Follett book fairs: Follett Book eFairs are designed to give students literary choices, while simultaneously providing a wide variety of tools and options to the schools, teachers and librarians we trust to educate them. We’ve taken steps to ensure that your next online book fair remains a safe and streamlined experience by offering two great shipping options to fit your school: Ship to School and Ship to Students’ Homes. You may choose one option when you create your eFair.
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Follett book fairs
Children’s books businesses publish children’s books, bringing illustrated stories to print. For businesses that have captivating books, the industry offers plenty of opportunity. Children’s book sales surpassed those of adult books in 2014, selling more than 2.7 billion books that year.
Additionally, business owners who start this type of business are in good company. Not only do many people have successful children’s book businesses today, but one of the most successful children’s authors in modern history began by self-publishing her work. Beatrix Potter funded the first runs of both Peter Rabbit and The Tailor of Gloucester. The two stories are popular even to this day.
Luckily we have done a lot of this research for you.
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STEP 1: Plan your business
A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns.
1. What are the costs involved in opening a children’s book business?
The costs involved with publishing a children’s book are significant yet manageable. According to Lee Johnson, business owners on a budget can go from a story to having 3,000 copies of a finished book for $5,400. Hiring a more skilled illustrator or incorporating more edits may bring that total up to $8,000 or $10,000.
Ron Pramschufer of Self Publishing, Inc. breaks down the costs a little more:
- Illustrations often cost $2,200 for a 24-page book and $2,700 for a 3-page book
- Text editing costs between $500 and $1,000
- Text and artwork editing costs between $3,000 and $4,000
- Designing the layout costs between $1,000 and $1,500
- Printing 3,000 copies with offset printing costs $1.43 per copy ($4,290 total)
Of these, illustration costs can vary the most. Some illustrators may charge anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, or even more. Higher-priced illustrators may include layout designing in their services.
Any of these steps that business owners can do themselves greatly reduces the total cost of publishing a children’s book. For this reason, many business owners do their own illustrations and layout design. They may also rely on school teachers or librarians, who are familiar with curriculum requirements and grade reading levels, for assistance with certain steps.
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Follett book fairs
Business owners should only do these steps if they’re truly capable of producing professional quality work. Sacrificing the quality of a book’s text, illustrations or layout will greatly hinder sales in the future.
Additionally, business owners should avoid using digital printing. This printing method may be fine for test runs, but offset printing should be used when a book is printed to be sold. At volume, offset printing costs a fraction of what digital printing does.
2. What are the ongoing expenses for a children’s book business?
After a book is published, the ongoing expenses associated with the title include any marketing costs and storage costs. Of course, businesses must also fund the publication of additional titles.
3. Who is the target market?
Counterintuitively, kids are not the target market for children’s books. Instead, it’s parents, schools, and libraries — as they’re who actually purchase books. Children’s author Kate Klise says that schools and libraries are especially profitable customers as they purchase in bulk.
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4. How does a children’s book business make money?
A children’s book business makes money by selling copies of books. Books may be sold individually at retail prices or in bulk at wholesale prices.
5. How much can you charge customers?
The School Library Journal reports that children’s books usually retail for between $6.49 and $17.85 per copy. Hardcovers command the highest prices, with mass-market paperbacks getting the lowest prices. Trade paperbacks are in the middle.
6. How much profit can a children’s book business make?
With a successful title, a children’s book business can bring in six-figure revenues. For example, Augie and the Green Knight raised $384,410 on Kickstarter before publication.
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7. How can you make your business more profitable?
Business owners have multiple ways to earn additional revenue. Selling ebooks is becoming increasingly common. Alternatively, business owners can speak at schools and businesses, and offer teaching workshops to other aspiring business owners.
8. What will you name your business?
Choosing the right name is important and challenging. If you don’t already have a name in mind, visit our How to Name a Business guide or get help brainstorming a name with our Children’s Book Business Name Generator
If you operate a sole proprietorship, you might want to operate under a business name other than your own name. Visit our DBA guide to learn more.
When registering a business name, we recommend researching your business name by checking:
- Your state’s business records
- Federal and state trademark records
- Social media platforms
- Web domain availability.
9. How to promote & market a children’s book business
The best way to promote a children’s book is by getting reviews and awards. Reviews can send a book to the top of a best-seller list and give a book authenticity. Winning awards (especially the Newbury or Caldecott) and being mentioned on recommended reading lists will help increase school and library sales.
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10. How to keep customers coming back
To keep customers purchasing books, businesses need to consistently publish children’s books that engage kids and that adults don’t mind reading multiple times. Books that appease both kids and adults will have grown-ups coming back for more titles.
11. Set up your business phone system
Getting a phone set up for your business is one of the best ways to help keep your personal life and business life separate and private. That’s not the only benefit; it also helps you make your business more automated, gives your business legitimacy, and makes it easier for potential customers to find and contact you.
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Conclusion:
Book fair week is an exciting time for everyone. It’s fun to buy books, but it’s also fun to help your school choose rewards! Book fairs are a yearly event in schools for many reasons, but what about the specific benefits for your school and your students? Here are our top benefits of hosting a book fair: