show us how lonely Morris really is! Is he so lonely, there are cobwebs on his doorknob? Are there briar branches blocking his pathway? A welcome mat that is new and shiny, and never been used? Pictures are a glorious way to engage young readers. Children see and understand images before they ever learn to read. If we get children interested in reading children’s books at an early age, they will become readers for a lifetime. How wonderful! I’m thrilled to be a part of that process.

So for me, it’s making the page come alive. I’m still learning how to do this, by the way. It takes all my experience about composition, leading the eye to where you want it to go, using gesture, POV, lighting, values…and finally the x-factor — your own style, which will summon the page and bring your characters to life.

Through a story, if you are able to create something that influences a young reader in some positive way, however minor – to me, that is true success.

 AKC: Do you have any projects in the works that you are able to tell us about?

KO: I am currently working on a chapter book called “Peter Dobb and the Wondrous Pod” and then two more picture books. I’m coming up with ideas for a graphic novel to pitch in a year. Just recently, I’ve started working on a short screenplay which deals with love, loss and memory.

Please read INTERVIEW WITH KATHRYN OTOSHI, PICTURE BOOK AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR AND SUCCESSFUL INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER – PART ONE for Kathryn’s bio with photo, a list of her published books with links, and a link to KO Kids Books.

This concludes my interview with Kathryn Otoshi.  I hope you have found it as informative as I have. With one final thank you to Kathryn, we are done.

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This two-part Q&A with Kathryn Otoshi was originally posted way back in 2013. I’m sure a lot has changed for Kathryn since then. But one thing I know for sure is her success continues to grow. I thought it might be fun to bring this oldie but goodie back for all you Kathryn fans. Following is the interview as it appeared in 2013.

I first became aware of Kathryn Otoshi’s talents when her book, “One,” was awarded the gold medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. My book, “Butterfly Kisses for Grandma and Grandpa,” won the silver, and I became curious about my competition, so I purchased a copy of “One.” It did not take me long to understand why “One” took the gold. I sure am proud to be in such excellent company. Kathryn’s second picture book “Zero,” has been just as successful as “One.” During this interview, I was excited to learn that “Two,” the third book in the number series, will be released next year.

Obviously, I have kept my eye on Ms. Otoshi’s amazing success as an independent publisher. The more I observed, the more my curiosity about this award-winning author/illustrator grew until one day, I thought, Why not introduce yourself, and see if she would be willing to answer some questions. And that is exactly what I did. Kathryn was extremely responsive, very sweet and gracious. It has been my pleasure to get to know her. And now, it is my honor to introduce this lovely woman to you.

KathrynOtoshi_crop

Kathryn Otoshi is a children’s book author and illustrator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to this, Otoshi worked in the film industry at Disney’s ImageMovers Digital (Christmas Carol) as well as George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic (Star Wars) as the Graphic Design and Multimedia Art Director.

Otoshi’s first book as author and illustrator was “What Emily Saw”, a Borders Original New Voice Nominee. This was followed by “Simon & the Sock Monster”, short listed as a USA Book News Honoree, and “The Saddest Little Robot” (2004), a BookSense Pick. She teamed up with author Liz Hockinson and created the illustrations for “Marcello the Movie Mouse”(2005). Marcello garnered the Writer’s Digest Award for Best Children’s Book, the DIY Best Children’s Book, the Hollywood Book Festival Award, and the Eric Hoffer Notable Award.

Her book “One”, winner of 16 awards, including the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor Book and the Teacher’s Choice Award, is an anti-bullying  book introducing colors, numbers, and counting while playing on larger themes of acceptance, tolerance, and the power of one voice. Her newest book, “Zero”, is about finding value in ourselves and in others.

Otoshi has been a guest speaker at over 100 venues, including the San Francisco Writers Conference and a keynote speaker at the International Reading Association (Canada).

ON WITH THE INTERVIEW!

My curiosity got the best of me, and I swamped Kathryn with 25 detailed and probing questions. Like most writers and illustrators, Kathryn is busier than busy. Yet, she was kind enough to choose the questions that appealed to her the most. This resulted in 15 questions and answers that allow us to step into Kathryn Otoshi’s creative world for a while. The interview will be posted in two sections. Part 1 covers Independent Publishing. Part 2 is about Kathryn’s experience and her advice related to writing and illustrating.  I will share Part 1 today and Part 2 next week.

