"Birthday Snow'' Attempt No. 2

So my first printing - I mean test - didn't go so well.

I had a soft cover color picture book with only average color that I would have to sell for $14.95. That was never going to happen. Even my mother said, "Nice dear, but too bad it doesn't have a hard cover, it would look more professional.''

Fine.

Fortunately - I thought - LuLu started doing hard covers. I charged ahead. Better result. But it still wasn't Book Store quality. The worst thing though was it cost $21 per book to produce through LuLu. Picture books range from $14 to $17 retail. That was a non-starter.

That forced me to finally look at printing the book myself. Book printers insist you order a minimum of 1,000 to 1,500 books. The reason is it's hardly worth it to them to start up the press to only do that few. U.S. printers were too expensive. Overseas you could get it done for $2.50 to $3 a book at a 1,500 minimum press run.

Decision time. Was this book good enough for that kind of investment? Would I be stuck with a lot of books? Did I care that I would lose money? Why was I really doing this? Was I just a legend in my own mind?

I went in the tank. In no-limit hold 'em poker that's what you do when somebody goes all in and you have to decide what the hell you're going to do. You sit there trying to think of all the probabilities and either decide to throw all your money in or just fold and wait for some other hand.

I went all in.

Michael LaLumiere

My Early Book Production Errors

I've just received a pallet of shiny new "Birthday Snow'' books that I wrote with writing partner Kim Messinger.

The books look great. You can see the cover at the bottom of this blog.

It reminds me of all the production problems I had with the first attempt at printing this book. That was when I was publishing books at LuLu. LuLu is a POD company and they served me well for non-color books but I knew that I was in for headaches when it came to trying a full-color picture book. Of course I can now see that it was an excellent testing experience but to be totally honest back then I was a brand new newbie so I knew success was just around the corner. I didn't need no stinkin testing.

Back then LuLu couldn't do hard covers on books with 32 pages. I charged ahead anyway. End papers weren't possible. End papers are the inside front cover and inside back cover. A children's book needs to have some artwork there not a totally white, blank page. For some reason I left in another blank page before the first page of the book. Then I screwed up the copyright page.

That's not all. On a couple pages the color hid the text. In preproduction I had the feeling that was going to happen. LIFE LESSON: WHENEVER YOU THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG IN PRODUCTION, 95 PERCENT OF THE TIME IT IS WRONG. (This does not apply to crazy people like my co-writer.)

Just change it and move on.

Oh and the big one. I had a big fat typo right in the middle of the book. It took two more production runs to fix it. A picture book is only 32 pages and has very little text. A professional cannot let a typo through like I did. Several of us read it but as the publisher I'm responsible.

It wasn't a misspelled word, it was a word than had an ing on it when it shouldn't have. Can't let that happen. Don't ever think spellchecker is going to save you.

The good news is if you sell your manuscript to a publisher you don't have to worry about the production, art, artists, etc. The publisher does that. If you're going to self-publish it's all on you baby. My eighteen years of production/publishing experience didn't look so formidable after that first try at a book.

Michael LaLumiere

Update On Self-Publishing Projects

As I write this, a pallet of my "Birthday Snow'' books is in a truck somewhere between Los Angeles and Phoenix. The books had been in a container on a huge ship crossing the Pacific. I'll have them available for sale next week.

The next children's picture book, "A Song For A Giraffe'' is sitting on Ginger Nielson's drawing table being illustrated. It's going to look great. Perhaps in a couple weeks we can post an example of what it's going to look like.

Then there's the novel - "Why is Crater Lake So Blue.'' A designer is working on the cover. A copy editor is working on the text. I'm suppose to be figuring out the marketing plan.

I haven't done any marketing for the children's books. More than a 100 of the first picture book - "Princess Caitlin's Tiara'' - have been sold. Just by placing them in a couple independent book stores and using them for fundraising with a couple non-profit organizations. But no serious effort really.

I can't imagine anything harder than marketing a self-published children's picture book. I don't do school visits, etc. However, I think I can take a good swing at marketing the novel. And use that success - hopefully - as a platform for introducing the children's book. We'll see. Everybody out there in marketing is shaking their head no.

We'll see.

Until then my young niece Morgan is my VP of sales and she's doing just fine.

Michael LaLumiere

I've Got The Illustrations, I Have The Words, Now What

A lot of beginning self-publishers think the Holy Grail is getting their book on Amazon.

