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An
Interview with a Children's Book Publisher
Don, the publisher of We Both Read, a
children's book series was kind enough to
share a bit of information on starting a
publishing company with me.
First
Question: How hard was it to start your
own publishing company for Children's Books?
Don's Answer:
Publishing a book can be very easy these
days, particularly with the options for
print-on-demand. However, to create a
successful publishing company is very
difficult. Most people who start a company
have written a book they want to see
published. Issues of consumer needs,
competition, and marketing are often not
addressed very well. However, building a
successful company usually involves creating
books to fulfill a particular need or desire
among a particular set or niche of readers –
and successfully marketing to those readers.
We primarily publish books designed for
parent involvement that we target primarily
to schools.
Second Question:
How long did it take for you to actually
start seeing a profit?
Answer: The
company has been in business for about 12
years and we have about 60 titles in
print. However, our publishing business has
only been profitable for perhaps the last 4
years and it is only barely profitable!
Third Question: What is your
background?
Answer:
My background is primarily in the toy
business. Prior to starting my own company,
I was the VP of Marketing for OddzOn, the
company best known for all the Koosh toys.
Fourth Question:
What made you decide to start a publishing
company for children's books?
Answer: I knew I
wanted to start my own company, but starting
a toy company required a lot of
capital. Publishing requires much less
capital and I had researched a concept for a
series of books that seemed to have a lot of
potential. That concept became the We Both
Read books, which is now a line of 45 titles
and about 3,000,000 copies in print.
You can find We Both
Read in the Book Finds section of my
website. |
