Self published children's authors?

Ebooks are the best bet for self publishing. Kate Hannigan out of Chicago has a blog devoted to ebooks for children. It is a very thorough study of digital lit. http://dotmomming.blogspot.com/2012/02/keeping-research-on-digital-learning.html

John Locke, not the English philosopher, sold a million copies of his ebooks through Barnes and Noble and has a book where he tells you how. Mainly, it's through defining your target reader and finding everyone-in-the-world who fits that profile. Then, there's the monthly blog entry, once a month seems easy enough, and more frequent tweets on twitter, more of a commitment, but doable.

Biggest problem with self publishing, the money is going the wrong way. Write the book, collect the money, eat and survive. Write the book and dish out the money, starve and die.

MJRevell said:

I suppose it will always be harder for children's books, as children won't be as likely to have a reader, or as likely to be able to buy one.

Click to expand...

This is the biggest problem you will face. Sales of ebooks at anything below YA level are still pretty low. I've published picture books digitally, by major authors, and seen only tiny, tiny sales. Middle-grade stuff struggles, too. And of course anything with illustrations struggles on anything but iPads and Nook Colours.

Here's a good self-publishing success story: http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2012/01/another-self-publishing-success-story/

As a follow up to this, the author just signed a deal w/Simon & Schuster based on the success she had in self pubbing the book.

write4kids said:

Here's a good self-publishing success story: http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2012/01/another-self-publishing-success-story/

As a follow up to this, the author just signed a deal w/Simon & Schuster based on the success she had in self pubbing the book.

Click to expand...

Though the talk of 13 million readers is, to my mind, b******t.

I think the true test of whether self-pubbing for kids will work is coming in the next few years. Up to now, not enough kids had access to ereaders. But as tablets and smart phones become cheaper, that's going to change. I know several people in my SCBWI region are working on turning PBs into interactive smart phone apps. If I still had toddlers, I'd sure want a few of those on my phone/pod for when we have to wait at the doctor's office. The ones I've seen are more like the old interactive storybook CDs you used to be able to buy for the computer. It reads the text, but you can also touch on the pictures and make things happen. More of a game than a book experience. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the really good ones don't become big sellers in the future.

The above self-publishing example is great, but unfortunately it's for YA. I think there's a huge difference in E-publishing between Middle Grade and below and YA. YA readers have access to their own e-readers and can buy books on their own. Generally, youngers readers can't buy the books themselves. I think this will continue to be a huge difference for some time. I wouldn't recommend self-pubbing anything below YA just yet. Time will tell if this will change.

write4kids said:

Here's a good self-publishing success story: http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2012/01/another-self-publishing-success-story/

As a follow up to this, the author just signed a deal w/Simon & Schuster based on the success she had in self pubbing the book.

Click to expand...

Torgo said:

Though the talk of 13 million readers is, to my mind, b******t.

Click to expand...

I think you might be right, Torgo.

The article said,

When Brittany Geragotelis was writing her YA novel Life's a Witch, she posted it chapter by chapter on Wattpad, an online community for sharing writing and getting feedback from readers. Gradually, she gained 13 million fans.

Click to expand...

We have a thread about Wattpad in BR&BC, and in that thread you had a little chat with Medievalist which went like this:

Torgo said:

Right, who knows anything about Wattpad? Other than what Google can turn up for me, of course. Is anyone using it? Have people had success they can attribute to it? It sort of looks like Yet Another Display Site, except this one seems to have a huge community (I'm seeing reader stats in the 10 million plus range, which I'm somewhat incredulous about.) Any information gratefully received.

Click to expand...

Medievalist said:

Be incredulous; they're counting every time a page is spidered as a reader.

Note that a spider will in many cases make several passes over a page, indexing different kinds of data.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that that explains the "13 million fans".

I looked up Wattpad on Compete.com, which estimates about 300,000 monthly uniques (from the USA only), which leads me to suspect that Medi is right about the spidering.

I've recently started getting queried by agents citing Wattpad numbers - had the Geragotelis book in the other day (hence my question!)

Blimey. I'd like to hear which agents those are.

