Continuing the series about Alternate Publishing.
Brain Child Press: Photo-Illustrated Books for Kids
Dr. Peggy Sissel-Phelan started Brain Child Press when she realized that there was a need for health and nutrition titles for kids and their parents. She immediately went for niche markets, selling her first title, A Visit to the Farmer’s Market, to the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program which provides food stamps, and health and nutrition information to low-income parents, infants and children. This is an example of a niche publisher who deliberately sidesteps bookstores in order to find her target audience. In this case, Brain Child targets young mothers who are just learning about nutrition for their infants.
I first met Peggy at a Literary Festival, where she calmly told me that her first title had sold over 100,000 copies. A brilliant business woman, she has built a thriving niche publishing business.
You sell to alternate markets. Could you tell us about your best selling book and where it sells best?
My children’s photo-illustrated picture book “A Visit to the Farmers’ Market” is extremely popular. First published in 2007, a Spanish edition came out in 2008. In the past five years I have sold around 100,000 copies of the book (English and Spanish combined.) The original version was 7×8.5, saddle stitched (stapled). Last year, after requests for a bilingual version, I produced it. In doing so, I took the opportunity to revise the book’s layout to be 8.5×8.5, which is one of the standard picture book sizes in the trade, and I began to put it out in perfect bound format. I made this choice because I wanted to have access to Ingram’s Lightning Source POD service, and because you cannot apply for a Library of Congress number for a stapled book. I was also thinking about trying to get it in bricks and mortar book stores (it does sell on Amazon.)
The idea of bookstores is a new thing to me because from the very first my intention was to sell to niche markets. Having worked in health, education, and social service , settings, I not only knew there was a demand for the book, I was also very familiar with and had contacts in some very large market segments: WIC, Head Start, Cooperative Extension, health departments, Ag in the Classroom, etc. In fact, the book took a long time to produce (I did all photography and layout along with the text) so in that time (4 years or so) I pursued the market research and generated bigger and bigger contact lists. The agencies I listed above, along with schools, Farmers’ Markets, universities, and others have purchased quantities ranging from 1 to 8,000 at a time.
Because you sell in large numbers, you use traditional printers to get the best prices, instead of selling POD. Where do you go to find great printers at great prices?
I am a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). They provide various resources that can help you find printers. The membership maga
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