Sales Reps, Distribution, and Warehouses Oh my!

Wow. It has been a while since my last post, but as that vaguely funny insurance commercial reminds, life comes at you fast.  Everyone's life changes every three months.  Nothing could be truer for me at the moment. I have taken on a lease for a warehouse, written 7 books, run a real estate company, have been a father/dad to two wonderful girls and even attempted a husbandley duty every now and then.  Proof of this is my bride is now preggo.  Nevermind that we have two girls ages 7 and 9 and that wife, who works 3 full days a week has gone back to nurse practitioners school.  The Man upstairs likes to remind us that we are not in charge. "Point well taken Sir!"

I signed with a sales rep group this summer.  The purpose was/is to help with distribution.  I went into this knowing I was going to be a small fish.  Each rep would carry one to four different books.  A Virginia rep is most likely not going to sell an ECU book in there territory.  However, I am coming to find out that VA reps can't sell VT books in there area.  Since I am not a person to sit around I made an excursion up to Richmond.  I called on Pharmacies, Hardware/Gift stores, Baby stores, Toy Stores and even Fan stores.  In three days I placed 100 books in multiple stores. Most stores only bought 5 (my minimum).  Hey, if they sell they will order more, which by the way has happened!

Anyway, when I returned from the sell-a-thon, I turned in my orders to the rep that covered the territory. He turned in the orders and got paid. My goal is make the reps see how easy a sale it is.  I don't want them to view me as competition. We are in this together.  The rep did tell that he had been in the business quite awhile and had never had a company do what I did.  Nice to know, now sell them!

The part that I cannot figure at this point is that I have not received one order from the rep that covers the DC area, the rep that covers the east coast of VA and the rep that covers SW Va.  Hmmmm.  Va Tech territory? During football season?  Not sure what is going on here.  It looks as though I will have to make another trip into Va to do the job that my sales force should be doing.  Not what I had in mind, but what else is there? My hope is that they will see the light and start making the sales on their own.  I will give this company a year. Hopefully it will last a lot longer.

My experience with the NC reps have been a mixed bag.  One of my reps is better than Paul Newman in the movie "Tin Men".  She can't be stopped. I think she is the only one that has actually read my books.  These are 12 page children's books with scratch and sniff, moving parts, flaps and rhyming lines.  I am not asking much for a rep to get to know the product.  I have one other rep that is starting to turn it out and I think will do well.

The other NC reps? Not sure, they haven't answered my emails or phone calls.  Well, not exactly true, her manager finally provoked her into thanking me for orders that I turned in for her.  No joke.  The other rep still has yet to thank me for her orders...

Enough about my rep experience for the time being.  I mentioned that I now have a warehouse. I do!  Downtown Hickory, across from the post office, 2500 square feet of concrete man space.  It even has dueling shitters. Not facing each other, but side-by-side, they have yet to be used in unison, but we haven't figured out how to turn on the light in there. Until then, they will strictly be for solo use only.

The warehouse is not a good deal for us until we have 7 titles. We have 3, though 2 more are on the way.  I get to pay power, which has not broken $40 a month yet and internet through century-link, which to set up, was a disaster.  It seems to work fine and for 11 cents more a month, we got phone.

This is my life at the moment.  Children's books.  I haven't covered our book signing(s). One success, two disasters.  Next installment. Until then...

NCSU, UNC, App State and ECU

20,000 books in all, are being printed for these schools.  We have 5000 NCSU, 5000 UNC, 2500 ASU and 2500 ECU books that will soon be shipped to our warehouse. NCSU and UNC will arrive toward the end of August, which is good because we have a book signing set up on September 1st and I turned down tickets to the Tennessee - NCSU game in Atlanta.  ECU and ASU should get to us in late September.

Originally we had planned to release UNC, NCSU and another big school this fall, but that other school has shown no interest in the book.  This worked out great because very few fans of this other school seem to care or know that they have a football team.  This pushed ECU and ASU to the front which works out great because football is a major deal with these fans. 