I'm selling 3-5 copies of my MG novel a day and almost that many of all my short story collections (together). So I'm making a couple hundred $'s a month. However, I've been building an online platform for almost two years now. In fact I've given away of 50,000 ebooks.

It's tons of work promoting and finding reviewers who will take 'indie' (aka self-published) titles. But, I've gotten over 300 reviews now from reviewers and readers (most of those are for my free books, about 50 are for my novel).

While I know one or two MG writers doing a little better most are doing worse. In fact most adult authors I know are selling about the same of less than I am.

Yes, there are exceptions. I know a several guys and gals making a respectable living from their writing. I even knew Amanda Hocking before she was a big star (I once did a guest post on her blog). But all those are exceptions.
Self-publishing is becoming viable, but it's no short-cut and you have to run it like a business (or at least a marketing company).

I know a few self-published authors who are successful, but they each had a definite plan before embarking upon their careers.

One woman writes nature books that tie into school curriculum and is successful in that market. She started her own publisher instead of going to a vanity press. And she makes countless school visits annually to support her series. Of course I have forgotten her name--just when I want to tout her success!

Then there's Dar Hosta who is an author-illustrator. She wanted to maintain artistic control over her titles, so she chose to start her own publishing house and produce her own books (Brown Dog Books). She also visits schools to teach children about art and writing and has developed a loyal following. You'll see her website has a lot of information about her presentations. http://www.darhosta.com/

Be aware that it's not an easy path, but it can be a rewarding one. You have to market yourself and your books constantly--but you have to do that if you are traditionally published as well. The difference is that you don't have a big name behind your work or the assistance of your publisher--and some people may be skeptical of your books' quality.

It seems really hard. Many of my friends that know I'm writing a book assume I'm going to self-publish. Marketing is hard and I'm terrible. I have two small business, one local which I can market easily, locally and another online that I'm awful at marketing. I'd rather write than market. I am happy to follow instructions if someone tells me how to do it. But, I'm just lost otherwise.

Just read a story in the local paper today about a self-pubbed mother-and-son team who claim to sell 3,000 picture books (no ebooks) a month. They do have 9 books available right now in the series, but those sales figures seem unlikely. A rough estimate puts them at $500,000 a year. Wouldn't we have heard more about them?

taralazar said:

Just read a story in the local paper today about a self-pubbed mother-and-son team who claim to sell 3,000 picture books (no ebooks) a month. They do have 9 books available right now in the series, but those sales figures seem unlikely. A rough estimate puts them at $500,000 a year. Wouldn't we have heard more about them?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd be curious to know more... That seems hard to believe.

It would be helpful to have a name or a book title. Are we sure it wasn't this story?

This is the story about the mother-son self-pubbing team.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/03/for_newark_author_pasta_was_a.html

Certainly sounds real, and great for them.

I don't see how 3,000 books per month equates to 500K per year, though. Not unless they were making $14 of profit per book, which seems quite high. (Although I have no idea how much profit one would make off a real book) Some of the books are retailing for $25, but I wonder how much it costs to make each one. Boy that's high for a children's book, though!

They also look to be publishing book about three months apart, which seems like a good model

RexZentah said:

Biggest problem with self publishing, the money is going the wrong way. Write the book, collect the money, eat and survive. Write the book and dish out the money, starve and die.

Click to expand...

Sounds like someone needs to have a look at www.Lulu.com! It's a Print On Demand service, which means that no copies are produced until a customer buys one, and all production costs come out of the price of the book. This means that the author doesn't spend a penny, and receives the rest of the money from each sale.

I use Lulu to publish my graphic novel collection of my superhero webcomic, and although the production cost of a full-colour glossy paperback graphic novel was so high I didn't feel right adding to the price (it's about £24), I have to say the quality of production -at least with graphic novels - is REALLY high and professional-looking, so I highly recommend them for self publishing.

Dave

Just found this group, and this thread is definitely of interest to me - I am self-publishing a 32-page picture book this June. While this is very much a sideline and my main motivation was to get the book in my own children's hands, I'm very excited about marketing the book and I hope to glean some dos-and-don'ts from this group.