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING

AKC: Are you the sole proprietor of KO Kids Books? If so, what is it like to wear so many hats?

KO: Hi Alayne.  KO Kids Books is currently a DBA under the corporation, Baytree Entertainment, Inc. But yes, I do wear many hats!  It’s a bit of a balancing act, but what I find most interesting about having all these different job positions  (Creative Director/Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Editor/Writer/Sales Marketer/Publisher) – is that you have a much clearer understanding of how each position impacts the other. For example, you can easily see how deciding to make an oversized book might accommodate the Illustrator’s desire to have more expansive pictures. But the Publisher and Marketer part of you would inherently know this might not be a great idea, due to the high cost to produce a book like this and the fact that your book might not fit on a standard shelf.

AKC: I believe next year will be the tenth anniversary of KO Kids Books’ first two releases, “What Emily Saw” and “Simon and the Sock Monster” (both copyright 2004). I know that publishing independently is hard work and costly. How do you manage to continue publishing independently given the cost and work involved?

KO:  Well, when I first started KO Kids Books, I had my own graphic design freelance company. I was fine keeping my ‘day job’ and having KO Kids Books be what I lovingly called ‘my expensive hobby’.  Later I started working freelance at Disney’s ImageMovers Digital.  When the company closed at the end of 2010, my fourth KO Kids book, “ONE,” had already taken off. My expensive hobby had suddenly and surprisingly turned into something more. So I phased out doing a lot of graphic design work. I’ve been focusing on KO Kids Books and the children’s book industry ever since.

AKC: Do you have any advice for those who might be considering independent publishing?

KO: Sure do. Talk to a few indie publishers you admire. Ask them the pros and cons of being a publisher and really be willing to listen to the cons – not just the pros. Writing and illustrating is a creative process. Having a publishing company is a business. So realize that up front, and accept that you will have to be fiscally responsible for it. I would also join a local indie publishers association or organization to get to know more presses. Lastly, I would read Dan Poynter’s “Self Publishing Manual”. I wish I had read that book when I was first starting out!

AKC: What is the best part of independent publishing?

KO: Having the creative control and final say over the writing, illustrating and design of my books.

AKC: What is the most difficult part of independent publishing?

KO: For me, it’s the business side. That’s why I have someone dear to me, Daniel Jeannette, who has given me sage fiscal advice on the business side of the organization.

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING – MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING

AKC: I know, in addition to KO Kids Books, you have also illustrated the following books:

“The Saddest Little Robot” by Brian Cage, Soft Shell Press/Red Rattle Books 2004

Maneki Neko: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat” by Susan Lendroth, Shen’s Books 2010

What was it like illustrating for other publishers versus KO Kids Books?

KO:  I enjoyed working with other publishers and seeing how they worked. It was great getting a different perspective and working with a team as I generally fly solo.

They have final say, of course.  Once I said I was done…I really had to be DONE. If there was indeed a valid last minute change I had to make in the illustration, it would have to be a very compelling reason why I needed to do this. It affects a lot of people when changes are made in the 11th hour – the writer, the editor, the designer, the printer are all impacted by this. And of course, the publisher, would ultimately need to approve it.

Versus if I did work under my own company, if there was a moment of inspiration that came to me,  or a more clever way to show the illustrations, I could make that tweak or change on the spot – even if the book was right about to go to press.

AKC: In your experience, what is the average process time to get a book into publication (from writing/illustrating to release)? Was there a difference in process time between KO Kids Books and the other publisher’s books?

KO: I’d say from the time the contract is signed, it takes about 2 to 3 years to get a children’s book published – and that might be considered fast by some publishers! When I published my first two books under KO Kids, it was done in less than a year. But I realized what a disservice I was doing by not spending more time working on the marketing and promo aspects of things before the books were released. Now, I’d say it takes a good solid 2 years for KO Kids Books to release a new book, which include all marketing/promo, a plan for a tour, and shows and conferences I plan to attend.

AKC: In 2006, KO Kids Books released “Marcello the Movie Mouse” by Liz Hockinson. This appears to be the only book, so far, that was written by an author besides you. Why did KO Kids Books decide to take on this project? What was the experience like for you?

