sent to nielsen today
978-0-9557455-1-5 Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy Little Kitten Falls Over
978-0-9557455-2-2 Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy Little Kitten's Birthday
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Sunday 23 December 2007
search inside seems to be up on amazon on too mant kitten
..it's not working yet but hey, ho. Sales rank still in the top 100,000!
Friday 14 December 2007
Saturday 8 December 2007
box size
a box that holds 5000 easily fits in a 3x5 foot room - You can fit 70 books into a 31cm by 24 cm box (16cms deep) thus you can fit a layer of 12 books at the bottom of a 3 x5 room. if the room has a 10 foot ceiling you can get in 7 layers or 84 boxes. the cost of renting such a space is £70 or so per month...
wholesaler - bertrams
http://www.bertrams.com/BertWeb/index.jsp?s=1&ss=307
they take 60% too so it's the same model as amazon
it means the absolute key is to have the confidence to print more
if I'm sending to the wholesaler in bulk I make 15p profit. However I I up the print run to 5000 rather than 1000 the postage drops by 0.97 - making the profit £1.12
storage will be an issue - but if we go for the "earn a quid option" I have 12p a copy for storage or £600 for storage for each 5000 books
they take 60% too so it's the same model as amazon
it means the absolute key is to have the confidence to print more
if I'm sending to the wholesaler in bulk I make 15p profit. However I I up the print run to 5000 rather than 1000 the postage drops by 0.97 - making the profit £1.12
storage will be an issue - but if we go for the "earn a quid option" I have 12p a copy for storage or £600 for storage for each 5000 books
Profits from various selling (excluding company costs and marketing)
Right at 4.99 and with normal postage charges
1) Amazon - if I am sending my books one at a time to amazon to fulfil orders - I lose 52p per book. This can be mitigated by the amazon associates revenue (about 25p but only if refered from my site) and reduced print costs (this effectively means I have to print in batches of 5000 to break even)
2) Amazon - if I am sending in larger batches the postage drops to about 33p to send to the warehouse - I make 15p - this means that any print reduction plus associates revenue will get me closer to the magic pound per copy. If we print at the 5000 level we can definitely make a pound.
3) Direct - makes profit of 3.40 to 3.10 so we can actually put a total (rrp +P&P) of between 4.50 and 3.50 (for individual books or full set of 3) and still make a pound at current rates
4) Ebay - we make about 60p less than direct so the above applies but with 60p difference
the business can be sustained in the "1000 copies" period because we know that higher print runs will provide profits.
If we work to one pound profit minimum on each book then we should work on 50p company charges and marketing per book - which seems likely.
Accounts would suggest that initially we'll be spending £4000 on company and marketing charges to sell 3000 books. However, those costs will come down substantially with volumes.
1) Amazon - if I am sending my books one at a time to amazon to fulfil orders - I lose 52p per book. This can be mitigated by the amazon associates revenue (about 25p but only if refered from my site) and reduced print costs (this effectively means I have to print in batches of 5000 to break even)
2) Amazon - if I am sending in larger batches the postage drops to about 33p to send to the warehouse - I make 15p - this means that any print reduction plus associates revenue will get me closer to the magic pound per copy. If we print at the 5000 level we can definitely make a pound.
3) Direct - makes profit of 3.40 to 3.10 so we can actually put a total (rrp +P&P) of between 4.50 and 3.50 (for individual books or full set of 3) and still make a pound at current rates
4) Ebay - we make about 60p less than direct so the above applies but with 60p difference
the business can be sustained in the "1000 copies" period because we know that higher print runs will provide profits.
If we work to one pound profit minimum on each book then we should work on 50p company charges and marketing per book - which seems likely.
Accounts would suggest that initially we'll be spending £4000 on company and marketing charges to sell 3000 books. However, those costs will come down substantially with volumes.
Company Structure
the two sites I've used are
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
and
http://www.oyezstraker.co.uk/main-03-00.htm
It takes a lot of looking, but I've decided on the following
I'm going to be a private company limited by share. There will be 200 shares of which I will only issue 120. The 120 will have a value of £1 but I will be selling 59 of them at £75 each. This initially means I have a majority stake and the company is worth £120 for paying back to shareholders if it goes under. However the 59 shares I sell at a premium will raise £4425 - enough for two more 100 print runs for book 2 and 3 and some marketing, PR and slush money.
Each share that an investor purchases initially gets them 0.833% stake of the company.
However, there are still 80 shares left unissued. If i choose I can keep a majority share by taking another 40 shares myself and selling the other 40 at ANY premium I want. If I do this, I will be diluting each share to 0.5% of the company but raising extra capital.
If we need more money I will offer it first to the existing shareholders, then to the market.
For practical purposes (I will have quite a number of shareholders) I might set up the company with only me as a shareholder (that way it only needs me and one other's signature) and then transfer the shares at a later date - which I think incurs 0.5% stamp duty.
The forms you need are form 10, form 12, a memorandum and articles of association and share certificates and share transfer forms.
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
and
http://www.oyezstraker.co.uk/main-03-00.htm
It takes a lot of looking, but I've decided on the following
I'm going to be a private company limited by share. There will be 200 shares of which I will only issue 120. The 120 will have a value of £1 but I will be selling 59 of them at £75 each. This initially means I have a majority stake and the company is worth £120 for paying back to shareholders if it goes under. However the 59 shares I sell at a premium will raise £4425 - enough for two more 100 print runs for book 2 and 3 and some marketing, PR and slush money.
Each share that an investor purchases initially gets them 0.833% stake of the company.
However, there are still 80 shares left unissued. If i choose I can keep a majority share by taking another 40 shares myself and selling the other 40 at ANY premium I want. If I do this, I will be diluting each share to 0.5% of the company but raising extra capital.
If we need more money I will offer it first to the existing shareholders, then to the market.
For practical purposes (I will have quite a number of shareholders) I might set up the company with only me as a shareholder (that way it only needs me and one other's signature) and then transfer the shares at a later date - which I think incurs 0.5% stamp duty.
The forms you need are form 10, form 12, a memorandum and articles of association and share certificates and share transfer forms.
Amazon Marketplace
I set this up as insurance in case of stock issues - at least this was there's definitely a way to buy it before christmas.
you register and then set your price. they charge you a flat fee of 86p - only when you sell and then a percentage of 17.25% of the price. They charge the customer £2.75 postage, of which you get £2.26. you have to post the item yourself. With such a large charge I'd post 1st class recorded - a charge of £1.40 postage.
This means at cover price 4.99 on marketplace
Print £1.52
Postage £1.40
Packing £0.22
Amazon Fees £1.72
Total Costs £4.86
Money in £7.25
Profit £2.39 - astonishing versus the 16p you get for being on amazon proper.
The "make a pound" figure on Marketplace is £3.31 or £6.06 delivered.
you register and then set your price. they charge you a flat fee of 86p - only when you sell and then a percentage of 17.25% of the price. They charge the customer £2.75 postage, of which you get £2.26. you have to post the item yourself. With such a large charge I'd post 1st class recorded - a charge of £1.40 postage.
This means at cover price 4.99 on marketplace
Print £1.52
Postage £1.40
Packing £0.22
Amazon Fees £1.72
Total Costs £4.86
Money in £7.25
Profit £2.39 - astonishing versus the 16p you get for being on amazon proper.
The "make a pound" figure on Marketplace is £3.31 or £6.06 delivered.
Investment
I have three investors of £750 all signed up. I have two £375 investors who will sign up on monday so that leaves me with a little way to go...
I want to raise the money with multiples of £75 shares - and I need to dispose of 59 of 120 shares (see company structure in another post)
that leaves me with £1425 or 19 shares to go. From the statements of a few others, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with this. Realistically i need to be able to start spending the money at the beginning of January.
I want to raise the money with multiples of £75 shares - and I need to dispose of 59 of 120 shares (see company structure in another post)
that leaves me with £1425 or 19 shares to go. From the statements of a few others, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with this. Realistically i need to be able to start spending the money at the beginning of January.
Amazon - getting stock into the warehouse
1) allow 20 days from when you send to get into the warehouse
2) People will not buy if you're not listed as "in Stock"
3) Amazon will not take you "in Stock" unless they have an order
4) unless you tell them about your promotions
so the rule is in future - no promotion until stock has been secured
Also - you have to think about costs. About the cheapest you'll get your books to amazon is if they order a box. i got an order for 30 and the box cost £9.35 to post. thats 32p per book, assuming you have a box you can use.
As the books cost 1.52 to produce and with amazon's cut of 60% of the cover price of £4.99 - you're only making 16p a book.
This seems to mean that you'll only make any kind of money from amazon if you can get your print cost down to more like 50p. That means print runs of 10k.
I'll do a little entry on how much I can make from all methods of selling - plus I'm going to have to look into wholesalers and neilsen book data more seriously for the next phase of development
2) People will not buy if you're not listed as "in Stock"
3) Amazon will not take you "in Stock" unless they have an order
4) unless you tell them about your promotions
so the rule is in future - no promotion until stock has been secured
Also - you have to think about costs. About the cheapest you'll get your books to amazon is if they order a box. i got an order for 30 and the box cost £9.35 to post. thats 32p per book, assuming you have a box you can use.
As the books cost 1.52 to produce and with amazon's cut of 60% of the cover price of £4.99 - you're only making 16p a book.
This seems to mean that you'll only make any kind of money from amazon if you can get your print cost down to more like 50p. That means print runs of 10k.
I'll do a little entry on how much I can make from all methods of selling - plus I'm going to have to look into wholesalers and neilsen book data more seriously for the next phase of development
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Amazon position this morning
165,639. Fluffy has 39 friends on facebook though. I know that a few people have ordered on amazon now, but Amazon have only requested 1 copy. Hopefully their next order will be larger. If nothing else they'll be in stock after xmas.
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Buy the books direct
If you are paying for a book which wasn't posted to you click below
if you are getting it posted, click below
if you are getting it posted, click below
Monday 26 November 2007
postage
I can post the book - and indeed up to three of them - in a size 1 mail miser bubble jiffy. They count as large letters as they're less than 25mm deep (the envelope wont go any bigger than that)
1 book weighs 175g when packed - 70p 1st class, £1.40 first class recorded
3 books weigh 410g - 98p 1st class £1.68 recorded
The envelopes can be picked up for around 20p each (got my first 20 for 15p on special offer so I'm going back to the shop later to get another 100!)