Nope. Just another sad bus station on the selling-your-own-book highway. Almost anybody with an ISBN number can get listed on Amazon with a picture of their very own book cover. Amazon has several ways a self-publisher can do this. But the bottom line is if your target market doesn't know it's there, well, you'll be one of about a million people selling one book a month.

That gets me back to my first publishing attempt. As a newbie I was intrigued by LuLu.com's marketing pitch. Low upfront fees and they have a website where they will sell your book for you. Now there are a thousand print-on-demand (POD) shops and they almost all offer that service.

But it's the same deal as Amazon. If you don't have a very specific niche where you can tell all your built-in customers where to buy, you have a significant problem. Nobody is going to these websites to casually buy a book. So please don't think that will happen. The only way you sell books is by a strong, well-financed marketing plan. Honest. Or if you have that built-in market.

If your doing a full-color children's book the correct reason to use a company like LuLu is for testing. PODs are good places to do many kinds of books but not a full-color children's book. Not yet. The quality isn't there and neither is the price. But it is a cheap way to find out what you did wrong.

But don't make the mistake that I did.

I needed an ISBN number. And at that time I wasn't clear on all the nuances surrounding ISBN numbers. LuLu offered to sell me one so I wouldn't have to figure it out on my own. So I bought one. And the smart guy that I am, I didn't read the fine print.

Turns out LuLu was selling me the number but I didn't own it. I could only use that ISBN number if LuLu was selling the book. They absolutely did not make that clear to me and it really pissed me off because I didn't realize it until I went to publish that book on my own. Caused me problems. That was intentionally disingenious.

There's a lot of that going around in the self-publishing world. That's why you need to fully understand important steps like getting ISBN numbers.

Michael LaLumiere

I'm A Beginner On Something New Almost Every Day

In my last blog I gave beginners a hard time.

But the fact is as I journey through this self-publishing world I become a beginner on some new facet of the business almost every day. Unless your self-publishing for fun or as a hobby it really should be a last resort option for making something a business.

I read a blog the other day from an author who had a 300 book pre-order on his new children's book. That's amazing success. But he was still willing to say that if he knew how much work it would be he wouldn't have done it.

End of today's sermon.

So I needed an illustrator for our first book. In a past life I had hired artists and worked with them for years. So I knew the terrain. The problem was if you're going to have any chance as a self-publisher the product has be as good as the best books at Borders. And in children's picture books the art is obviously pretty darn important.

The Internet made the search a tiny bit easier. I was able to see 3,000 plus portfolios online at various illustrator websites. Out of those 3,000 I wrote down about 10 names.

You have to remember that an artist working for a mid-size publishing house is going to get at least $5,000 for doing a picture book. Those folks have agents. You can't contact them. I wasn't paying that much anyway so there was no way. I contacted a few artists on my list that looked like they were still accepting projects. No I don't work with self-publishers. No I don't work with authors, only editors. No I don't work for that much. If you want a few illustrations I could do that but not a complete picture book. No I'm booked up because I'm so darn good. No, how did you get my email?

So what about those other 2,900 artists? I didn't see my main character in any of those portfolios. There was plenty of skill being demonstrated but as a graphics editor I'm after a look, a tone, a style. Or overwhelming talent. I didn't see it. There is such a big gap between good and professionally good. A lot of struggling artists don't get that. Writers are the same way. But if I don't find a professionally good artist my book is doomed before it's ever published.

For the first time in my adult career I was unable to fill a postion.

In desperation I put an ad in the SCWBI forums saying what I needed and how much I was paying. I really didn't want to do that because it was going to attract other people who were desperate. I was shocked and relieved at how few inquiries I received. A lot of people must have been to that rodeo already and been bucked off the horse.

Luckily for me Angela Ursillo sent me an email. Angela had never done a children's picture book. She was working as a production artist at a film company and wanted to try something else. I saw my main character - Daniel - in her portfolio. She did a professionally good job.

Unfortunately, I was a beginner at being a graphics editor of a children's book. More later.

Michael LaLumiere

Artists and Writers Working Together Oh My!

So which is harder to work with an artist or a writer?

First I want to say that the two artists who have illustrated my books have worked out very well. I'd work with them again. In fact, one is illustrating a book of mine right now. Whew, that was close.

Actually I should clarify anyway. It's merely DIFFICULT to work with artists and writers. As a long-time editor I occupied the ground between the two and it was always tense. But what's really AWFUL is working with BEGINNING artists and writers. I wouldn't do it. Neither will artists with paying clients. This is business, people.

So let's get back to where we were in the last blog. All you're getting from publishers are rejection form letters. You don't want to spend the $10,000 plus it takes to produce your own professional picture book. And/or you don't know how. What can you do?

