Todd for Yorkshire Publishing shared his thoughts on reading to children the week on his Ask the Publishing Guru.

He describes why he felt it was important and how it helps establish a love of reading.

The post also discusses potential sources and types of books to consider when you are budget constrained.

It is a quick read, but a nice reminder of the importance of reading to kids.

I just realized that it has been a long time since I have posted anything on writing and publishing resources.

This is probably because most individuals visiting this site seem more interested in Learn As You Grow and the children’s book market in general.

However, I know some of you are interested in writing children’s books and/or publishing, so I wanted to list a few resources. In addition to those items discussed in previous “Publishing Resources” posts, you may find the following beneficial:

• Dan Poynter has released a new volume of his Self-Publishing Manual

Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, Volume 2: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book (Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, &)

• Selfpublishing.com provides good information for those interested in self-publishing and services for publishers and authors
• I have been following a few blogs recently that focus on writing and self-publishing. On example is http://mickrooney.blogspot.com/.
• For those specifically interested in writing children’s book, you may want to visit http://www.write4kids.com/
• I also visit http://ccbreview.blogspot.com/ for reviews and book trends in our specific market. You may want to find a similar site for your area of interest.

These are just a few examples of the types of resources available to authors and publishers. If you have a specific need or question, please let us know and we will be happy to provide any resources in our “tool bag”.

We recently read “Print-On-Demand Book Publishing” by Morris Rosenthal, which presents a “new model” of book publishing using print-on-demand (POD) technology to eliminate inventories and streamline distribution for self-publishers.

The book provides some interesting information, including:

1. tips on writing and publishing when using print-on-demand
2. marketing opportunities with specifics on Amazon marketing, sales ranks, etc.
3. other Internet marketing options such as Google Adwords, Overture, and Amazon paid placements
4. website design and search engine optimization

Unfortunately, much of the information presented is not relevant for our situation, because POD is not an option with board boards (yet). It was also hard take the claims about POD book quality seriously when some of the page headers included the wrong chapter names and there were various other editorial and print quality issues with the book.

On the other hand, some of the information on Internet marketing may be relevant for any book and those new to website design & search engine optimization may find the information on these topics beneficial.

In summary, we would not recommend placing this resource at the top of your reading list, but it does provide some information that may be beneficial depending on your situation.

So, what is this most critical resource?  Prayer.

We probably should have started with this resource, because it has been a critical component in creating the children’s books, starting our publishing company, and generally getting through life. As humans, we tend to be overly confident in our abilities and quickly take credit for our accomplishments. However, our progress on this journey would not have been possible without prayer and any accomplishments would not have been meaningful.

Communication is essential in any relationship or project and prayer provides that communication with God. As with other forms of communication, it is also important to listen more than we speak. As we pray, we have also found listening important, because we often do not know the correct things to say or ask. If one listens carefully, God will provide the answers and direction needed and this guidance will ensure you stay on the intended path.

So, as you struggle with a children’s book project or, more likely, something else in your life…we strongly recommend prayer and listening.

Whether creating children’s books or other types of books, if you are considering self-publishing , we highly recommend reading Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual as a first step.

At first glance (especially if you listen to other authors and publishers), self-publishing may seem like the easy way to get your book to market. However, the reality is that self-publishing is not a shortcut. The challenges and risks are different with self-publishing, but they still exist. As a result, it is important to educate yourself about these differences before making any decisions or committing significant resources.

Dan’s book provides more detail than any other resource we have found. It outlines everything from writing your book & starting a publishing company to marketing & distribution. As an example of the level of detail included, Dan provides details on book packaging & storage, specific requests for your printer, and even the specific envelopes, packaging, & delivery options to use in distributing books to customers. We found this very beneficial as we considered the level of investment and effort that would be required to self-publish.

As you read through the manual, we recommend keeping notes on your thoughts relative to your project and the challenges you may encounter. After reading through the manual, these notes may prove useful as you decide whether self-publishing is the best option for your project and situation.