Fear still drives her boney fingers into my chest at 2 AM. Nothing like coming out of a great dream to wonder why no one has purchased a single book off of our Amazon.com page. Or will the sales company reps that I just signed with, be as big a believer in the books as I am?  Will they be able to convince retailers to carry the books?  Why have I not gotten a retail order since I went with them 3 weeks ago?  Why does my wife turn my fan away from me in the middle of the night?  Why did I leave the my car keys on the floor next to my bed for me to step on! ouch.

The Atlanta Gift Show starts this Wednesday.  We will have 3 books there for store owners to see. This could be a major week for us, or it could be the bearer of ominous news.  Hootie and head down next Sunday to meet Gib and the crew. I am praying daily that he will hand us a bunch of orders, though my expectations are not very high.  I am going to get back to my vacation, thoughts, worries, hopes and beers...

Cheers.

My first order arrived!  Holy schnikees!  5000 Virginia Tech children's books.  Shocked by how good the quality is.  We have managed to sell roughly about 220 copies in the past 3 weeks.  None of it will matter if the consumer doesn't buy it from the retailers, so I am still holding my breath. 

My daughter Meredith took a great photo of two of our three chihuahuas becoming Va. Tech fans.  Pretty awesome stuff considering their mom was raising them to be UNC dogs. 

We got final approval from UNC and Appalachian State this week, so those two are off to the printers this week. NCSU is being printed as well.  Still waiting to hear back from ECU.   Our paper engineer is working on Mississippi State and will soon have Baylor in his hands.  Got to keep him busy.  We are supposed to get paid from 3 different customers soon. Holding my breath to see if they do pay...

The other bit of big news was that we were picked up by Gib Carson and Associates this week.  This could be a huge break.  He seems to be a big believer in our books.  He said his wife and three kids have not put down the books since I mailed him a sample.  I am hoping that this will give us a much larger audience to sell the book to.  It has helped me sleep at night...

The only truly frustrating part at the moment was that Hokiegear, a store in Salem, VA had no interest in carrying our product. The surly boy I always spoke to on the phone was never kind.  I hope that one day when he puts his heart and hopes in something, that he receives the opposite treatment that he gave me.  Hopefully they will see the light one day.  We would love to have it in their store. 

PART 2
 
In the meantime, I have put my book on Amazon. I set up a store, so I can control the price and not have Amazon undercut the stores that are carrying my book. My book sells for 19.95. I sell it to retailers for $9.00-$10.00. At the $10.00 mark, they can still mark it up 45%, so they are happy. I set up my own ecommerce store through BigCommerce.com . I highly recommend them. Their customer service has been top notch. They have a deal with Facebook to sell on their site for free. So I can sell off of my FB page.

Another crazy part to all this was setting up the merchant accounts and linking my store with the bank. None that was fun or easy. I ended up using Wells Fargo, they had the best interest rate, the best monthly rate (which I negotiated) and an average set fee per transaction. This was a miserable process and have since found a great company that will do it all for you if you are not inclined. Parallel Solutions based in Utah is who I would talk to.

We can’t leave out Linkedin, Flickr, Googleplus, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. I have become involved with all of these and have learned far more than I could ever give back. These communities have been great ways for me to get my book out there and to learn so much. Writing these books, though extremely important, is such a small percentage of what being a self-published author really entails.

I hope this helps anyone that is considering publishing a tactile children’s book. Maybe it can serve as a roadmap or help out with anyone looking to go this route. I always have questions and welcome any advice that others may have to offer. The great thing about a tactile book is that it can’t be duplicated into an E-Book. There will always be a need for these books. Find your niche. Believe in it. Be persistent and relentless in your pursuit of your goal. It has taken me 7 years to get to this point. I don’t plan on stopping now and I wish you the same in your passion.

“Like” my Facebook page if you get a chance. You can always “hide” my postings on you page if you don’t want to hear from me, but that way you are still “liking” me and I get higher numbers!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Collegiate-Kids-Books-LLC/275259229184656

Bryan Jones

My adventures in self-publishing a tactile children's book. Advice given, advice, questions, thoughts and comments welcome!

If anyone is thinking more "Pat the Bunny" or "Tails" than "Goodnight Moon" then this is your discussion group. The only books my two girls wanted me to read to them on a consistent basis were these two books. Don't get me wrong, "Goodnight Moon" and "Madeline" were favorites, but they always seemed to be second choice to the ones that they could participate in. Since I do not have the skills to compete with these two titans, I chose to the touchy-feely route. Material and moving parts can speak more and better to a child than I can.