If you want to keep moving forward the next step should be a rough dummy of the book. That's what it sounds like - a full-sized paper version of the book using sketches for illustrations. Don't even try and get a professional artist to do this. So many writers go to artist websites asking if they'll do spec work. A professional looks at that email and says 50 percent of 0 royalties is 0. They get mad when you do that.

I'd contact college art programs. Neighborhood artists could do this. The goal is to have something that looks like a book so you can continue to test it. Read it to children. Have parents read it to children. When you have a book to work with it's easier to see what can be improved. The illustrations don't have to be great. It's what you can do to continue moving forward.

Next time I'll talk about how I found artists to do my books.

Michael LaLumiere

Decide If This Is A Business Or A Hobby

I'm still a beginner at Self-Publishing but certain principles carry over to almost all endeavors.

The No. 1 reason small businesses fail is undercapitalization. They didn't have enough money to do whatever was necessary to take that next crucial step toward success. Humans are forever underestimating the cost of reality. Especially when it comes to activities that have roots in their whimsy - like flipping a house, writing a book, etc. It really shouldn't be that big an issue if you keep your eyes wide open and plan for the worst case scenario. But it ALWAYS is.

It gets especially bad when they realize half way in that they don't have enough money and then start scrimping on key issues that will eventually doom the project.

I believe everyone should write a book. Parents and children should write books together. Groups of friends can write books. With the Print-On-Demand industry blowing up everyone should be able to write a book and publish it for less that a couple hundred dollars. I think the world would be a nicer place if everyone did this. Even artists should write books.

The problem is if you haven't been writing and illustrating your entire professional life it's really unlikely that you can understand the professional edge that's required to get to the top of the marketplace. After much trial and error you can get there but you can't fall out of bed and write a best-selling book. There are exceptions to everything but.....

And then there's the problem of making money.

I have no illusions. I don't think I can make money publishing my books. If I were to be totally honest I'd tell you my only goal is to create books that can critically compare to most of those in the marketplace. I guess I do have a second goal. Not to lose an extraordinarily large amount of money in the process.

I only tell you this because unless you have a lot of money to burn before you ever reach Amazon.com with your book, you won't make it. The book has to be professional to succeed there. In the case of a picture book I'd say you'd have to have at least $10,000 to think about starting the project.

A professional artist costs several thousand dollar if you can find one that will work with a first-time author. Because of the color you'll have to spend several thousand dollars on offset printing. Marketing. Cover Design. Formatting. Yeah, you probably need more than $10,000.

I can see some of you shaking your heads no. You can't say I didn't warn you.

Michael LaLumiere

Welcome To The Self-Publishing Business

Kim and I received a few more rejection letters. It was now official, I was at a total standstill regarding these manuscripts. And as a newbie I was surprised to have reached this standstill so soon in the project. As a former professional in the publishing business I thought I knew better.

Then one day I stuck "Self-publishing'' into the Google search window. I was shocked by what I found. There was a big, wide world based on self-publishing. Before that moment I had no idea. I was embarassed I didn't know anything about it but I was determined to discover what I could as fast as I could.

The self-publishing business is way farther along now than it was back then. The rise of improved digital printing and Internet marketing have changed everything. We're at the beginning of the end of what the Book Publishing World use to be.

At that time - 2 plus years ago - vanity presses were trying to morph into POD (Print on demand) companies. Their goal: get a chunk of your money up front. Some gave you an expensive but quality product. Others gave you an expensive box of nothing much.

I settled on Lulu.com. The great thing about LuLu was there was no expensive up front fees. Basically, you could get a book printed digitally and see how it turned out. This was great for seminar books that I wanted to sell but not so good for a full-color picture book.

They couldn't print hardcovers at the time. And color reproduction was only so so and cost prohibitive for retailing. So now I had a soft-cover, color picture book where the color wasn't great. I would have to sell it for $16. Nobody's going to buy the product for that price if at all.

I was stuck again. Oops I forgot to tell you the trials and tribulations of finding an illustrator for the book. Sorry, it nearly put me in a coma - i must have burned it out of my memory.

Michael LaLumiere

What The NY Book Editor Didn't Say

After the "Snow'' comment the NY Book Editor went on to say she thought it was a nice story, had a nice character, maybe was a little too long, blah, blah, blah.

As a long-time editor and observer of life I know there are three Grand Canyons between a professional saying they really like something and everything else. Professional editors so rarely get exactly what they want they'll gush at anything close. So watching this editor thumb through the pages it was obvious "Birthday Snow'' was just another routine manuscript to her and she would forget it as soon as she walked out the door.