I bought 1600 postage labels for 11.99 (another special offer from staples!)
even with the ink to print them that's only 2p a go.
that means that sending one book will cost £1.52 (print and delivery to me) +70p +20p +2p
a total cost of £2.44. Factor in a 15% return rate (pessimistic I know!) and I really need to recover £2.81 if I sell direct to make a profit. Potentially to drive sales I can sell a book delivered for £2.99!
However I have to remember marketing costs.
1 book weighs 175g when packed - 70p 1st class, £1.40 first class recorded
3 books weigh 410g - 98p 1st class £1.68 recorded
The envelopes can be picked up for around 20p each (got my first 20 for 15p on special offer so I'm going back to the shop later to get another 100!)
I bought 1600 postage labels for 11.99 (another special offer from staples!)
even with the ink to print them that's only 2p a go.
that means that sending one book will cost £1.52 (print and delivery to me) +70p +20p +2p
a total cost of £2.44. Factor in a 15% return rate (pessimistic I know!) and I really need to recover £2.81 if I sell direct to make a profit. Potentially to drive sales I can sell a book delivered for £2.99!
However I have to remember marketing costs.
Amazon
when you register on amazon you get the option of CAP which is the content acquisition programme. They'll bring your title to the attention of various agents, right holders etc if it starts doing well.
Also I've got the first order in - In the earky stages I'll be losing money on amazon, as I only get £2 per book - they cost 1.50 odd to print and if I post them individually to amazon each time I get an order that'll cost more than the remaining 50p. Unless amazon start taking some stock from me, it's not going to be cost efficient...
I'm now going to have a go at search inside
Also I've got the first order in - In the earky stages I'll be losing money on amazon, as I only get £2 per book - they cost 1.50 odd to print and if I post them individually to amazon each time I get an order that'll cost more than the remaining 50p. Unless amazon start taking some stock from me, it's not going to be cost efficient...
I'm now going to have a go at search inside
Friday 23 November 2007
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Sunday 18 November 2007
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Sunday 7 October 2007
Saturday 6 October 2007
here are my ISBNs
A B
1 ISBN Title Information
2 978-0-9557455-0-8 Fluffy Little Kitten in Too Many Kittens!
3 978-0-9557455-1-5
4 978-0-9557455-2-2
5 978-0-9557455-3-9
6 978-0-9557455-4-6
7 978-0-9557455-5-3
8 978-0-9557455-6-0
9 978-0-9557455-7-7
10 978-0-9557455-8-4
11 978-0-9557455-9-1
1 ISBN Title Information
2 978-0-9557455-0-8 Fluffy Little Kitten in Too Many Kittens!
3 978-0-9557455-1-5
4 978-0-9557455-2-2
5 978-0-9557455-3-9
6 978-0-9557455-4-6
7 978-0-9557455-5-3
8 978-0-9557455-6-0
9 978-0-9557455-7-7
10 978-0-9557455-8-4
11 978-0-9557455-9-1
kitten on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/srch.php?nm=fluffy+little+kitten
or just go to facebook and search for fluffy little kitten
or just go to facebook and search for fluffy little kitten
Sunday 16 September 2007
making it so that a blog can be the official site for FLK
Thank you for contacting Register.com.This email is in response to the inquiry regarding the domain name "fluffylittlekitten.com".We understand that you wish to ponit "wwwfluffylittlekitten.com" to blog website.If you want to add only
www.fluffylittlekitten.com entry to blogger's website then you can add it in Alias record.1) Log into Account Manager using the user name and password associated with the domain name that you would like to edit.2) Under Domains and Associated Services choose the domain that you would like to edit.3) Click Edit Domain Alias (CNAME) Record. This option is found under the Advance Technical Settings heading.4) Add the Cname entrywww.fluffylittlekitten.com point to blog site.5) And click Continue.The results will be visible within 12-24 hours.
www.fluffylittlekitten.com entry to blogger's website then you can add it in Alias record.1) Log into Account Manager using the user name and password associated with the domain name that you would like to edit.2) Under Domains and Associated Services choose the domain that you would like to edit.3) Click Edit Domain Alias (CNAME) Record. This option is found under the Advance Technical Settings heading.4) Add the Cname entrywww.fluffylittlekitten.com point to blog site.5) And click Continue.The results will be visible within 12-24 hours.
Friday 10 August 2007
Youtube
there's a link an embedded link at the bottom of the page but you can go straight to youtube with....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP4uZ66MiK4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP4uZ66MiK4
Sunday 29 July 2007
As you can see from the right hand side bar...payments can be made
Looks as if blogger is going to be my transactional site. I'll use the main Fluffylittlekitten site as a beard for the blogger site. I can put in a paypal checkout. Do not attempt to buy anything off me if you visit this site.
The shopping cart is soooo easy. just login to paypal, go to merchant tools and pick standard shopping cart. Then all you have to do is fill out a form and paste stuff into an html/java box on the template part of the blog!
this is really encouraging. much the same as finding out that flash is not as hard as you would imagine if you only want to do one thing... of which more later.
The shopping cart is soooo easy. just login to paypal, go to merchant tools and pick standard shopping cart. Then all you have to do is fill out a form and paste stuff into an html/java box on the template part of the blog!
this is really encouraging. much the same as finding out that flash is not as hard as you would imagine if you only want to do one thing... of which more later.
Tuesday 3 July 2007
packing
http://www.aid-pack.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DevisRequestView?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10051
it looks like the boxes for 1-6 books will be less than a quid each. I'll have to look at the postage.
it looks like the boxes for 1-6 books will be less than a quid each. I'll have to look at the postage.
storage 2
forgot - I'll need packing materials as well. If I buy them in small quantities they'll cost more. Maybe I'll need a bigger room - possibly twice the size. i think I'll budget £500 for storage and hope we shift stock quickly.
Storage
if the books are printed we need somewhere to store them - and i can't imagine the missus warming to piles and piles of boxes of books.
My books are A5 and therefor two of them laid together are A4. I've measured some boxes of 80 gsm A4 paper and you can get 2500 sheets into a box 13 inches by 9 inches by 11 inches tall. My books average twice the gsm and so I'll get 1250 sheets in the same box, with two side by side each book is 52 pages so that means 23 x 2 copies per box, or 46 per box. I'm printing 6000 so that means 131 boxes!! Assuming I can pile them 6 high, so i need to store them in a room that'll fit 22 of them on the floor. 6 boxes by 4. That measures 52 inches by 54 inches.
this means I need a 5ft by 5ft room. I've got some self storage quotes near to my house...
looks like (if sales go well) I'll need at least 3 months of storage at a total cost of £270.75 - probably sensible to budget for about 6 months at £555.75. I'll look at other quotes.
Sunday 17 June 2007
ad campaign results starting to come in...
the results are flooding in - maybe you are reading this because of these ads?
advertising
i've just bought some google ads. just as a trial i've spent 30 quid and now in theory i should get people clicking and looking at the main flk website. i will report on how well it's going in a couple of days...
Sunday 3 June 2007
edits of stories and a new story
i am going to ditch "fluffy little kitten buys cat food" and replace it with stormy kitten or foreign fluffy.
I am going to take the vegetarian gag and the kitten is hungry gag from "buys cat food" and put it into fancy kitten to replace to spotty kittens marylin monroe gag - which is too obscure.
the ditching of "buys cat food" is that it fixes the series at a specific and pretty basic counting age. If you're primarily targetting adults with your books, it doesn't matter if you flit around the age of your reader, but for more general appeal as a kids book I'll focus on emotional, rather than counting style problems...
I am going to take the vegetarian gag and the kitten is hungry gag from "buys cat food" and put it into fancy kitten to replace to spotty kittens marylin monroe gag - which is too obscure.
the ditching of "buys cat food" is that it fixes the series at a specific and pretty basic counting age. If you're primarily targetting adults with your books, it doesn't matter if you flit around the age of your reader, but for more general appeal as a kids book I'll focus on emotional, rather than counting style problems...
rejections
pretty much everyone I have sent the letter and documents to has said no if I enclosed a stamped addressed envelope. Whilst I'm still trying, the conventional method isn't really working.
i think time to produce them myself!!
in which case i have to do a little editing of the stories and maybe put together one more
i think time to produce them myself!!
in which case i have to do a little editing of the stories and maybe put together one more
two more rejections...
PFD and Eddison Pearson. I suppose the cheery thing to note is that all these letters appear to be the same.
Saturday 12 May 2007
volume print cost
Rob Hi
Your print prices as requested
Size; 148mm x 210mm (Landscape)Cover: 4pp printed in full colour one side only on 250gsm with gloss laminated outer.Extent: 48pp printed in full colour on 150gsm satinOne set of digital proofsBinding: Saddle stitchPrice:1,000 copies: £1,495.00
5,000 copies: £2,695.00
10,000 copies: £3,995.00
Regards
Richard
Your print prices as requested
Size; 148mm x 210mm (Landscape)Cover: 4pp printed in full colour one side only on 250gsm with gloss laminated outer.Extent: 48pp printed in full colour on 150gsm satinOne set of digital proofsBinding: Saddle stitchPrice:1,000 copies: £1,495.00
5,000 copies: £2,695.00
10,000 copies: £3,995.00
Regards
Richard
Monday 7 May 2007
selling business plan
the trick has to be £1 a book profit.
this means the plan is to drive all promotional activity to www.fluffylittlekitten.com
on this site you will have the following options - assume p&p at cost.
amazon. at £4.99 it's almost impossible to make a pound. if you just get the 40% then it's £2 revenue so 50p profit. I don't really want to encourage this but an amazon listing is important
ebay. I can offer individual books on ebay for £3.99 and leave myself quite a lot of leeway - even taking into account unsold inventory and monthly fees.
I can also offer sets of 6 on ebay for £17.99 (cause of ebay and paypal fees combined)
I can also offer to sell direct on site for £2.99 ond sets for £15.99.
these figures may be ammended - i'm a bit frazzled with figures.
this means the plan is to drive all promotional activity to www.fluffylittlekitten.com
on this site you will have the following options - assume p&p at cost.
amazon. at £4.99 it's almost impossible to make a pound. if you just get the 40% then it's £2 revenue so 50p profit. I don't really want to encourage this but an amazon listing is important
ebay. I can offer individual books on ebay for £3.99 and leave myself quite a lot of leeway - even taking into account unsold inventory and monthly fees.
I can also offer sets of 6 on ebay for £17.99 (cause of ebay and paypal fees combined)
I can also offer to sell direct on site for £2.99 ond sets for £15.99.
these figures may be ammended - i'm a bit frazzled with figures.
sell direct
If i sell direct from the website fluffylittlekitten.com then I only have the cost of running the site.
i can offer paypal - even if they pay by credit card - and just do the P&P at cost
this means to make a quid per book it'll be approx. £2.99 rrp +postage.
i can offer paypal - even if they pay by credit card - and just do the P&P at cost
this means to make a quid per book it'll be approx. £2.99 rrp +postage.
ebay - another sales method
I'm thinking of using an ebay shop to sell the sets of 6 books. The P&P can be charged at cost. if I sell a set of 6 books for £19.99 I make £9.21 (taking away print and fees) This means I can offer a fairly deep discount to sell big sets rather than individual books. In theory I could bring the profit down to £1 per book and sell for £15.99 (meaning a saving of £13.95 from the RRP of £29.94)
the fees comprise £6.00 a month for an ebay shop and £1.78 per item fees
it won't use ebay promotional tools - it'll all go through fluffylittlekitten.com
the fees comprise £6.00 a month for an ebay shop and £1.78 per item fees
it won't use ebay promotional tools - it'll all go through fluffylittlekitten.com
Amazon details
A good sensible way to start would be with listing on Amazon. You pay them £23.50 and then you get 40% of the cover price - it's a program called Advantage.
However, all of the sales should be driven through fluffylittlekitten.com because if you refer people to amazon via your website, you get paid between 5.00% and 7.5% - meaning you can up your margin. This program is called Associates.
there are details of both on www.amazon.co.uk
I'm pretty set on an RRP of £4.99 - meaning full price sales could bring around £2.24.
However, all of the sales should be driven through fluffylittlekitten.com because if you refer people to amazon via your website, you get paid between 5.00% and 7.5% - meaning you can up your margin. This program is called Associates.
there are details of both on www.amazon.co.uk
I'm pretty set on an RRP of £4.99 - meaning full price sales could bring around £2.24.
T-Shirt Sales
http://www.screenhaus.co.uk/
i'm using these as a guide. they look like they can print quantities of t-shirts over 100 for under a fiver. I'm going to ask for a quote.
I think we'll be able to sell T-shirts for £10 even with postage I think that means a profit of at least £4.
i'm using these as a guide. they look like they can print quantities of t-shirts over 100 for under a fiver. I'm going to ask for a quote.
I think we'll be able to sell T-shirts for £10 even with postage I think that means a profit of at least £4.
extra print cost
at £1.49 print cost it's hard to break even. if you get 40% of the cover price it means that you need to sell the book at £3.73. RRP will be £4.99 so the take would be £1.99 - only allowing 50p of other expenses.
I'm getting a quote for 10,000 of each book rather than 1000 of each - just to see future economies of scale.
I'm getting a quote for 10,000 of each book rather than 1000 of each - just to see future economies of scale.
trademarking - an update
I'm probably going to have to check this, but according to a few websites, and I quote
"The copyright owner has the exclusive right to authorise the reproduction or copy of a work in any other medium by another party"
in which case because FLK is an original artwork, it should be protected for things like t shirts and pencil cases. I have sent an email to enquiries@ipo.gov.uk - a useful site in its own right
"The copyright owner has the exclusive right to authorise the reproduction or copy of a work in any other medium by another party"
in which case because FLK is an original artwork, it should be protected for things like t shirts and pencil cases. I have sent an email to enquiries@ipo.gov.uk - a useful site in its own right
publishing - yet another rejection
darley anderson this time
a few haven't replied yet but it might well be that self publishing could be the only way...
Saturday 28 April 2007
definitive print costs
To confirm the prices for printing landscape:
Size; 148mm x 210mm (Landscape)
Cover: 4pp printed in full colour one side only on 250gsm with gloss laminated outer.
Extent: 48pp printed in full colour on 150gsm satin
One set of digital proofs
Binding: Saddle stitch
Price:
1,000 copies: £1,495.00
there's no VAT on books and there's a flat charge of 25 quid for barcodes.
Size; 148mm x 210mm (Landscape)
Cover: 4pp printed in full colour one side only on 250gsm with gloss laminated outer.
Extent: 48pp printed in full colour on 150gsm satin
One set of digital proofs
Binding: Saddle stitch
Price:
1,000 copies: £1,495.00
there's no VAT on books and there's a flat charge of 25 quid for barcodes.
Saturday 14 April 2007
self publishing - a print quote
If I can get a good print price on the books, self publishing is a real option. The base rule is that you get about 40% back from retailers of the price you sell fur. I punted the quote out onto the internet and have got one reply - the quote was for A5 portrait (the books are landscape, but I forgot to say) which does effect the price, but I have a base idea, and they're coming back on monday with the exact price. The price when printing 1000 is around .£1.38 per book. Obviously if I start printing loads this'll go right down but it's acceptible.
The price for books that are about A5 in format are around £4.99 it would seem (although there are a lot of half-price and three for two offers)
even at half price (£2.49) that would leave £1.11 profit. there are other costs of sale, obviously...
To do the first 6 books (1000 copies of each) would require a fund of £8,280 (although if they haven't quoted with VAT it could be £9,730. My guess is that a viable business plan would require us to have a fund of £20,000 but would give us stock worth at least £14,940 at a 40% take and a marketing/promotions/distribution budget of over £11,000.
http://www.bookpublishingworld.com/
The price for books that are about A5 in format are around £4.99 it would seem (although there are a lot of half-price and three for two offers)
even at half price (£2.49) that would leave £1.11 profit. there are other costs of sale, obviously...
To do the first 6 books (1000 copies of each) would require a fund of £8,280 (although if they haven't quoted with VAT it could be £9,730. My guess is that a viable business plan would require us to have a fund of £20,000 but would give us stock worth at least £14,940 at a 40% take and a marketing/promotions/distribution budget of over £11,000.
http://www.bookpublishingworld.com/
publishing - another rejection...
...I feel like a real author!! this one was from Curtis Brown, who I have to admit I had high hopes for. I'm getting to think that it'll actually be harder to get an agent than to just sell copies of the book. However, I'll send out another letter to someone else.
After this batch of agent things goes out, I have to start thinking properly about a business plan for self publishing...
publishing...new letter and type of submission I make
...I sent out to another 4 agents. Having read the writers and artists yearbook I changed the type of stuff I send out.
The agents get only one kitten story (or in the case below 3, as this is what they specifically asked for in their submission guidlines) and a letter broken into three parts - synopsis of the books, my cv (in terms of what kind of author I wouold be and what skills I have that might help to sell the books) and comments from people who have read the books. I change the letter for each person and I've cleaned up the style and grammar, but the basis format is like the below...
Childrens’ Books Department
PFD
Drury House
34-43 Russell St
London
WC2B 5HA
8th April 2007,
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN
“Synopsis”
I have enclosed a copy of three of my children’s books, “Fluffy Little Kitten’s Birthday”, “Too Many Kittens” and “Beautiful Kitten.” They are picture books for young children. The stories are simple; Fluffy Little Kitten suffers minor setbacks, which upset him. Luckily his friends and family are there to help him and things work out all right in the end. Hopefully they’ll put a smile on your face.
The three stories I have sent are part of a series of stories that are already written. There are 3 other stories already ready for publishing, and another six in the final stages of production. Each of the stories deals with the minor mishaps that befall Fluffy Little Kitten, and their happy resolution.
I see the Fluffy Little Kitten stories as falling into the same section of the market occupied by the Mister Men books. I can see readers becoming loyal fans of the series – buying each book as it comes out. The potential for merchandising and expansion into other media is considerable.
“CV”
I am a thirty three year old who has worked on the business side of the publishing industry for 13 years, first at IPC magazines, and then for the last 7 years at Associated Newspapers.
In addition to the quality of the stories I have written I can bring a lot of additional benefits if you choose to represent me. I have a wealth of contacts at every national newspaper and all of the major magazine companies in the UK. I have been dealing with the marketing departments of all the major UK book publishers for almost a decade and can count a number of marketing directors and managers as friends. I know a number of senior marketing figures at major UK book and general retailers. If Fluffy Little Kitten was published I would be able to use these contacts to help promote the books.
I am prepared to work very hard to promote my work and the fact that I’ve spent 13 years selling gives me great experience.
“What People Think About Fluffy Little Kitten”Rather than rely solely on the opinion of my friends and family, I decided to test whether my stories would have a general appeal.
I made the stories available for sale on Ebay. Customers paid me a pound or so and I posted them an electronic copy of the stories. I received over a hundred positive feedback messages and no negative comments at all. I have appended the list of those comments to this letter.
The feedback includes positive messages from New York, Hawaii, Sydney and Iceland, proving the international potential of the stories. They also include plenty of comments that indicated that parents very much enjoyed the books as well as their children.
Notable fans of the Fluffy Little Kitten books include Ruth Liptrott (TV presenter Five/Sky News), Kelly Edgeson-Wright (Marketing director of Hodder) and Keirsten Clark (ex-Curtis Brown and now MD of Paperbooks.)
My guess based on what is essentially a fairly large sample size is that the stories will have a wide appeal.
“What I Would Like From You”
I would very much like to send you the other Fluffy Little Kitten stories so that you could see how the characters and storylines develop. The three I have sent are good examples, but a reader can get a much stronger sense of why the stories can become a success by looking at the whole series.
I am also very happy to come in to see you at any time to discuss the potential for Fluffy Little Kitten.
I can be contacted in the day on 0207 752 8446 or 0771 466 7585 at any time. My email address is rob.bassett@and.co.uk but I can also be reached on f.l.kitten@gmail.com if I’m not at work.
Yours,
Robert Bassett
The agents get only one kitten story (or in the case below 3, as this is what they specifically asked for in their submission guidlines) and a letter broken into three parts - synopsis of the books, my cv (in terms of what kind of author I wouold be and what skills I have that might help to sell the books) and comments from people who have read the books. I change the letter for each person and I've cleaned up the style and grammar, but the basis format is like the below...
Childrens’ Books Department
PFD
Drury House
34-43 Russell St
London
WC2B 5HA
8th April 2007,
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN
“Synopsis”
I have enclosed a copy of three of my children’s books, “Fluffy Little Kitten’s Birthday”, “Too Many Kittens” and “Beautiful Kitten.” They are picture books for young children. The stories are simple; Fluffy Little Kitten suffers minor setbacks, which upset him. Luckily his friends and family are there to help him and things work out all right in the end. Hopefully they’ll put a smile on your face.