Dan has just released a second volume, which we will review (along with other resources) in a future post. Please let us know if you have come across any other self-publishing resources that you have found beneficial. We would be happy to review and discuss them.

Another resource worth reading is “Publishing Basics” by Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. with Ron Pramschufer. The 4th version was recently released and is available for download free of charge (http://www.selfpublishing.com/free-ebooks/ ). 

The book is written for new authors and self-publishers, so it provides details and explanations for those new to the industry. The information is presented in the form of Frequently Asked Questions and provides information on writing, editing, designing, printing, and marketing your book. There is also a section specifically for children’s picture books, which we found interesting. There is a newly added section in this version discussing the Internet and its importance for self-publishers.

Unfortunately, this resource (and most others) does not provide specific recommendations for board books. The printing options and publishing challenges can be significantly different for this book format. Since our first Christian children’s books will only work as board books, we have worked through these challenges as they arise. We will try to post some of our experiences in the future, but would also love to hear from other authors and self-publishers producing board books. So, please let us know if you have any experiences or resources you would like to share.

As we started work on our Christian children’s books, we also researched avenues to bring the books to market. Initially, this research focused on learning terminology and understanding the various types of publishers, distributors, and other organizations within the book world.

A good (and free) resource for us at this early stage was an Internet radio series hosted by Ron Pramschufer. Ron has a solid background in printing & publishing. He also seems to have a passion for helping authors and small publishers.  In these recordings, Ron interviews various individuals from the publishing, printing, and book distribution markets. You can access Publishing Basics Radio at http://www.wbjbradio.com. 

A good starting point is the series titled “The Truth Behind POD Publishing”  (http://www.wbjbradio.com/series/pod.php).  Ron asks relevant and sometimes difficult questions to those willing to participate. We found the discussion educational and it was good to hear the claims of these companies directly. The series is broken into eight chapters as follows:

Chapter 1- David Maturo from Xlibris discusses the various types of publishers and also provides statistics on the average number of books sold & costs to their authors.

Chapter 2- David Maturo discusses the services provided by Xlibris and other details of the business.

Chapter 3 - Bryan Smith from Author House discusses their business and describes how he believes they are different from a “vanity press”.

Chapter 4- Susan Driscoll from iUniverse describes a new approach used with Amy Fisher’s book (which may tell you something about their business by itself). She also discusses the retail price of POD materials and how they have not seen price become a major factor for consumers.

Chapter 5- Susan Driscoll from iUniverse discusses their business model and approach. She also provides some information on the number of books sold by their authors.

Chapter 6 – Mark Levine, author of “The Fine Print”, discusses publishing contracts and provides some information on his ranking of publishers.

Chapter 7  – Jan Nathan from PMA (now IBPA) provides her perspective on the types of publishers and what criteria should be used to define an organization as a “publisher”.

Chapter 8 - Jenna Glatzer, an award-winning author and contributing editor at Writer’s Digest, discusses “Fringe Publishers” and provides some details about Publish America.

You can also download the series in zip format http://www.wbjbradio.com/series/series_POD.zip. NOTE: Chapter 8 is not included in the zip file.

The information provided in this series is not necessarily encouraging for authors. However, it does provide a good overview of POD publishing and related terminology. Hopefully, it will help authors avoid some of the potential pitfalls.

Whether writing Christian children’s books or how-to manuals, a key decision for each author (and each work) is choosing the type of publishing and specific publishers/printers with which to conduct business. This decision should be considered and made before the book is finished, because it will impact a variety of factors as the author proceeds.

As we started down this path, the volume of information, terminology,  and publisher claims were somewhat overwhelming. It seemed that everyone had a different opinion or perspective on traditional publishers, self-publishing, and the likelihood of success with either avenue. Add to that print-on-demand, subsidy publishing, vanity publishing, etc. and it can be very confusing.

As a result, we thought it may be helpful to share some of the resource we found (and find) beneficial. We will be doing a series of posts highlighting some of these resources and hope they provide some value for those working through a similar decision process.