KO: At the time, I had been thinking about considering submissions from other authors.  I met writer Liz Hockinson in a children’s picture book class at my local indie bookstore, Book Passage.  I really liked her writing style, and admired her dedication to the craft. We ended up in a writing critique group together and became good friends. One day she told me she wanted to write a story about a moxie little mouse named Marcello who had a big dream:  he wanted to make a movie!  I loved the idea and told her I wanted to hear more. After many writing drafts from Liz, and hours of illustration from me, “Marcello the Movie Mouse” was released a year and a half later. We had a great time marketing the book together. Currently though that’s the only book I plan to publish from another author. I’ve decided our focus for KO Kids will be on the Number Series: ZERO, ONE…and now TWO, which will be released next year.

* * *

Jenkins Group, Inc., the organizers of the Independent Publisher Book Awards, define “independent” as 1) independently owned and operated; 2) operated by a foundation or university; or 3) long-time independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year.

Sometime in the future, I plan to share my experiences with independent publishing and offer more thoughts on independent publishing companies versus self-publishing. I’ll keep you updated regarding when this might happen.

Be sure to come back next week when Kathryn shares more about herself and gives a little advice to both writers and illustrators.

KO Kids Books

Kathryn’s Amazon Page

Zero

ZERO
By Kathryn Otoshi
ISBN: 978-0-9723946-3-5
List: $17.95

“Zero”, the follow up to “One” is about a big round number, Zero. When she
looks at herself, she just sees a hole right through her center. She admires
the other numbers who can count. She wants to count too, but wonders how can
a number worth nothing become something? Thus begins the story of Zero’s
search to find value in herself and in others.

OneONE
By Kathryn Otoshi
PUBLISHER: KO Kids Books
ISBN: 978-0-9723946-4-2
List: $16.95

“One”, winner of 10 awards including the Teacher’s Choice Award and the
Mom’s Choice Award, is an anti-bullying, number/color book that introduces
the concepts of acceptance, tolerance, and what it means to count!

Movie MouseMARCELLO THE MOVIE MOUSE
By Liz Hockinson, illustrator by Kathryn Otoshi
PUBLISHER: KO Kids Books
ISBN: 978-0-9723946-2-8
List: $16.95

“Marcello the Movie Mouse”: Marcello, has a big dream: he wants to make a
movie. But without a camera, a crew, and Ravioli the theater cat lurking
around every corner, can this moxie little mouse make tail ends meet? A fun,
inspirational story which includes a glossary of movie terms to wrap it all up.

Simon & the Sock MonsterSIMON & THE SOCK MONSTER
By Kathryn Otoshi
PUBLISHER: KO Kids Books
ISBN: 978-0-9723946-1-1
List: $16.95

“Simon & the Sock Monster”: A little boy loses his lucky soccer sock right
before his championship game, and his older sister tells him the Sock
Monster ate it for dinner. Simon enlists the help of his friend to rescue it, but what they discover in the end will have everyone laughing.

What Emily SawWHAT EMILY SAW
By Kathryn Otoshi
PUBLISHER: KO Kids Books
ISBN: 978-0-9723946-0-4
List: $16.95

“What Emily Saw”: A story about a day of discovery through the eyes of an
imaginative little girl. She sees mice getting married in her room, men with
balloons having tea in the sky, and meets a friendly dinosaur to play
hide-and-seek with, but in the end, she finds the true magic comes from home.

Maneki NekoMANEKI NEKO: The Tale of the Beckoning Cat

Published by Shen’s Books
By Susan Lendroth, illustrated by Kathryn Otoshi
PUBLISHER: Shen’s Books
ISBN: 978-1885008398
List: $17.95
“Mankei Neko: the Tale of the Beckoning Cat”: When a young samurai gets
caught in a terrible storm, the cat who lives in the monastery saves him by beckoning
him out of danger with her raised paw. Discover the legend behind Japan’s most famous cat!

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I am happy to introduce today’s guest blogger, Steve Kemp. Steve is the publisher of my picture book “Butterfly Kisses for Grandma and Grandpa,” and he is my husband. Unlike me, “the author,” his impetus for Blue Whale Press was to build a company that published books – looking solely upon the opportunity to publish my book as any investor would.

After my interview with Kathryn Otoshi, some people commented that they had no idea how much was involved in independent publishing. Steve’s post sheds more light on the trials and tribulations of bringing a book to market as he sees them. His post appears below.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A PUBLISHER?

by Steve Kemp, Publisher, Blue Whale Press LLC

Most writers want to be published. But how many actually want to become publishers?