The biggest problem that I encountered along the way was finding a printer. Forget finding a publisher for this stuff until you have come out with several books by yourself and shown that they are a sell-able product. I chose to self-publish after wasting 3 years chasing publishers. I worked with several printers in China, but the saying, "lost in translation" didn't come close. I lost at least a year trying to find someone I trusted and that understood what I was trying to create. I finally found a guy from the UK that was a half owner of a company in China. He has been very helpful and most importantly, responsive.

Next, I had to find a paper engineer. Who knew that was even a profession! Luckily, the printer knew a great one, and it has been fantastic. This guy has designed pop-up cards that are sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We send him the art work, he tweeks it, then builds a mock-up, complete with materials and working parts and sends it back to us for approval. Then he meets with printer and it is sent off to China to have a proof made and sent back to us. He is not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Should my first batch of book sell out, then his cost is defrayed on the second printing.

All my materials have to go through independent test labs to make sure I am not poisoning any little children. Very important aspect to all this and not cheap either.
The printer and importer sent all the pages, inks, materials and more off to these labs for me.

You need an importer when you get your books printed overseas. The printer put me in touch with a solid company in California. So far so good, but our books are stuck in customs at this point, so I can’t give rave reviews as of yet. I will know more in a few days.

While all this is going on I took the 10 samples the printer sent me and started mailing them out to different online retailers that might have an interest in carrying them. I got several takers and the rest I have never heard back from, despite phone calls and emails. Their loss! (Always stay positive). I went on a road trip up to stores in Virginia with my sample and found quite a number of different stores that agreed to carry it. A tactile baby book covers several categories, gift stores, book stores and team stores. (My books are a niche, being based on mascots of individual schools).


More in the next post...

Choosing a Printer and Explaining the Difference between a Basketball and Football

Publisher or Self Publish? That is the question...

I would have to say that I wasted 2 years trying to go the tradition route of getting a publisher to even email me back. Forget it. I think the best way to go about this is marry one or stalk one until you are arrested, then you may get noticed.  An agent might be a good way to go, but I didn't relish giving up 10% of all future royalties. 
With the books that I am producing, I am already paying the schools 10%, so an additional 10% was not in the equation.  My frustrations were in large part because the publishing houses would not accept a mailed copy of what we were trying to do.  Since we are publishing a tactile book (interactive, touch and feel kids book) I don't think it translated very well into to email. 
The system they use is brutal for the hoping author.  They say they will email you back in 3 to 6 MONTHS!!! (if they like it).  Wow, I would have been a lot happier with a curt "no" or "no thanks" or "you suck" than checking my empty In Box. 
I finally decided to go with self publishing.  This is not an easier if you are doing a tactile book.  I read several books about self publishing to get started. I do recommend this. I also recommend searching wikipedia for companies that specialize in the kind of books you are looking to print.  The decision was made and that is where we are today. Thank goodness we chose this route. 

The Idea

When my daughter Lauren was born back in 2002 we did what every parent does with a precious newborn. We fought. That period of time should be filed under "shit sandwich and other thing that you don't want to eat again".  Luckily we made it through intact and still sleeping under the same roof. 

My mom is reading recovery teacher. She works in a school system where the parents have little involvement with their children's education and even less with helping them develop a love of reading. She has a vanity plate that says "Read2AKid".  So half out of fear of my mother and half out of fear that we would raise a kid that the local illiterate slattern of town, we read to her.

We read and we read. Shell Silverstein, Dr. Suess, Penthouse Letters, just kidding you sicko.  I got a crash-course-master's-degree in children's books.  Some sucked. Some really sucked, and some I did enjoy reading.  The ones I really enjoyed were the ones that my squirmy kid sat still for and even participated in.  I also enjoyed the ones that the artwork was interesting to both my and my daughter. A rare occurrence, but a pleasure all the same.

