KidPub Press Story Spark by Tikatok TaleSpring

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

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

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

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

Publishing services Editing/Design Marketing Printing Shipping Financials

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cookie Cutter Using a pre-designed template.

Starting from Scratch

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

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

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

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

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

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

User Interface

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

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

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

Betsy Dobles