When asked for my views on what constitutes the difference between “publishing” and “self-publishing,” my immediate reply was patterned after David Letterman’s Top Ten list: “You’ll know if you are a publisher when . . .”

  1. You focus on building a company, not a book. After all, your long-term intent is to publish more than one title. Because you are establishing a foundation, there is a lot to be done, including web construction (with perhaps a mechanism for payment); development of an automated database for inventory movement (and possibly financial accounting); compliance with local and federal laws (including incorporation and obtaining an employee identification number, or EIN); and things like “the name.” You put a lot of thought into “the name” because it needs to stand out and be unique, especially in today’s world of search engine optimization (SEO is something you later get to learn a lot about as you develop your corporate brand and market your books). While most of this sounds complicated and possibly even tedious, look at the bright side: You’ve gotten to create a really cool logo that is your very own and, when done, puts significant reality to the fact that you are “in business.”
  2. You focus on the money. That’s right, money matters. Every business needs to pay its investors back and then some. Making a return that is sufficient to return the initial investment and, with luck, reward you for your risk and effort is a necessary function to the process. If you didn’t know something about Excel for building business plans and QuickBooks for sales and shipment accounting, you will probably want to learn them. While many, many businesses have operated for centuries without these tools, few accountants in this age will appreciate you walking in the day before taxes are due with a shoebox full of receipts and a smile.
  3. You build solid relationships with those whom you depend upon for sales. Unless you plan to become a bookstore instead of a publisher, you focus heavily on third party distribution that can scale your sales (Blue Whale Press does this to the exclusion of all retail outlet and consumer sales, Amazon.com excepted). You start with inclusion into Bowker’s “Books in Print,” at which point you pony up the couple hundred dollars for a block of ISBN assignments (one title can minimally consume three ISBNs if it is printed on paper as well as the two common e-book formats). You do this early, as it requires time for your company’s name and books to become visible to buyers. Once done, and you have a vehicle in which to advertise your title(s) (e.g., a “tear sheet”), you start getting the major book distributors onboard. This is tough when you are new, but certainly not impossible. It is important that distributors know you are in it for the long haul, particularly when unsold copies come flowing back in (and they will at times).
  4. You learn how to negotiate intellectual property contracts. This is key: Unless the publisher is also the sole illustrator and author, rights and payments need to be clearly understood and fully agreed to in writing by all parties before production. It is best to obtain the services of an attorney versed in media and intellectual property rights for this. Clearly, a self-publisher using a vanity press (e.g., Brown, Tate) doesn’t get involved in this except to the extent that a contract is reached between the author and the publisher assigning rights and transferring consideration. Going this route carries certain advantages in that you are relieved the headaches of figuring out how to layout your books, print your books; store your books; ISBN procurement and assignment; and filing each edition with the Library of Congress, as well as updating all your marketing materials. However, you will pay for this service, and you are never fully relieved of the marketing responsibilities (more on that below).
  5. You learn how to negotiate and manage supply agreements, possibly with overseas printers. While print-on-demand presses (e.g., Book Surge, LuLu) can take care of the printing for you, this will eat into your profits immensely. As a rule of thumb, you need to be able to sell your books for fifty-five percent off the published list price (the “net price”) while remaining price competitive and making a profit. This generally requires volume production. Beyond the cost of goods sold (about $2.50 for the typical children’s picture book, depending upon the print run size), you’ll also need to tack on monthly storage and shipping (yes, you are the one who generally pays for shipping, and no, you probably don’t have the climate-controlled storage space necessary for something the size and weight of a Volkswagen Beetle). Furthermore, you’ll need to tack on web hosting, phone service with a fax (surprisingly, a very popular distributor still employs that method); and the litany of other expenses that come with running a business.
  6. You become knowledgeable in pre-press operations, including book layout, type selection, and production. If necessary, you spend several thousand dollars on this alone using the services of an outside contractor. It is vital that the printer get files of the right specification. Knowing how to layout a bound book using Adobe’s InDesign and studying Pantone chips for hours isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but you are thankful for the experience once you’ve acquired it.
  7. You focus the remaining fifty percent of your time on marketing and sales, recognizing that the six steps mentioned prior are already consuming one hundred percent of your time. To be fair, much of the upfront work is done while your author and illustrator continue to refine their product. However, the publisher must still be involved when continual revisions are sent back and forth to the suppliers you’ve contracted for both editing and proofreading. You insist upon a second and third set of eyes because people are all-too-often capable of overlooking their own mistakes. I recommend maintaining both an editor and a proofreader in your supply chain, as you will overpay for editing if only proofreading is needed. Moreover, you will also want these talents to review your marketing materials and website content, including helping you to master the ability of saying as much as possible in the minimalistic word count Google AdWords and others allow.
  8. You take every opportunity no matter how small to promote your titles by entering as many contests and submitting to as many reviews as you can, likely spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the process. As the old adage goes, “Fifty percent of my marketing budget is a waste. Unfortunately, I don’t know which fifty percent.” Initially, you burn through dollar bills or euros at a very high rate. But you need the exposure. Whether you do this, or a vanity press does it for you; it needs to be done. You can have the greatest title in the world, but it will be wasted if no one knows about it. Regardless of the cost, there is a lot to be said for that feeling you will get upon winning your first award or seeing your first review.
  9. You take nothing for granted, and you check everyone’s work down to the last detail. Quality is paramount because it reflects upon you and the company. After many excruciating reviews, a punctuation error was found in “Butterfly Kisses for Grandma and Grandpa” – while the galleys were sitting on the press! The reality is that most publishers would have let a couple of poorly formed ellipses go once the offset printers were inked to go. But not this one. A quick ten minute phone call at midnight with our wonderful overseas partner, who was fourteen hours distant in time zones, and a PowerPoint markup resolved the issue. A good read on how attention to detail makes a difference can be found in “Inside the Magic Kingdom” by Tom Connellan. While the book is nearly twenty years old, the principles inside it are just as relevant to running your business today as they were in 1996. I advise any new business owner and marketer to read it.
  10. You likely get to do some of your own writing from time to time, but it is restricted to marketing and promotion material because YOU run the business. Your job is to ensure the business’s sustainability, which during the first couple of years often means investing more of your personal savings instead of hosting the company’s sales meeting on some exotic island. You focus on improving operational efficiency so you can spend more time on promotion. For example, automate the sales and distribution processes as much as possible (web driven) so manual processes and bookkeeping aren’t all-consuming. Also, unless you want to play with bubble wrap in between daily trips to the post office, you outsource the packaging and shipping. Figure out what works – and as importantly, what doesn’t.

