I've had a handful of people reach out to me asking for advice on self publishing a board book. I do not claim to be an expert on the subject, but here are my answers to come of the common questions.
Q: Should I Make a Board Book?
I would not expect to make a profit by self-publishing unless you have an established audience or a strong niche connection. It is very hard to get large retailers to carry self-published books, and self-published books are difficult to market. I have written and self-published four books and only Goodnight Server Room made money.
If you are not confident you can hit the sales needed to cover the cost of board book printing, consider using print on demand services (e.g., Lulu, CreateSpace) as an alternative. They can't do board books at a sustainable margin, but if you don't expect more than 500 sales, using them to print paperback books is likely the only viable path for self-publishing.
Q: If you did your project again, would you still do a board book?
Yes! I would absolutely make it a board book again; I think kids in the 2-3 age range engage better with books with which they can freely interact.
Q: Did KickStarter work as you hoped?
Yes. The things that helped me most were 1) I was speaking to a niche audience and 2) I was filling a space that had few other offerings. KickStarter didn't cover all the manufacturing costs, but it covered a good chunk of them. KickStarter's funding model (only funding your project if you hit your goal) also works well because backers get a safety net on their commitment.
When you do your KickStarter, make *sure* you have catchy, polished artwork.
Q: Are you satisfied with the books you ordered from China?
Yes. The quality is indistinguishable from American-printed books.
Q: Do you sell more books on Amazon or Etsy?
I sell more on Amazon, but the profit margin is better on Etsy, because Etsy takes a much smaller cut of each sale.
Q: Any guidance you have for me on sales goals (how many books you sold in your first year..)
For Goodnight Server Room, I sold approximately 700 books in the first year and about 500 books over the following two years. If I recall correctly, I broke even about 16 months after starting the project.
For my other book projects, I have not broken even (my other projects haven't found a niche audience, as mentioned above).
Q: Assuming you're storing the books yourself before distribution: could you estimate the volume of 2,000 freshly printed board books?
I received ~20 boxes of 96 books each for a total volume of approximately half a cubic meter. The total weight was about 300Kg.
Q: Can you share any insights on what percentage of your orders came from outside the US?
Approximately 5% of the KickStarter orders were from outside of the U.S., primarily from Canada and Europe. Most of the subsequent orders have been from the U.S., though I got a burst of international orders when @SwiftOnSecurity tweeted about it.
Q: Do I need an ISBN and a barcode?
International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique identifier for your book. In my experience, most retailers require both an ISBN and a barcode to sell a book. For Goodnight Server Room I purchased both through Bowker.
Showing posts with label Goodnight Server Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goodnight Server Room. Show all posts
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Monday, December 31, 2018
Goodnight Server Room Plushies!
One of the coolest parts of my Goodnight Server Room adventure has been seeing the reactions and creations of readers. One reader, Jenny Laaser, designed and sewed plushie toys based on Goodnight Server Room's "bit" characters. You might have seen one of these plushies on TPT's Almanac.
Jenny has now published the instructions for making your own plushies! You can find the instructions here and the pattern on Spoonflower!
If you're not as deft with the sewing machine as Jenny, you can also order one from my Etsy site!
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| https://www.tpt.org/almanac/video/the-wrap-goodnight-server-31068/ |
If you're not as deft with the sewing machine as Jenny, you can also order one from my Etsy site!
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| They are fun to throw |
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Coloring Pages!
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| High Resolution |
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| High Resolution |
Thursday, December 21, 2017
How to Print a Board Book
For a self published author, printing a board book is surprisingly difficult. Here's how I made it work.
For most types of books, printing today is remarkably easy. CreateSpace and similar print-on-demand services allow self published authors to print paperback copies of their work in small quantities without destroying their profit margins. Boutique printers like Lulu offer hardcover prints at workable prices. Almost nobody offers board book printing.
I considered a handful of board book printers that work with self published authors:
For most types of books, printing today is remarkably easy. CreateSpace and similar print-on-demand services allow self published authors to print paperback copies of their work in small quantities without destroying their profit margins. Boutique printers like Lulu offer hardcover prints at workable prices. Almost nobody offers board book printing.
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| My Board Book: Goodnight Server Room |
I considered a handful of board book printers that work with self published authors:
- Print Ninja - Print Ninja offers overseas printing with U.S. based support.
