Self-Publishing for Kids as presented to the MCLS Emerging Technologies Committee 6/15/12

1. •KidPub Press
•Story Spark by Tikatok
•TaleSpring

2. Children as authors?
 Vanity press or legitimate authorship?
 Parents support extracurricular interests:
 Soccer, Saxophone or Stories
 Financial resources/encouragement
 Does it matter which “team”?

3. Success stories
 “No prodigies in literature” ~ Tom Robbins
 Chris Paolini –
 Published Eragon – Age 15
 Inheritance Cycle – 25 M copies/49+ languages
 Ben Heckmann
 Velvet Black novels
 800 copies
 Featured in NY Times

4. KidPub Press
 KidPub Press launched in 2008
 Membership
 Required only if publishing
 Via parent registration
 $12.95/yr
 Targets tween and teen authors
 Fiction, poetry

5. Creative Process
 Created offline and uploaded
 MS Word preferred, but will consider other editable
formats.
 Illustrations:
 Provided by author
 Felt-tip pen drawing preferred
 B/W
 No photos, color, clip art
 Scanned or hard copy

6. Publishing services
 Editing/Design
 Marketing
 Printing
 Shipping
 Financials

7. Print book
 Price ~$12.95
 Dimensions: 9x6 trade paperback
 Min: 25 pgs., Max ?
 > 500 pgs = 2 volumes
 Perfect Bound
 White Paper/black ink
 Fonts - choice

8. Covers
 Full-color on heavy, glossy cover stock
 Front cover: Title, author, artwork
 Back cover
 Book summary
 Author bio
 ISBN
 Copyright statement
 Spine
 If book > 100 pages, Title, author, artwork?

9. Editing/Design
 “Light editing”
 Formatting
 Poetry will have more white space
 Limited enhancement of author’s
illustrations
 Cover: overall design by staff

10. Marketing
 Amazon: Print & eBook
 KidsPub Press online – Print only
 Press releases to local news
media, bookstores, libraries
 Books in Print

11. eBook
 Kindle format only – Available on Amazon
 Reflects the print book in design, artwork, pricing.

12. Fees
 Initial investment: $250
 Editing
 Cover Design
 Marketing
 Registration with Books in Print
 ISBN
 5 copies to author
 Additional copies at discount

13. Royalties
 Amazon – 15%
 KidPub Press – 20%
 Barnes & Noble – 10%
 Quarterly Sales Reports

14. StorySpark
by Tikatox
 Tikatok – B & N
 Online - UI
 Nook Color/Tablet app

15. Creative Process
 Entirely online
 Graphics library, or upload
 Story prompts, pre-formatted pages, plot templates
 Or, start “from scratch”

16. Cookie Cutter
 Using a pre-designed template.

17. Starting from Scratch

18. Formats
 Minimum – 7 pgs
 Maximum – 100 pages
 Hardcover - $18 + .18/pg
 Bound & laminated full-color covers/interior
 Heavy, glossy paper
 Paperback - $15 + .18/pg
 eBook –$2.99/download
 EPUB
 PDF

19. Editorial Services
 No Marketing
 Sales to account owner
 Author’s name not revealed until after book is ordered.
 No ISBN
 Copyright to author
 Exception: Build-a-Bear story templates

20. Tikatok’s new app
 Draw, Write, Read
 Draw - App’s pens, paint brushes,
 Write - Choice of font style, color, page layouts
 Read - Recorded audio

21. Oops!
 StorySpark – available?
 Draw, Write, Read – unavailable?
 Orders for books not currently accepted?
 Between the lines
 Microsoft enters the picture as Tikatok takes a break
 B & N support says it’s “up to the publisher”.

22. Going Interactive
 TaleSpring
 DIY
 No programming required
 Apple’s App Store, Android Market

23. Creative Process
 Free to register & create.
 Fee to publish
 Author provides illustrations & audio files
 Built on HTML5
 Safari, Chrome, FireFox 5 supported.

24. User Interface

25. Animations
 Movement
 Scale
 Rotate
 Fade In & Out
 Appear/Disappear
 Hot Spot – triggers sound effect and/or another object’s
animation

26. Media
 Graphics – JPG, GIF, PNG
 Audio – MP3 only
 Video – MPEG 4

27. Marketing & Financials
 $150 to publish
 TaleSpring submits to Apple.
 Timeline – 2-3 weeks to App Store
 Royalties:
 Author – 50%
 Apple – 30%
 TaleSpring - 20%

28. Betsy Dobles
bdobles@libraryweb.org