The three stories I have sent are part of a series of stories that are already written. There are 3 other stories already ready for publishing, and another six in the final stages of production. Each of the stories deals with the minor mishaps that befall Fluffy Little Kitten, and their happy resolution.
I see the Fluffy Little Kitten stories as falling into the same section of the market occupied by the Mister Men books. I can see readers becoming loyal fans of the series – buying each book as it comes out. The potential for merchandising and expansion into other media is considerable.
“CV”
I am a thirty three year old who has worked on the business side of the publishing industry for 13 years, first at IPC magazines, and then for the last 7 years at Associated Newspapers.
In addition to the quality of the stories I have written I can bring a lot of additional benefits if you choose to represent me. I have a wealth of contacts at every national newspaper and all of the major magazine companies in the UK. I have been dealing with the marketing departments of all the major UK book publishers for almost a decade and can count a number of marketing directors and managers as friends. I know a number of senior marketing figures at major UK book and general retailers. If Fluffy Little Kitten was published I would be able to use these contacts to help promote the books.
I am prepared to work very hard to promote my work and the fact that I’ve spent 13 years selling gives me great experience.
“What People Think About Fluffy Little Kitten”Rather than rely solely on the opinion of my friends and family, I decided to test whether my stories would have a general appeal.
I made the stories available for sale on Ebay. Customers paid me a pound or so and I posted them an electronic copy of the stories. I received over a hundred positive feedback messages and no negative comments at all. I have appended the list of those comments to this letter.
The feedback includes positive messages from New York, Hawaii, Sydney and Iceland, proving the international potential of the stories. They also include plenty of comments that indicated that parents very much enjoyed the books as well as their children.
Notable fans of the Fluffy Little Kitten books include Ruth Liptrott (TV presenter Five/Sky News), Kelly Edgeson-Wright (Marketing director of Hodder) and Keirsten Clark (ex-Curtis Brown and now MD of Paperbooks.)
My guess based on what is essentially a fairly large sample size is that the stories will have a wide appeal.
“What I Would Like From You”
I would very much like to send you the other Fluffy Little Kitten stories so that you could see how the characters and storylines develop. The three I have sent are good examples, but a reader can get a much stronger sense of why the stories can become a success by looking at the whole series.
I am also very happy to come in to see you at any time to discuss the potential for Fluffy Little Kitten.
I can be contacted in the day on 0207 752 8446 or 0771 466 7585 at any time. My email address is rob.bassett@and.co.uk but I can also be reached on f.l.kitten@gmail.com if I’m not at work.
Yours,
Robert Bassett
long time, no update - youtube
i've been busy but I have been up to some kitten activity - both with publishing route and self publishing route...
i've thought of something else to do. I'm going to put the new images back onto powerpoint and convert a presentation into a video.
I can drop the PDFs onto the slides (custom size so the images aren't skewed) and then animate them. Sound can be added with a little microphone I bought from PC world for less than a tenner. I just use windows sound editor - it's all a bit lo-fi. I'll try to get it done in the next few days - I have a free sunday!!
I'm going to use a 30 day trial of some software called PPT To Video Scout 1.41 (link below) - hope it's easy!!
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Office-suites/PPT-To-Video-Scout.shtml
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1534729236.1176555868@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddkjghgfedcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=226538&category_oid=
i've thought of something else to do. I'm going to put the new images back onto powerpoint and convert a presentation into a video.
I can drop the PDFs onto the slides (custom size so the images aren't skewed) and then animate them. Sound can be added with a little microphone I bought from PC world for less than a tenner. I just use windows sound editor - it's all a bit lo-fi. I'll try to get it done in the next few days - I have a free sunday!!
I'm going to use a 30 day trial of some software called PPT To Video Scout 1.41 (link below) - hope it's easy!!
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Office-suites/PPT-To-Video-Scout.shtml
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1534729236.1176555868@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddkjghgfedcflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=226538&category_oid=
Tuesday 20 March 2007
maybe a good way to promote the books
again, this is a reminder for me. I'm going to start reviewing products agressively on amazon to make sure that the fluffylittle kitten name is all over the site... every time I have a few mins spare I'll review something.
Tuesday 6 March 2007
cheap printer ink...
http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk/locations.php?location=London%20-%20within%20the%20M25
This is just a note for me. i think it might be a good place to avoid punitive ink charges
This is just a note for me. i think it might be a good place to avoid punitive ink charges
Writers' and artists' yearbook
got a copy of the artists and writers yearbook today
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Artists-Yearbook-2007/dp/0713677120/ref=pd_ka_1/202-0662532-8089454?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173190120&sr=8-1
seems like a good value, essential piece of the writer's kit. i'll have a browse and see how it goes.
there's some good tips for covering letters and an up to date list of agencies. I'll hold off posting my last set of books until I've put together a better covering letter.
hopefully will find some time to do more kitten work tonight. I am getting married to my long-term girlfriend this year plus I seem to have had a cold since the beginning of february so i've been a little sluggish.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Artists-Yearbook-2007/dp/0713677120/ref=pd_ka_1/202-0662532-8089454?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173190120&sr=8-1
seems like a good value, essential piece of the writer's kit. i'll have a browse and see how it goes.
there's some good tips for covering letters and an up to date list of agencies. I'll hold off posting my last set of books until I've put together a better covering letter.
hopefully will find some time to do more kitten work tonight. I am getting married to my long-term girlfriend this year plus I seem to have had a cold since the beginning of february so i've been a little sluggish.
Sunday 4 March 2007
sending out another set of books tomorrow
they're going to
Stephanie Thwaites
Curtis Brown Group
Haymarket House
28-29 Haymarket
London
SW1Y 4SP
curtis brown seem like a good setup and they have agents that deal with childrens' stuff and rights.
Stephanie Thwaites
Curtis Brown Group
Haymarket House
28-29 Haymarket
London
SW1Y 4SP
curtis brown seem like a good setup and they have agents that deal with childrens' stuff and rights.
Wednesday 21 February 2007
To Cheer me up..
I am following one of the good rules now. A friend's sister, who I've done some favours for is a publisher - the MD of a new company that publishes literary fiction. Obviously she won't publish the kitten, but if I send her a copy she can give me an actual criticism, rather than the form letters you usually get. She could (although this is a slim hope) push it back outwards to agents who are approaching her.
I'm not listing her details because she almost certainly doesn't want to be bothered (not that anyone is reading this blog!!)
The other two copies that I have spare are also going to insiders. I know the marketing people at Harper Collins and Hodder. As they're not editorial there is almost no hope, but they can put it on the desk of someone.
I'll probably print another 3 sets at least so I'm going to have to be very choosey with who i Send them to. Much googling is obviously required. Who are recent kids authors like me, and who represents them?
I'm not listing her details because she almost certainly doesn't want to be bothered (not that anyone is reading this blog!!)
The other two copies that I have spare are also going to insiders. I know the marketing people at Harper Collins and Hodder. As they're not editorial there is almost no hope, but they can put it on the desk of someone.
I'll probably print another 3 sets at least so I'm going to have to be very choosey with who i Send them to. Much googling is obviously required. Who are recent kids authors like me, and who represents them?
printer setback
1) there's VAT on the £279 - adding about 50 quid.
2) on top of this I just printed 3 sets of books and all the toner warnings are on (except cyan which is 66% still - blue is my favorite colour at the moment!!!)
I'm hoping that it's just the cartidges that come with the printer, and also that the warning lights come on early. I'm going to print until there's no colour left - basically crash test the cartridges.
however, if these cartridges are the real deal, and are empty like they say it's a problem - the ink used for 3 sets is around £225 to replace.
I suppose what I've learnt is that big blocks of bold colour are great but expensive. Also, I'm guessing that I should use the process colours - i.e. if you use yellow you're only using one ink, but if you do orange you're using yellow and magenta to cover the same area.
We'll see how things pay out.
But at least I now have a total of 4 full samples of the kitten!!! I'm going to have to be very careful to get them sent back!!
2) on top of this I just printed 3 sets of books and all the toner warnings are on (except cyan which is 66% still - blue is my favorite colour at the moment!!!)
I'm hoping that it's just the cartidges that come with the printer, and also that the warning lights come on early. I'm going to print until there's no colour left - basically crash test the cartridges.
however, if these cartridges are the real deal, and are empty like they say it's a problem - the ink used for 3 sets is around £225 to replace.
I suppose what I've learnt is that big blocks of bold colour are great but expensive. Also, I'm guessing that I should use the process colours - i.e. if you use yellow you're only using one ink, but if you do orange you're using yellow and magenta to cover the same area.
We'll see how things pay out.
But at least I now have a total of 4 full samples of the kitten!!! I'm going to have to be very careful to get them sent back!!
this was the letter I sent by the way...
Dear
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN
I am writing to you because I have written a short series of children’ picture books. They are aimed at very young children. They feature Fluffy Little Kitten, who suffers minor mishaps, but then resolves them.
I appreciate that it’s very hard to get a children’s book published and that many people delude themselves with books that only they like. I didn’t want to fall into that trap so I put a number of “rough” copies of the book on Ebay to find out if they would be well-received by strangers. Out of 114 copies sold, I received 99 positive comments (many of these are attached to this letter.) This positive feedback led me to believe that a publisher might be interested.
There are 6 books initially with a number more in the pipeline. They’re a bit bulky in manuscript form so I thought I’d send this letter in advance to see if you’d be interested in receiving the whole package. If you want more of a flavour of the books, you should visit fluffylittlekitten.com – although bear in mind that the image quality on the website is poor compared to the books (grainy Jpegs rather than the high res PDFs I use for print)
You can contact me at the address above, or try my phone line (it’s a daytime number) or email me on f.l.kitten@gmail.com.
If you’re able to reply, I’d be very grateful if you could let me know how to progress.
Yours,
Robert Bassett
FeedBack from Ebay for Fluffy Little Kitten
(Punctuation and spelling – as per actual feedback)
Fab , what an imagination - who needs a pet when you have fluffy little kitten!
suitable for both children &adults
thank you kitten was a much enjoyed christmas present
Absolutely fantastic - Fluffy Little Kitten should be on tv.