- Pint Size Productions - Pint Size productions (printer of Sandra Boynton books) is the only printer I could find that prints in the U.S.
- China One Printing - China One offers overseas printing with U.S. based support. Their online presence is much smaller than Print Ninja. Update (2021-01-15) China One Printing seems to have gone out of business.
Here's an overview of the key decision points. Note that these values reflect a snapshot and will change over time. I did not have shipping details for all quantities, so some costs are estimates based on quoted shipping for other quantities. Go directly to the companies for an accurate quote.
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Tip One: Shipping will get you
The table above includes shipping in all unit prices. Print Ninja's shipping costs were particularly high. I made the mistake of planning expenses based on Print Ninja's pre-shipping price, rather than their post-shipping price. They charge nearly $900 to ship 500 books, and over $1,300 to ship 2,000 books. Before making a decision, always check shipping costs.
Books are typically sold wholesale at about 50% of the retail price. That means I could expect to sell a board book like Goodnight Server Room to retailers for about $5.00. If I had opted for a small quantity, I would have had virtually no profit margin. Faced with this constraint, I decided to bite the bullet and order 2,000 copies.
Tip Two: Printing takes a long time
I opted to use China One Printing. While I had hoped to use a U.S. manufacturer, the higher cost of Pint Size productions ruled them out. China One has an outdated web page and minimal staff, but I decided to trust them based on a recommendation from the author of Goodnight Loon.
Printing took a quite a while (even though everything went perfectly). Here's a timeline:
- August 2nd - Interior and exterior design files transferred
- August 17th - Interior proof print shipped
- ~September 1st - Printing begins
- October 13th - Printing complete
- November 20th - Book shipment clears U.S. customs
- November 27th - Book shipment arrives in Minnesota
- November 28th - I received the books
Tip Three: Get a physical proof
When I opened the boxes of books for the first time, I knew I had absolutely no recourse if the books did not turn out the way I wanted. I had 170 or so KickStarter backers eagerly expecting their books by Christmas and I did not have enough money left over to re-order if there was a problem. Thankfully, I was not too concerned. Why? Because I had paid the extra couple hundred dollars to get a physical proof.
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| Printed proof of Goodnight Server Room |
China One printed the interior of the book without the board book backing and sent it to me for approval before they printed the real books.
You can buy your own copy of Goodnight Server Room on Etsy!
Update January 2021
China One is no longer in business, but Tam, creator of 10 khúc đồng dao 10 nursery rhymes from Vietnam used Guangzhou Hangtong Printing Factory. As a happy backer, I can report that the quality was excellent!
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Goodnight Server Room is available now!
Order Goodnight Server Room on Etsy!
Yesterday morning I drove to a warehouse in Minneapolis to pick up the books I've been waiting to see since I started this project in the beginning of 2017. My emotions were all over the place as I walked through the door and handed my paperwork to the woman behind the glass plate.
"You need a release order," she said.
I didn't know what a release order was, but it meant I couldn't take my books home yet. Dejected, I got back in the car and drove to work, hoping I hadn't run into an unexpected expense or customs snafu.
I went to work and told my coworkers, "I feel like I'm running a ponzi scheme. I've been promising these books for so long, and so many people have trusted me with their money. I want to fulfill these promises."
Two hours later I got an email that the paperwork had been finished and the books were now available to pick up. I raced to my car and headed back to the warehouse. This time she handed me a new form and sent me into the loading area to get them. I watched for ten minutes as a forklift driver raced around with other cargo before my turn came.
I grabbed the first box and cut it open, not knowing what to expect. I'd seen pictures of the finished books, but I had no way to know that these boxes were correct, undamaged, and ready to release. I cut the tape with my multitool and felt a rush of relief. The books looked great!
Two dock workers helped me load the boxes into my van, which sat much lower to the ground that it had before. I went back to the car and snapped a few photos before going on my way.
Yesterday morning I drove to a warehouse in Minneapolis to pick up the books I've been waiting to see since I started this project in the beginning of 2017. My emotions were all over the place as I walked through the door and handed my paperwork to the woman behind the glass plate.
"You need a release order," she said.
I didn't know what a release order was, but it meant I couldn't take my books home yet. Dejected, I got back in the car and drove to work, hoping I hadn't run into an unexpected expense or customs snafu.