At any rate, we went into this with eyes wide open . . I'm not expecting to quit my day job, but I think there's a reasonable chance we can turn a profit. My initial focus will be on local marketing efforts (readings, signings, school libraries, etc) and online social media channels . . . basically just try and have fun with it.

I was thinking about this topic the other day, when I was ordering stuff for my Nook. A lot of epubbing right now is based on the loss-leader model: Offer something for a bargain ($.99) to get people interested, then hope they'll pay full price for the next book in the series.

Sometimes it works. I found a mystery writer I hadn't heard of, tried her first book for a dollar, liked it and ordered the next three at 6 bucks each.

But sometimes it doesn't. I've also tried 3 other authors whose first books were so unimpressive that I'll hesitate to pay for anything by them--even though I've been assured that their books get better.

I tend to assume that if my books don't get picked up by an agent, it's because my writing isn't quite good enough yet. So I'm afraid if I publish those books, even though I'll probably sell a few if I price them low enough, I may end up damaging my future sales. Will people ever be willing to pay more than a dollar for my work? How would I convince them that this next one is so much better, it's worth $10?

I hear people saying that self-pubbing is a good way to build up a loyal fan base, who will be there ready and willing to buy the second book. But I'm not sure it always works out that way.

Personally, I'd rather trunk a few books and keep trying to get an agent. I just don't have the confidence to believe that a book that can't get an agent is really good enough to get a strong readership.

MsJudy said:

I tend to assume that if my books don't get picked up by an agent, it's because my writing isn't quite good enough yet. So I'm afraid if I publish those books, even though I'll probably sell a few if I price them low enough, I may end up damaging my future sales.

Click to expand...

Me too. One of the things I'm looking forward to when I get an agent is the ability to say, "What do you think of this one?" and show them a trunk novel that I still believe in, and see if they can tell me what needs to happen to help it sell. So I'm totally with you--I'd rather trunk some books and keep writing, and then later take a look at the trunked ones and see if they can be fixed.

I just don't have the confidence to believe that a book that can't get an agent is really good enough to get a strong readership.

Click to expand...

I don't think all self-publishing titles have been to agents, though!

I know I'm an exception, but I'm self-publishing a picture book this June (like someone else in this thread, oddly enough), and I've never sent it to agents or editors. It will be my only story that has never had a rejection I had my critique group (whose crit-to-publishing track record is phenomenal) go over it for me, to make sure it's a quality piece of work that won't embarrass me, but even if sales are abysmal (which realistically, I expect they will be), I'm not interested in a commercial career in picture books. My picture book is just because I want to make one.

(And thanks for all of the interesting contributions to this thread, everyone! It's been enlightening.)

plunderpuss said:

I'm not interested in a commercial career in picture books. My picture book is just because I want to make one.

Click to expand...

See, and that's the perfect example of A Reason to Self-Publish. You have something you love and believe in, but it's a one-off that you don't see leading to other sales in that area. So why not put it out there and share it, even if sales are small?

The key, I think, is having realistic expectations. Too many self-pubbers think they're going to become rich and famous. But as mware has pointed out, most of the time it's a helluva lot of work for small returns.

Judy, I was tweeting with Barry Hutchison (author of the 'Invisibles Fiends' books) about similar concerns about finding an agent for 'The Enigma Files', and whether I should just self/epub because I doubted any agent or publisher would sign on for a series that could potentially go on indefinitely (by which I meant like Nancy Drew, SVH, Animal Ark and Animorphs did).

Not only did he express heavy doubts about the longterm benefits of e-publishing, but he strongly urged every writer to give agents a go first. As he pointed out: "They don't cost you anything to try, so what's the risk?" If you still can't get an agent after that, then you could consider e-publishing but, like he also stated, maybe the work couldn't land an agent for a reason...

Just our two cents/pennies.

Dave

Here's a link from Harold Underdown's site. The interview is about Self-Publishing done right. I know Joi Nobisso and all of her work now appears through her own press only.

http://www.underdown.org/joi-nobisso.htm

I also know a successful author/illustrator team. Susan Abrahams and Roberta Gallagher Rivera created Hal the Hamptons Hound. Hal has done very well in the Hamptons. They creative team is working on a Manhattan based sequel.