Fluffy little kitten put a smile on all my family's face Thankyou
Really cute! Reminds me of a comic I used to read! Excellent, thanks! A+++++
Simple, silly (if u're that way inclined) fun, clean, any age. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
very funny, made me laugh out loud
I laughed, I went WOT...??? but enjoyed. bot as pressie 4 cat lovers...
i love f.l.k!so does my son who it was really for!look forward to the books!
brillian, bought for my neice, this is so good she loves it
FLK should be published,Funny,Clean,Daft,Cute,Mad. Cleverly simple for all age s
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN IS FANTASTIC!!!!! Absolute genius!
Hilarious...+ I'm thirty something!! A must have... Thanks so much..
Cute. Great for kids with severe & profound learning difficulties.
well worth the money, very funny
Absolute genius! Someone give this guy a publishing deal quick!
very funny, love fluffy little kitten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the kitten is awesome!!
Fluffy kittle kitten is good for very young children
Fluffy Little Kitten is so cute. Loved it! Great, quick service. Would recommend
Brilliant! Bought for my niece but girlfriend & I were in stitches. More please!
Fluffy Little Kitten is wonderful - My children & Grandchildren will love it
I LOVE FLK!! This is one of the funniest things I've seen - its a must buy item.excellent ebayer
it doesn't get much better than fluffy little kitten - taking this to work LOL
Kitten top of the class! A must! And great Ebayer too! Many thanks!
fab storys,loved it should become a kids book my 4yr old loved it very tallented
very funny, great storys, will buy the 2nd one!!fast postage!!
Happy Birthday Kitten was extremely funny - a must to buy - very good value
very funny kids 10,8,6 and 4 thought it was brill can't wait for next one A+++++
Hooray for Fluffy Little Kitten! Can't wait until the next installment!
made me laugh!! how about some mice as well?!?!?
great
very funny... a great e-bayer... with thanks
very funny, liked the stories, made me smile. eveyone should have their own kitt
Kitten made the journey and arrived safe and sound.very happy in Australia
loving fluffy little kitten's adventures. Great ebayer. Thanks!
Very cute CD! Well worth it, I love British humor.
AAAA+++Great little cd, quick delivery too...
Entertaining and original - Should be on TV
Beautiful Kitten and FLK's Birthday are the best!Keep up da cute work!A++++
original, certainly twisted, definately worth a loko at the right price.
deffinately... everyone should have one! So funny!
Great seller, fast delivery, highly recommended, soooooooper
Very Funny! Everyone Should Have One!
Yey! FLK is great, i like Fluffy Little kitten falls over the best. RECOMENDED
Ha ha - I liked the fancy dress kitten best! Nice item, sent quickly & safely.
very unusual and interesting, quite funny, thanks!
Brightened up my day - FLK all spotty is hilarious!! Can't wait for next 1! A+
FLK...GENIUS! Well packaged and promptly sent. Thanking You : )
I LOVE FLK !!!! Can't wait for further adventures!!! FLK RULES !!!! * * * * * *
This man speaks to the fluffy little kitten in all of us. Fantastic transaction!
Aarh very sweet - I'd be interested to see how the kitten develops!
The kitten has enriched my life. And it arrived quickly too.
fluffy little kitten is amazing!everyone must have a copy!hollywood watchout!
Im 23 and found this funny. Good luck, email me when youve done the next episode
Great item - Very very funny fluffy little kitten!!!
FLK- V. amusing, kids (age 9, 7 &4)laughed too. ( due to inherited wierd genes!)
Can't wait 'til the next series of fluffy little kitten!!
laughed out loud !!!!!!!! Twice !!! A+++++++++++++=
Fluffy little kitten is fab! I wish you every sucess with it! Whens the next one
Very funny. Buy this! it's great :)
great stuff, little kitten! should be on TV!
brill great laugh. easy to install, great gift very funny
Great cd, verry cute great ebayer
my teenage girls thought it was very funny , well done, A1++++
Very cute!
I loved it!The Fluffy Little Kitten with spots made me giggle!
Gr8 little story. I Love it!!!!!! Purrrrrrfect :0) Many thanks.
Children did enjoy fluffy little kitten. v.fast good ebayer +++++
Very funny, can't wait till the next episode(s), good luck FLK!!!
Absolutely hilarious! This is the best children's book I've ever read!
funny - 'cultish' for my 14 year old - suit little kids for sensible purposes
just gets more and more humerous. Thankyou
Yay! It's so cute, and hey, fluffy! Arrived fast, seller friendly too, thanks!
Good
Awww, gotta love the kitten :)
brilliant FLK is a joy to watch! its a ray of sunshine in a dull world!
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN
I am writing to you because I have written a short series of children’ picture books. They are aimed at very young children. They feature Fluffy Little Kitten, who suffers minor mishaps, but then resolves them.
I appreciate that it’s very hard to get a children’s book published and that many people delude themselves with books that only they like. I didn’t want to fall into that trap so I put a number of “rough” copies of the book on Ebay to find out if they would be well-received by strangers. Out of 114 copies sold, I received 99 positive comments (many of these are attached to this letter.) This positive feedback led me to believe that a publisher might be interested.
There are 6 books initially with a number more in the pipeline. They’re a bit bulky in manuscript form so I thought I’d send this letter in advance to see if you’d be interested in receiving the whole package. If you want more of a flavour of the books, you should visit fluffylittlekitten.com – although bear in mind that the image quality on the website is poor compared to the books (grainy Jpegs rather than the high res PDFs I use for print)
You can contact me at the address above, or try my phone line (it’s a daytime number) or email me on f.l.kitten@gmail.com.
If you’re able to reply, I’d be very grateful if you could let me know how to progress.
Yours,
Robert Bassett
FeedBack from Ebay for Fluffy Little Kitten
(Punctuation and spelling – as per actual feedback)
Fab , what an imagination - who needs a pet when you have fluffy little kitten!
suitable for both children &adults
thank you kitten was a much enjoyed christmas present
Absolutely fantastic - Fluffy Little Kitten should be on tv.
Fluffy little kitten put a smile on all my family's face Thankyou
Really cute! Reminds me of a comic I used to read! Excellent, thanks! A+++++
Simple, silly (if u're that way inclined) fun, clean, any age. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
very funny, made me laugh out loud
I laughed, I went WOT...??? but enjoyed. bot as pressie 4 cat lovers...
i love f.l.k!so does my son who it was really for!look forward to the books!
brillian, bought for my neice, this is so good she loves it
FLK should be published,Funny,Clean,Daft,Cute,Mad. Cleverly simple for all age s
FLUFFY LITTLE KITTEN IS FANTASTIC!!!!! Absolute genius!
Hilarious...+ I'm thirty something!! A must have... Thanks so much..
Cute. Great for kids with severe & profound learning difficulties.
well worth the money, very funny
Absolute genius! Someone give this guy a publishing deal quick!
very funny, love fluffy little kitten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the kitten is awesome!!
Fluffy kittle kitten is good for very young children
Fluffy Little Kitten is so cute. Loved it! Great, quick service. Would recommend
Brilliant! Bought for my niece but girlfriend & I were in stitches. More please!
Fluffy Little Kitten is wonderful - My children & Grandchildren will love it
I LOVE FLK!! This is one of the funniest things I've seen - its a must buy item.excellent ebayer
it doesn't get much better than fluffy little kitten - taking this to work LOL
Kitten top of the class! A must! And great Ebayer too! Many thanks!
fab storys,loved it should become a kids book my 4yr old loved it very tallented
very funny, great storys, will buy the 2nd one!!fast postage!!
Happy Birthday Kitten was extremely funny - a must to buy - very good value
very funny kids 10,8,6 and 4 thought it was brill can't wait for next one A+++++
Hooray for Fluffy Little Kitten! Can't wait until the next installment!
made me laugh!! how about some mice as well?!?!?
great
very funny... a great e-bayer... with thanks
very funny, liked the stories, made me smile. eveyone should have their own kitt
Kitten made the journey and arrived safe and sound.very happy in Australia
loving fluffy little kitten's adventures. Great ebayer. Thanks!
Very cute CD! Well worth it, I love British humor.
AAAA+++Great little cd, quick delivery too...
Entertaining and original - Should be on TV
Beautiful Kitten and FLK's Birthday are the best!Keep up da cute work!A++++
original, certainly twisted, definately worth a loko at the right price.
deffinately... everyone should have one! So funny!
Great seller, fast delivery, highly recommended, soooooooper
Very Funny! Everyone Should Have One!
Yey! FLK is great, i like Fluffy Little kitten falls over the best. RECOMENDED
Ha ha - I liked the fancy dress kitten best! Nice item, sent quickly & safely.
very unusual and interesting, quite funny, thanks!
Brightened up my day - FLK all spotty is hilarious!! Can't wait for next 1! A+
FLK...GENIUS! Well packaged and promptly sent. Thanking You : )
I LOVE FLK !!!! Can't wait for further adventures!!! FLK RULES !!!! * * * * * *
This man speaks to the fluffy little kitten in all of us. Fantastic transaction!
Aarh very sweet - I'd be interested to see how the kitten develops!
The kitten has enriched my life. And it arrived quickly too.
fluffy little kitten is amazing!everyone must have a copy!hollywood watchout!
Im 23 and found this funny. Good luck, email me when youve done the next episode
Great item - Very very funny fluffy little kitten!!!
FLK- V. amusing, kids (age 9, 7 &4)laughed too. ( due to inherited wierd genes!)
Can't wait 'til the next series of fluffy little kitten!!
laughed out loud !!!!!!!! Twice !!! A+++++++++++++=
Fluffy little kitten is fab! I wish you every sucess with it! Whens the next one
Very funny. Buy this! it's great :)
great stuff, little kitten! should be on TV!
brill great laugh. easy to install, great gift very funny
Great cd, verry cute great ebayer
my teenage girls thought it was very funny , well done, A1++++
Very cute!
I loved it!The Fluffy Little Kitten with spots made me giggle!
Gr8 little story. I Love it!!!!!! Purrrrrrfect :0) Many thanks.
Children did enjoy fluffy little kitten. v.fast good ebayer +++++
Very funny, can't wait till the next episode(s), good luck FLK!!!
Absolutely hilarious! This is the best children's book I've ever read!
funny - 'cultish' for my 14 year old - suit little kids for sensible purposes
just gets more and more humerous. Thankyou
Yay! It's so cute, and hey, fluffy! Arrived fast, seller friendly too, thanks!