In addition to the above, I’d be remiss in not mentioning the vast amount of help that is available at guru.com. It is a tremendous resource when you need to find specialized talent and don’t know where to start (although a cautionary note is advised when it comes to website development, and you can find my personal comments on that at the Blue Whale Press design page.

Lastly, keep in mind that the world of publishing is evolving rapidly. According to the Association of American Publishers and BookStats, e-books comprised 20% of the trade in 2012. Much of this was attributed to adult fiction and early readers. So, where does this leave children’s picture books?

It is this publisher’s opinion that pad technology will evolve over the next couple of years to avail more durable and much lower-cost devices to younger audiences. You’ve likely seen how quickly children have adapted to the iPhone/iPod and its Android brethren as they play with mom and dad’s smartphones in the grocery store or restaurant. They instantly “get it.” As a result, this publisher fully expects to see Amazon, and possibly Hasbro or Mattel, introduce the e-reader to younger audiences over the next couple of years. When that happens, the production of children’s books will no longer be just about writing, artwork, and printing; it will be about content development (specifically animation), electronic distribution, and digital rights management. And, hopefully, some of these new operating and production costs will offset the constantly increasing costs of storage, distribution, and printing that makes publishing such a tough business to make money in to begin with. Because of this, Blue Whale Press has re-evaluated our business model going forward and has already decided to forego further paper printing. The impact on submissions is that we are now only looking at author/illustrators who can produce a compelling product within a new digital world that borders on application development.

I wish the best of luck to each of you. Whether you decide to become a publisher, self-publish using another publishing house, or are fortunate enough to land the contract of a lifetime, I hope you enjoy the journey.

SK

Steve Kemp

Publisher and Member Manager

Blue Whale Press LLC

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Mentors for Rent

Balanced Advice About Writing for Children and Young Adults

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Jo Hart - Author

A writing blog
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