Up on the podium book editors like to say that every editor is different and while one might hate a manuscript the next editor up the street may love it. So you should keep sending out your manuscript in hopes of a miracle. I don't buy that. Of course, it happens. But in 2007 you're more likely to become a professional basketball player than get your children's book published by a medium-to-big publishing house. The book publishing industry has in its little way become the Hollywood Movie industry. And "Birthday Snow,'' admittedly was not a blockbuster.

So what are you going to do now Mr. Children's Book Author?

First an update. As I write this, a pallet of "Birthday Snow'' books sits in a container ship making its way across the Pacific. My little publishing company printed them. I think it's a fine book that will appeal to children and parents. The big issue is marketing and distribution. Believe it or not that's much harder than publishing and will determine how many people get to read it. I think it's been more than two years since I sat across the table from that book editor. That 10-minute discussion was actually a lot of help. But as you can see it took a long time to get those books on a container ship. There was a lot more work to be done.

So what had I learned?

"Birthday Snow'' would not be bought by a big publishing company. The book wasn't good enough yet. I wasn't sure it would ever be good enough. That marketing departments ran the publishing houses. That the book editing business wasn't about words and editing. And that I needed to be convinced that I should move forward.

Michael LaLumiere

What The New York Book Editor Told Me

By the time I arrived at the big LA Children's Book Conference we had already received a couple rejection form letters on "Birthday Snow,'' - the manuscript we decided to send out first. It was also the manuscript that the NY Book Editor would be critiquing - face to face - later in the conference.

"Birthday Snow,'' is a nice mother-son story that got the feel-good response we hoped for when we tested it with children and parents.

I found the LA conference to be a dismal event. There were probably about a thousand people attending - more than four times the amount of new children's books that would be published that entire year. And the trend was decidedly less books published as each year passed. So not all were happy campers.

One after one the publishing house editors/speakers went to the podium and told their sad little tales. Basically, the book business was being run by the marketing departments. If the marketing department didn't buy in there would be no book. And an editor wasn't going to take any chances because one too many non-sellers and they would be out of a job.

So if you were a celebrity, or you had a string of successful books already or you had a dynamite marketing hook you could get a book published. There rest of you, well, good luck in the slush pile.

The feel-good stories that year at the conference were the pigeon on the bus and how to be a pirate books. The author of the pirate book was on a panel and she told of the enormous length of time - years and years - it took to get it published.

During the entire event only one speaker ever mentioned self-publishing. That was an editor in a break-out session. He made passing reference to "The Christmas Box.'' the all-time, self-publishing success story. He said he didn't know why but it just kept selling so anything was possible. I was beginning to think maybe it was the book editors that were the problem.

So Kim and I arrived for our critique. Across the table from us was a professional-looking, early 30-something editor from a big publishing house. She was very nice and personable. After we exchanged pleasantries she looked down at her roughly written page of notes.

I can't remember exactly what she said but it went something like this:

"Well it's good that it's about snow. You can sell a snow book."

Michael LaLumiere

On The Trail Of Validating Manuscripts

Last time I wrote about sending manuscripts to freelance editors who provide critiques-for-hire.

About the same time I joined The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI.org). That allowed me to find out about and attend small regional children's book conferences. These conferences were important for two reasons.

One, I could get my manuscripts critiqued (you sign up in advance). The downside is that only about 50 percent of the time do you get a real book editor doing the critiquing at the smaller conferences. Script doctors do the rest. Still, I believe any reasonably professional critique is valuable.

Two, these conferences were mostly attended by wannabes like me and they peppered the speakers (book editors) with all the questions I wanted to ask. A lot of the questioning showed the frustration of would-be authors with the state of the children's book industry (more about this later). The grilling of these book editors and their lack of meaningful answers helped shape the direction I would eventually take.

The critiques of our manuscripts came back positive. Mostly the critiquers were saying good stories, yes they're potentially publishable, they need sharpening. Do you think a publisher would buy the stories? Hard to say. This isn't an exact science. Fine.

That was enough for us to polish them up and send them out to some publishers. I also signed up for the big 4-day SCBWI spring conference in LA. A lot of editors from big publishing houses were speakers. And I would be guaranteed a face-to-face critique from a book editor. In my opinion, a person like that was the only true judge.

As I arrived in LA for the conference, I was about a year into this project. Next, what the book editor said.

Michael LaLumiere