Good
Awww, gotta love the kitten :)
brilliant FLK is a joy to watch! its a ray of sunshine in a dull world!
Sunday 18 February 2007
self printing samples begins
this seems to be working well - I've just done 3 copies of the 1st book in 30 mins with only about 10 misprinted sheets. The printer is coping very well - it's just I'm feeding the paper wrong accordingly.
I reckon I'm going to do 3 copies of two books a day for three days. I only bought 500 sheets of paper this time so I can only really do three complete sets this week. I'll buy more paper for next weekend.
here's a picture of the manufacture!
Blog is now real-time
that's all I've done so far. From now on, the blog'll update when i've done a new thing.
for instance this afternoon I'm going to start printing the samples with the new laser printer.
for instance this afternoon I'm going to start printing the samples with the new laser printer.
publishing - first rejections
at this point (about 2 months later) I have only had contact from 3 organisations - only one of which is a genuine rejection of the kitten
David Higham said they didn't have sufficient enthusiasm for the project
Egmont say they don't accept direct submissions
The Agency say they have too many clients at the moment.
I've kept my rejections - here are the pictures.
my first list of agents/publishers
I sent to the following
Egmont Publishers - mr men and miffy
David Higham Associates
Elaine Greene Ltd
The Agency
Eddison Pearson
Juvenilia Avington
Eunice McMullen Children's Agent
Elizabeth Roy
Rosemary Sandberg
Caroline Sheldon
just look them up on google
Egmont Publishers - mr men and miffy
David Higham Associates
Elaine Greene Ltd
The Agency
Eddison Pearson
Juvenilia Avington
Eunice McMullen Children's Agent
Elizabeth Roy
Rosemary Sandberg
Caroline Sheldon
just look them up on google
publishing - getting an agent/publisher
by far the best way to get published is to aquire an agent. very few people get published these days without an agent.
my plan was to find the agents of other kids book authors and target them. Check out the bookshops and review pages and news items. Find books like your own and then google their author's name and "agent"
When you send stuff to agents there's almost an industry standard.
If it's a novel send a first chapter, synopsis of the whole novel, details of the main characters and a cv about yourself. Don't bind, staple or clip your manuscript (they hate that) and make sure your details are clearly marked on all the pages of the manuscript.
With a kids book, send the whole manuscript.
of course, being a cleverclogs I haven't practiced what I preach. As we know from before, printing is expensive so I just came up with my list and posted something else to them. I wrote a covering letter and added three pages of my "reviews" from ebay. I requested they look at the website, and contact me for more info.
I also sent to a couple of publishers direct.
my plan was to find the agents of other kids book authors and target them. Check out the bookshops and review pages and news items. Find books like your own and then google their author's name and "agent"
When you send stuff to agents there's almost an industry standard.
If it's a novel send a first chapter, synopsis of the whole novel, details of the main characters and a cv about yourself. Don't bind, staple or clip your manuscript (they hate that) and make sure your details are clearly marked on all the pages of the manuscript.
With a kids book, send the whole manuscript.
of course, being a cleverclogs I haven't practiced what I preach. As we know from before, printing is expensive so I just came up with my list and posted something else to them. I wrote a covering letter and added three pages of my "reviews" from ebay. I requested they look at the website, and contact me for more info.
I also sent to a couple of publishers direct.
self publishing - ISBNs and barcodes
if you're going to publish yourself you have to have an isbn and a barcode. If you don't have these you can only really sell direct. All on and offline retailers insist on this.
luckily it's pretty easy to sort this.
http://www.nbdrs.com/isbn_sernew.htm
you get 10 isbn's for 98.70 (it's cheaper for more)
you have to email them for an application form and you'll need to give them a little bit of information and some cover images.
once you have your isbns barcodes can be generated quite easily - here's a website I've just found
http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/
you'll probably have to talk to your eventual printer to make sure they can reproduce the barcode clearly - remember this because if you mess up your barcode you'll have a lot of useless books!
luckily it's pretty easy to sort this.
http://www.nbdrs.com/isbn_sernew.htm
you get 10 isbn's for 98.70 (it's cheaper for more)
you have to email them for an application form and you'll need to give them a little bit of information and some cover images.
once you have your isbns barcodes can be generated quite easily - here's a website I've just found
http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/
you'll probably have to talk to your eventual printer to make sure they can reproduce the barcode clearly - remember this because if you mess up your barcode you'll have a lot of useless books!
Saturday 10 February 2007
oooh - protecting your ideas!
not much to worry about here. In english law you pretty much get copyright automatically. If you can prove you wrote something at a given time (easy in my case cos of the ebay stuff and the domain name registration) no-one can steal your stories. People don't often try.
the real issue is trademarking. They won't steal your story but they will print t-shirts of your character.
This is a massive issue for self publishers because trade marks are expensive and you have to register for loads of categories. I'm slightly lucky becuase all of my characters are essentially the same drawing in different colours - I can trademark a black and white outline of them (different colours are extra). Even so just to protect T-shirts and stationery (my guess for the two biggest money spinners) would be £250 for the UK alone! Being a realist, as a UK self publisher if you're worrying about the japanese merchanise market you're probably getting ahead of yoursel, but it's worth keeping an eye on things in case your stuff becomes popular quickly. Try to know about it.
see this link for details
http://www.ukpats.org.uk/applytm.pdf
the real issue is trademarking. They won't steal your story but they will print t-shirts of your character.
This is a massive issue for self publishers because trade marks are expensive and you have to register for loads of categories. I'm slightly lucky becuase all of my characters are essentially the same drawing in different colours - I can trademark a black and white outline of them (different colours are extra). Even so just to protect T-shirts and stationery (my guess for the two biggest money spinners) would be £250 for the UK alone! Being a realist, as a UK self publisher if you're worrying about the japanese merchanise market you're probably getting ahead of yoursel, but it's worth keeping an eye on things in case your stuff becomes popular quickly. Try to know about it.
see this link for details
http://www.ukpats.org.uk/applytm.pdf
The Internet
you've got to be on the web!!!
I know little about the technical side of the internet (even now when I work on the internet) so I didn't know what to do.
However I went on holiday to mexico (won it as a prize - lucky me!) The time difference is big and I don't really get jetlag but lucy does. As such I was waking at 8 in the morning and she was getting up at 2pm. I consoled myself initially by having beer breakfasts and watching premiership football on cable whilst she slept. There was also a PC in the hotel so I started emailing and surfing. Then I saw a spanish language TV commercial for register.com I don't speak spanish but it seemed to be an idiots etch a sketch level internet thingy. I bought the names fluffylittlekitten.com and fluffylittlekitten.co.uk (later buying the same for furrylittlekitten - I'll explain why later) and bought the most basic web builder platform. The whole lot cost me less than 50 quid for a couple of year. The website was born. More recently (obviously) I've started this blog which is amazingly easy to do and free. I still wanted to own my domain names though so I'm glade i registered and paid for them.
I have another proper website as well and I do that through 1and1.co.uk which i reckon is a bit cheaper. It's still really easy.
www.register.com
www.1and1.co.uk
I know little about the technical side of the internet (even now when I work on the internet) so I didn't know what to do.
However I went on holiday to mexico (won it as a prize - lucky me!) The time difference is big and I don't really get jetlag but lucy does. As such I was waking at 8 in the morning and she was getting up at 2pm. I consoled myself initially by having beer breakfasts and watching premiership football on cable whilst she slept. There was also a PC in the hotel so I started emailing and surfing. Then I saw a spanish language TV commercial for register.com I don't speak spanish but it seemed to be an idiots etch a sketch level internet thingy. I bought the names fluffylittlekitten.com and fluffylittlekitten.co.uk (later buying the same for furrylittlekitten - I'll explain why later) and bought the most basic web builder platform. The whole lot cost me less than 50 quid for a couple of year. The website was born. More recently (obviously) I've started this blog which is amazingly easy to do and free. I still wanted to own my domain names though so I'm glade i registered and paid for them.
I have another proper website as well and I do that through 1and1.co.uk which i reckon is a bit cheaper. It's still really easy.
www.register.com
www.1and1.co.uk
Printing small quantities
whether you're publishing or self publishing you're going to need to print some short runs of your books - either as samples or to show to publishers and agents.
If you're writing a novel, you're laughing. Not only will you almost certainly have easy access to a black and white printer, there are also loads of digital book printers (just google digital print or short run print or self publishing)
if, like the kitten stories you need a lot of colour, brace yourself.
The first 6 kitten books have 48 pages (I'll talk a little more later about why 48 - it's a print thing) that means a sample set of books will involve just under 300 pages. I really checked hard and the lowest quote I got was at KallKwik. They would offer me the super, account, industry bulk rate of 25p a copy. The drawback - to get bulk I'd have to print ten sets (3000 pages!) The cheapest quote I got for just 300 was almost double. It looked a bit gloomy - £750 of print for a reasonable quantity of samples or £150 for one set!
I had a real moment at this stage - it's all well and good wasting your evenings and weekends on a silly pipe dream but £750 makes you an idiot. I know you should be commited to your work but still...
luckily my friend Jon came up with the solution - it actually works out cheaper if you buy a laser printer of your own. I agonised for a while and spent a lot of time researching. I now think the best option for my type of project is a Lexmark c530dn. It cost £280 with a set of toner cartridges but they are actually doing a £75 cashback deal until april. It should give me 4000 pages at 5% cover so with my colour density I reckon I'll be able to do about 6 sets of the books before I need new toner. A full set of new toner will set me back £240 (I know, it's mad isn't it!!) and would do me around another six sets. I will let this blog know how many it actually does but I'm hoping that I'll get my samples for a total of £400 and I'll still own the printer (surely worth £100 on ebay? maybe not)
A warning though - it's huge - about a metre square.
there's a link to it here.
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=49WQ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=lexmark+c530dn&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0
I know I've still spent at least £200 quid but that's not quite so mad and at least I have something to show for it. I do love my printer.
If you're writing a novel, you're laughing. Not only will you almost certainly have easy access to a black and white printer, there are also loads of digital book printers (just google digital print or short run print or self publishing)
if, like the kitten stories you need a lot of colour, brace yourself.
The first 6 kitten books have 48 pages (I'll talk a little more later about why 48 - it's a print thing) that means a sample set of books will involve just under 300 pages. I really checked hard and the lowest quote I got was at KallKwik. They would offer me the super, account, industry bulk rate of 25p a copy. The drawback - to get bulk I'd have to print ten sets (3000 pages!) The cheapest quote I got for just 300 was almost double. It looked a bit gloomy - £750 of print for a reasonable quantity of samples or £150 for one set!