I went to work and told my coworkers, "I feel like I'm running a ponzi scheme. I've been promising these books for so long, and so many people have trusted me with their money. I want to fulfill these promises."
Two hours later I got an email that the paperwork had been finished and the books were now available to pick up. I raced to my car and headed back to the warehouse. This time she handed me a new form and sent me into the loading area to get them. I watched for ten minutes as a forklift driver raced around with other cargo before my turn came.
I grabbed the first box and cut it open, not knowing what to expect. I'd seen pictures of the finished books, but I had no way to know that these boxes were correct, undamaged, and ready to release. I cut the tape with my multitool and felt a rush of relief. The books looked great!
Two dock workers helped me load the boxes into my van, which sat much lower to the ground that it had before. I went back to the car and snapped a few photos before going on my way.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Goodnight Server Room Lecture
Here's a talk I gave about the history, motivation, and execution of Goodnight Server Room.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Concepts in Goodnight Server Room
In the upcoming children's book Goodnight Server Room, I follow the adventures of data as they flow through computers and routers, and other hardware found in a server room.
Many of my favorite children's books pick a category (trucks, trains, animals, etc) and describe one item from that category on each page. Goodnight Server Room's category is computers and how they interact with data.
Emily Krueger and I did our best to make data as approachable and understandable as possible. The visual complexity of the data increases as the size of the data increases (a byte is eight bits, etc).
Here are some of the terms you can expect to read about in Goodnight Server Room.
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| Draft of Cover Art, the Green Shapes are Data |
Many of my favorite children's books pick a category (trucks, trains, animals, etc) and describe one item from that category on each page. Goodnight Server Room's category is computers and how they interact with data.
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| Some bits, bytes, and packets (top to bottom) |
Emily Krueger and I did our best to make data as approachable and understandable as possible. The visual complexity of the data increases as the size of the data increases (a byte is eight bits, etc).
Here are some of the terms you can expect to read about in Goodnight Server Room.
- Server
- Router
- Switch
- Server
- Cables
- Hard Drive
- Processor
- Cache
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Goodnight Server Room (New Project)
Update: The KickStarter for this project is live now!
I read lots of books to my kids. We have plenty of books about trucks, trains, airplanes, and tools. We have no books about computers, software, or any of the work I do when I'm not at home playing with them.
I searched on Amazon and couldn't find any board books about computers which were aimed at eighteen to thirty-six month olds.
I aim to remedy this problem. The following is a first draft, illustration ideas to follow.
Copyright 2016 Tyler Smith
T.D. Smith's books on Goodreads
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| gsr.smithdtyler.com |
I read lots of books to my kids. We have plenty of books about trucks, trains, airplanes, and tools. We have no books about computers, software, or any of the work I do when I'm not at home playing with them.
I searched on Amazon and couldn't find any board books about computers which were aimed at eighteen to thirty-six month olds.
I aim to remedy this problem. The following is a first draft, illustration ideas to follow.
Goodnight Server Room
Stay bright, stay bright, green status light
Blinking, thinking through the night
Web apps, backups, plans, and maps
In the server room the packets zoom
Voltage going up and down
Is how the data gets around
It rides on wires far and wide
Ethernet’s got eight inside
The network switch’s a wild place
It handles routes run like a race
The IP field is how to know
Where each packet needs to go
Need a door from inner to outer?
Look no further than the router
From subnet one to subnet two
The router knows what should go through
A server rack looks like a stack
Cold air goes in, hot out the back
It holds computers way up high
Kept on by a power supply
So many computers, what to do?
The Domain Name Service knows what to do
Assigning names is crucial fun
Most centers have two, not one
A driver’s code that lets us see
Data sent to you and me
Send a stream or read a block
The driver is what lets us talk
A hard drive spins very fast
Put data here to make it last
If all you need is short term speed
R-A-M is what you need!
Each cache is like a secret stash
When crunching numbers in a hash
Stuck right on the C-P-Us
It’s always the first spot to use
The processor is like a brain
It thinks and thinks and won’t complain
No problem is too big or small
The processor solves one and all
Server room where packets zoom
Your admin team will be back soon
Keep working hard to send each byte
Keep blinking bright all through the nightCopyright 2016 Tyler Smith
T.D. Smith's books on Goodreads
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