Finally when Lauren was old enough to crawl/toddle, I would ask her if she wanted pick a book.  Guess what was numero uno? Pat the Bunny.  Pat the Freakin Bunny.  Man, she loved it. I loved and hated it. It was easy read, but boring as hell for me. Lauren was thrilled with it, poking her finger in mummy's ring, feeling daddy's scratchy face and smelling fabic softener were always big with her.  What simple hit!

Pat the Bunny has been printed since 1940, and according to some statistics, number 4 all-time on the children's best seller list.  Another hit with Lauren was Tails, by Matthew Van Fleet. This book was even easier to read.  Nothing like a rhyming book that rolls easily off a tired parent's tongue.  Lauren was enthralled by the moving parts and the scratch and sniff.  We burned through three copies or more of each of these.

Now, I am a NCSU grad. We had received multiple copies of Hello Mr. Wuf.  I am a huge fan of my school.  My bride, bless her rotten confused heart is a UNC grad.  The race to brainwash our daughter was on. No way was I going to let her go to the dark side without a fight.  I tried reading this book to her. I wanted it very much to be her favorite book.  Wasn't happening. It is a good book, just not one my daughter was putting in her top 50.  Lauren was bright enough to know that Daddy loved reading this book to her.  I finally gave up reading the story line and made up my own stories, age appropriate of course.  I left out what happened with daddy and the co-ed in the library and other such ribald tales of beer induced behavior. 



Still, how was I to turn my child into a rabid UNC-hating, David Thompson, Jimmy V lover?  I was already catching glimpses of her on my wife's camera wearing Tar-Heel paraphernalia that was quietly removed upon my arrival after work.  Hmmmm.


The idea popped in while I was watching Archie Miller snag a rebound. The announcer said he "came off the floor like a pop-up book to get that rebound". That was it.  My daughter loved the pop-up books, the moving parts, the different textures, scratch and sniff, and pull tabs.  Why not combine my love of NC State and her love of these interactive books and make something we both would love to read?

One of my closest friends in college was a fantastic cartoon artist.  He parents, not wanting him to waste his time in college,  discouraged (refused to pay) for him to pursue his passion. They ordered him into the textile world.   A booming business. That boom was the sound of bottom falling out and all the companies shutting their doors as they hightailed it across the boarder.   I began conversation with Mark "Hootie" Bowman about the dream.  6 years later, he finally took me serious. 

Starting Collegiate Kids Books

After the shock and disappointment of being let go wore off I started my publishing company and instantly became famous. Bullshit. Not even close. First I need to make money. Just as there is no crying in baseball, there is no money in books, at least not quickly.

I had a great offer to open up my own real estate office in conjunction with a builder around the lake that I had worked on for the previous 7 years.  I was able to get set up and running within a few months and within 6 months started earning some money.  Money is important because it allows you work toward your goal.  File that one under "solid gold nugget of advice by this jackass".  

I was working for myself, making a living, supporting my family, but didn't feel that I wanted to sell real estate the rest of my days. If I had to I would, but the dream of my book had taken hold.  It was something that dominated my thoughts and I knew I had to start working toward making it happen.

Getting Let Go

On September 11, 2009, I was let go by the company that I had given my heart, time and passion to for the last 7 years.  I was the top sales agent every year except one for 7 years.  The real estate market had turned, our company had just filed chapter 11 and I was a squeaky wheel that got the proverbial grease. 

The boss man didn't like my suggestions on what we could possibly do to boost sales, so I was traded as they say in the sports world.  Nothing like sitting in a sales meeting and being asked "What can we do to help you sell".  Gee, I how mind-blowingly thoughtful! I never thought to ask for help.  Considering I was 100% commission, I truly think these jokers did not think we were motivated or smart enough to sell.  Also, nothing like a person telling you how to sell that has never been in the sales world.  Much like a scene in the movie "Office Space", it ended and there I was in the middle of semi-depression with no job. 

15 minutes after I had hugged my former master's goodbye and walked out the door, I put it all in my past and decided to dedicate myself to figuring out what it was that I wanted to do to make a living.  I set a deadline of December 1st, 2011 to have something in the works.  I even wrote the guy that let me go a "thank you" letter for the 7 great years I had on the lake with them. No reason to burn bridges or harbor grudges...