I had a real moment at this stage - it's all well and good wasting your evenings and weekends on a silly pipe dream but £750 makes you an idiot. I know you should be commited to your work but still...
luckily my friend Jon came up with the solution - it actually works out cheaper if you buy a laser printer of your own. I agonised for a while and spent a lot of time researching. I now think the best option for my type of project is a Lexmark c530dn. It cost £280 with a set of toner cartridges but they are actually doing a £75 cashback deal until april. It should give me 4000 pages at 5% cover so with my colour density I reckon I'll be able to do about 6 sets of the books before I need new toner. A full set of new toner will set me back £240 (I know, it's mad isn't it!!) and would do me around another six sets. I will let this blog know how many it actually does but I'm hoping that I'll get my samples for a total of £400 and I'll still own the printer (surely worth £100 on ebay? maybe not)
A warning though - it's huge - about a metre square.
there's a link to it here.
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=49WQ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=lexmark+c530dn&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0
I know I've still spent at least £200 quid but that's not quite so mad and at least I have something to show for it. I do love my printer.
A problem common to both publishing and self publishing
Whatever method you use, you need a good product. In the Kitten's case it was apparent that in the end, I couldn't sell people Powerpoint presentations. When you look at the original stories you'll see that they contain very few different images and they are of a low quality. You've got to have something with high production values or you're attempting to cheat the customer.
I had two major problems
1) I had to increase the quality of the drawings
2) I had to increase the quantity and variety of the drawings
Paint and powerpoint had to go!!
The major issue with paint is that the graphics it outputs are bitmaps (made out of lots of dots) this means that when you alter or increase the size of the drawings they go pixelated and grainy.
The major issue with powerpoint is you just can't supply powerpoint slides to any type of printer at all.
the solution for me came with one particular software package - Adobe Illustrator. It uses vector graphics - when you draw an image, it's not made up of dots, it's made up of co-ordinates with lines between them (this may be an oversimplification) The main thing is that the images maintain their quality whatever you do to them - a foot high kitten looks the same as a one inch high kitten.
Illustrator is pricey though - so until you get published you'll have to do what I do. I used a 30 day trial version from the front of a magazine - I think you can download a trial from the adobe site as well. Then I found a designer who I knew at work and used his computer. I learned the very basic skills I needed as quickly as possible and then knocked out the pages quickly by doing all the drawings on one page and then copy and pasting them multiple times. It doesn't matter too much after a while if you don't have access to illustrator, because it outputs files as PDFs - which you can view on any computer and print without paying any money.
Printers of all kinds accept PDFs.
Transfering the images from paint to illustrator was a bit beyond me - I have no training. So i bought a pen and tablet, cellotaped a picture of the kitten to it and traced it. Not really van gogh I know, but it did the job.
If you're drawing free hand, make your images as large as you possibly can - it's easy to reduce images, but not to expand them. You're going to need to scan those images before print at some stage.
i've done a link to adobe and to dabs where I bought the tablet.
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3NH8&SearchType=1&CategorySelectedId=11016&SearchTerms=tablet&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=11016
I had two major problems
1) I had to increase the quality of the drawings
2) I had to increase the quantity and variety of the drawings
Paint and powerpoint had to go!!
The major issue with paint is that the graphics it outputs are bitmaps (made out of lots of dots) this means that when you alter or increase the size of the drawings they go pixelated and grainy.
The major issue with powerpoint is you just can't supply powerpoint slides to any type of printer at all.
the solution for me came with one particular software package - Adobe Illustrator. It uses vector graphics - when you draw an image, it's not made up of dots, it's made up of co-ordinates with lines between them (this may be an oversimplification) The main thing is that the images maintain their quality whatever you do to them - a foot high kitten looks the same as a one inch high kitten.
Illustrator is pricey though - so until you get published you'll have to do what I do. I used a 30 day trial version from the front of a magazine - I think you can download a trial from the adobe site as well. Then I found a designer who I knew at work and used his computer. I learned the very basic skills I needed as quickly as possible and then knocked out the pages quickly by doing all the drawings on one page and then copy and pasting them multiple times. It doesn't matter too much after a while if you don't have access to illustrator, because it outputs files as PDFs - which you can view on any computer and print without paying any money.
Printers of all kinds accept PDFs.
Transfering the images from paint to illustrator was a bit beyond me - I have no training. So i bought a pen and tablet, cellotaped a picture of the kitten to it and traced it. Not really van gogh I know, but it did the job.
If you're drawing free hand, make your images as large as you possibly can - it's easy to reduce images, but not to expand them. You're going to need to scan those images before print at some stage.
i've done a link to adobe and to dabs where I bought the tablet.
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3NH8&SearchType=1&CategorySelectedId=11016&SearchTerms=tablet&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=11016
Warning 3
Think really think hard about how people buy books. A good trick is to imagine your book in an actual bookshop. What does it look like? How is it displayed? Where abouts is it shelved? What is it next to?
It has to be saleable!
Fluffy Little Kitten is a "problem" in this respect. In theory it appeals to kids and their parents - double the opportunity? Unfortunately no! It's tricky to work out where to shelve it, and there aren't many books like it that you can put it next to.
You're much better off with something that fits a category snugly - get whacky later when you're already a success.
This is another reason why I'm not building my hopes up about my Kitten Stories too much.
If you think you're being clever because you've found a gap in the market, remember the market has being going for centuries. If it hasn't been published yet, chances are it never will!!!
It has to be saleable!
Fluffy Little Kitten is a "problem" in this respect. In theory it appeals to kids and their parents - double the opportunity? Unfortunately no! It's tricky to work out where to shelve it, and there aren't many books like it that you can put it next to.
You're much better off with something that fits a category snugly - get whacky later when you're already a success.
This is another reason why I'm not building my hopes up about my Kitten Stories too much.
If you think you're being clever because you've found a gap in the market, remember the market has being going for centuries. If it hasn't been published yet, chances are it never will!!!
WARNING 2
all of the difficulties for writers are massively increased for children's writers.
Like screenplays, children's books (especially for young children) are seen as an easy option.
because they're generally short, it's hard to differentiate between the good ones, and the very good ones (and of course the plain average ones)
From a self publishing route you have to ask yourself,
"why would someone pick my book up rather than someone else's" and,
"why would a bookseller stock my book over someone else's"
From a publishing route
"why would i take a risk on a new author with an untried product when there are so many safer options."
Would you publish Madonna or Ricky Gervais' kids books or Rob Bassett's?
I'm not complaining - that's the way it is. It's a business.
Like screenplays, children's books (especially for young children) are seen as an easy option.
because they're generally short, it's hard to differentiate between the good ones, and the very good ones (and of course the plain average ones)
From a self publishing route you have to ask yourself,
"why would someone pick my book up rather than someone else's" and,
"why would a bookseller stock my book over someone else's"
From a publishing route
"why would i take a risk on a new author with an untried product when there are so many safer options."
Would you publish Madonna or Ricky Gervais' kids books or Rob Bassett's?
I'm not complaining - that's the way it is. It's a business.
WARNING AND DISCLAIMER (1)
If you get into the world of writing you need to be aware of a few things
1) most likely is that the stuff you have written is rubbish
2) your friends and family will either lie or associate the stories with you and so like them even if they are rubbish
3) probably someone has done the same stuff as you before
4) even if you are good, the liklihood is you won't get published - I would guess that around 99.999999% of books aren't published
5) even if you do get published, there's a 99% chance that you will not make enough money to be able to give up your job.
My own stuff is probably rubbish and likely to fail. I work on the principle that it's something I enjoy doing - you've got to have a hobby! However, I do take my hobbies seriously - this thing won't fail for want of effort on my part.
so - I'd recommend two books - On Writing by Stephen King and From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pitch-Publication-Everything-Novel-Published/dp/0333714350/sr=8-1/qid=1171130918/ref=pd_ka_1/026-5618255-4622817?ie=UTF8&s=books
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Stephen-King/dp/0340820462/sr=1-1/qid=1171130996/ref=sr_1_1/026-5618255-4622817?ie=UTF8&s=books
for the record I think Stephen King is harsh on adverbs, but I don't use them either because my stories have around 7 words a page!!!
I don't think you need any more than this.
One thing I have which you might not is that I've sold ads to the publishing industry in the UK for about 7 years. I know a lot of people from publishing companies and if you talk to them you get a really good feel for how astonishingly hard it is to get successfully published and what you might have to do to acheive your goals.
1) most likely is that the stuff you have written is rubbish
2) your friends and family will either lie or associate the stories with you and so like them even if they are rubbish
3) probably someone has done the same stuff as you before
4) even if you are good, the liklihood is you won't get published - I would guess that around 99.999999% of books aren't published
5) even if you do get published, there's a 99% chance that you will not make enough money to be able to give up your job.
My own stuff is probably rubbish and likely to fail. I work on the principle that it's something I enjoy doing - you've got to have a hobby! However, I do take my hobbies seriously - this thing won't fail for want of effort on my part.
so - I'd recommend two books - On Writing by Stephen King and From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pitch-Publication-Everything-Novel-Published/dp/0333714350/sr=8-1/qid=1171130918/ref=pd_ka_1/026-5618255-4622817?ie=UTF8&s=books
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Stephen-King/dp/0340820462/sr=1-1/qid=1171130996/ref=sr_1_1/026-5618255-4622817?ie=UTF8&s=books
for the record I think Stephen King is harsh on adverbs, but I don't use them either because my stories have around 7 words a page!!!
I don't think you need any more than this.
One thing I have which you might not is that I've sold ads to the publishing industry in the UK for about 7 years. I know a lot of people from publishing companies and if you talk to them you get a really good feel for how astonishingly hard it is to get successfully published and what you might have to do to acheive your goals.
100!
would you believe it? if you don't - have a look http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedbackFromBuyers&userid=fluffylittlekitten&items=-1&item=-1&de=off
I sold 114 discs and got the 100 - I'm guessing that the other 14 either didn't like it but were too nice to leave a neg or just they don't leave feedback. But even if you take the pessimistic view that's still around 90% approval.
So now there were two possible routes - self publish or find a publisher. The blog now splits into stuff that I needed to do no matter what, stuff for publishing and stuff for self publishing.
I sold 114 discs and got the 100 - I'm guessing that the other 14 either didn't like it but were too nice to leave a neg or just they don't leave feedback. But even if you take the pessimistic view that's still around 90% approval.
So now there were two possible routes - self publish or find a publisher. The blog now splits into stuff that I needed to do no matter what, stuff for publishing and stuff for self publishing.
Meanwhile I had been coming up with new stories
If you're doing kids books, you might as well have a big series of them.
The first 6 were
Too many kittens
FLK buys cat food
FLK falls down
FLK's birthday
Beautiful kitten
Fancy Kitten
subsequent to these I now have in various formats
A fluffy little christmas
Foreign Fluffy
Stormy Kitten
Fluffy Family
Fluffy Weekend
Fluffy Kitten Sees Someone Being Teased
Fluffy Goes to School
The first 6 were
Too many kittens
FLK buys cat food
FLK falls down
FLK's birthday
Beautiful kitten
Fancy Kitten
subsequent to these I now have in various formats
A fluffy little christmas
Foreign Fluffy
Stormy Kitten
Fluffy Family
Fluffy Weekend
Fluffy Kitten Sees Someone Being Teased
Fluffy Goes to School
the quest for 100
So what now? I decided that I would give the kitten a go for the sake of it - mostly because of the great feedback I'd got.
Notable amongst this was feedback from one of my customers. She was a supply teacher in the area of special needs and learning difficulties. She said a few things about the stories which made me feel I was onto something. The first was that she had to read a lot of quite basic stories to the children and young adults in her care and that it was nice to read something that she really liked as well. She also said that older children with lower reading ages really liked it when they had a story whose language was basic but had a sophisticated sortof sense of humour.
It also appeared that by having a kitten who suffers a lot of minor frustrations I was mirroring a lot of the concerns of little kids. I don't have kids, but I've been told that at lot of the tantrums you see from little ones are to do with their powerlessness. I'd also apparently got some good repetition and a lot of tricks of kids authors use into the stories without knowing it. I read a really large quantity of books and have done since a little kiddie - probably I'd been unconsciously mimicing stuff from all the stories I'd absorbed over the years.
I had a think and decided that taking all the above into consideration I would pursue the kitten stories when I got over a 100 positive feedback from strangers.
Notable amongst this was feedback from one of my customers. She was a supply teacher in the area of special needs and learning difficulties. She said a few things about the stories which made me feel I was onto something. The first was that she had to read a lot of quite basic stories to the children and young adults in her care and that it was nice to read something that she really liked as well. She also said that older children with lower reading ages really liked it when they had a story whose language was basic but had a sophisticated sortof sense of humour.
It also appeared that by having a kitten who suffers a lot of minor frustrations I was mirroring a lot of the concerns of little kids. I don't have kids, but I've been told that at lot of the tantrums you see from little ones are to do with their powerlessness. I'd also apparently got some good repetition and a lot of tricks of kids authors use into the stories without knowing it. I read a really large quantity of books and have done since a little kiddie - probably I'd been unconsciously mimicing stuff from all the stories I'd absorbed over the years.
I had a think and decided that taking all the above into consideration I would pursue the kitten stories when I got over a 100 positive feedback from strangers.
Ebay adventures end
long story short - ebay's reshuffle effectively meant that if you don't have an MBA, you don't get a job. No disrespect to people with MBAs but if I wanted to spend 3 years of my life studying again I'd do something useful!! I've spent a good quantity of my life in the world of "business" but I'm not a big fan of it. (I am a history graduate from Sheffield by the way - great town, well worth a visit. Although not born there, I spent almost all of my childhood in Solihull just south of Birmingham and went to school at King Edward's - alma mater to such literary greats as JRR Tolkein, Bill Oddie, Philip Larkin's Dad and Jonatan Coe - he wrote the Rotters Club which is pretty much an exact description of life at King Edwards, albeit 7 or 8 years before I joined)
I was sat there with a positive feedback of around 80 and no further plans - I was stuck working for the newspaper still.
I was sat there with a positive feedback of around 80 and no further plans - I was stuck working for the newspaper still.
Ebay Adventures continued...
...I wanted to see if you could make money selling the stories yourself. The answer is "maybe" but I think you'd have to workin far greater volumes than I did. I had to buy recordable cds, jewel cases and the stationary for the cd sleeve and envelopes. Even when using odds and ends of paper and recycled envelopes the overheads were quite high. The cheapest I could manufacture the actual disc case and sleeve was around 25p for the disc (got them from the now defunct Jungle.com) and 20p each for the jewel cases. Even if the paper and ink (ink becomes very important to you when you start home printing in earnest - see later) and envelope was free. Ebay fees are also quite high for low value items as a proportion of the sales price. Postage was about 70p. All in all, if I could sell the discs for over a pound, with postage and packing of £1.50, I'd be making something. In all honesty, i reckon the average sales price of the discs was about 50 or 60p.
I was so keen to sell them that I put to many on ebay at the same time - if someone was bidding on one disc, you could always find another one to bid on so there was very rarely a bidding war. I tried to get scientific, listing in different places in different ways and using buy it now occasionally but there appeared to be no pattern. In the end I conceded that in its current format, the kitten stories would have to be a loss leader.
Of course the customers didn't know this - they were forking out a couple fo quid for what was quite a basic product. I'm still amazed that so many of them bought the discs, and that so many liked them. The system I'd come up with was working and I was looking forward to showing off at interview...
I was so keen to sell them that I put to many on ebay at the same time - if someone was bidding on one disc, you could always find another one to bid on so there was very rarely a bidding war. I tried to get scientific, listing in different places in different ways and using buy it now occasionally but there appeared to be no pattern. In the end I conceded that in its current format, the kitten stories would have to be a loss leader.
Of course the customers didn't know this - they were forking out a couple fo quid for what was quite a basic product. I'm still amazed that so many of them bought the discs, and that so many liked them. The system I'd come up with was working and I was looking forward to showing off at interview...
Ebay adventures
I put the stories on ebay - i wanted to be careful not to abuse the ebay system and so I couldn't;
a) sell an email of the files
b) list the stories in an incorrect category
so mostly they went into the weird collectables section of the site - where traffic is higher than the kids book section. I was wary of using the books section lest I got complained about by people selling actual books. Plus I didn't want my idea stolen. All seems a bit ridiculous now.
I got about 10 feedback really quickly - all surpisingly favorable (and even one from New York, which was a surprise) I wasn't expecting the stories to be so well liked, I was just trying to demonstrate my ebay idea in principle. Unfortunately before my interview was due, ebayhad a major reshuffle and they told me they wouldn't be hiring for 6 months. I decided to keep selling the kitten discs until I got an interview - for a more impressive case study....
a) sell an email of the files
b) list the stories in an incorrect category
so mostly they went into the weird collectables section of the site - where traffic is higher than the kids book section. I was wary of using the books section lest I got complained about by people selling actual books. Plus I didn't want my idea stolen. All seems a bit ridiculous now.
I got about 10 feedback really quickly - all surpisingly favorable (and even one from New York, which was a surprise) I wasn't expecting the stories to be so well liked, I was just trying to demonstrate my ebay idea in principle. Unfortunately before my interview was due, ebayhad a major reshuffle and they told me they wouldn't be hiring for 6 months. I decided to keep selling the kitten discs until I got an interview - for a more impressive case study....
the kitten goes public
i had 6 stories on powerpoint and thought no more of it. However I had applied for a job at the internet auction house ebay. It was for music, movies and books category manager. I thought I had a good chance because I'd worked on the commercial side of the NME, Melody Maker, Uncut, Loaded and most recently I'd sold all the movie, music and book ads in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. I still work for Associated Newspapers but I work across over 100 websites selling adverts - the internet is the future you know!!
Anyway, I knew that I was a good candidate for the job, but I wanted to come up with something special for the interview. Music and DVD are big categories on ebay and the site is really well suited to selling them, but the auction structure doesn't lend itself well to the selling of books (you really need a huge inventory available all the time) I thought you could beef up the books category on ebay if you gave it a real point of difference.
My idea was to set ebay up as a place for people who write as well as read. Budding authors could sell their books as word documents, with the first chapter posted in lieu of an item description. Customers would read the first chapter, and if interested could bid to get a disc with the file on it. Then they could leave feedback (positive, neutral etc) like it was a mini review. In time, the good writers would get large positive feedback scores and they could make the decision to use their success either to get a publishing deal or just continue selling on ebay (even as a properly published author you only get about a quid a book anyway - more of which later)
good idea in principle, but all talk. I wasn't prepared to write a novel to prove my point (although I do have the first 10,000 words of a novel i've been writing for about 7 years!) but I did have the kitten stories so I came up with an attractive package (pictured) to sell on ebay.
What's the basic premise behind Fluffy Little Kitten
The stories all have the same basic pattern. FLK is having a good time when he suffers a minor setback, which causes him to cry. With help from both the readers, his parents and his friends his difficulties are sorted and things turn out alright in the end. Even though they are supposed to appeal to adults as well as children, there is no swearing, sex, vulgarity, violence or anything off colour. I'm not sure how to describe how they work but i suppose they're silly and I try to layer in some visual gags.
let's go through the history
How did the kitten come about? I wrote the first story for my girlfriend Lucy when i had a sick day, to amuse her and also just to see how hard or otherwise it would be to write something. I wanted the books to have a flavour of the mister men books and miffy. The other thing I wanted was to write something that could amuse an adult and also be good for the kiddies.
I drew the original drawing with a normal PC mouse using microsoft paint (that comes with your computer) then I pasted them into powerpoint (you needd to have microsoft office for this, but a little later I found out about open office, which is effectively a free version of the microsoft stuff. This was significant because it meant that I could send anyone with a pc the stories and they'd be able to view them for nothing.
Powerpoint worked really well because you could set up the pages as a slide show and run through by tapping the space bar.
Both lucy and a few friends and work colleagues thought the stories were quite jolly. You can actually download the original 6 powerpoint versions from fluffylittlekitten.com (sound's professional doesn't it? well it's not - more of which later.)
Lucy liked the stories and so did a few friends and colleagues
Thursday 8 February 2007
Introduction
This is the kitten blog. I have written a small series of childrens' books about a character called Fluffy Little Kitten. This will be about what I've done to get the things onto the shelves. Hopefully it'll be a useful record for me and for anyone else wanting to have a go at it.
rob
http://www.fluffylittlekitten.com
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