Re: Alright Darnit... this does NOT add up.

> Exhibit A) "The idea is to carve out your very own niche on the
> internet. You don't need a product going in. You don't even need to start
> out with any IDEAS. The ONLY thing you need to concentrate on at first is
> learning everything you can about internet marketing."
> MaaMaw herself said that.

Lemme translate MaaMaw-ese here: "You should buy Cory's book."

I disagree slightly. I think you could spend the next 85 years reading every living thing out there on marketing and buying all the books, and at the end of the time you'd have a head stuffed full of ideas and NO product. Meanwhile, you would feel pressured to Start Selling Something Now, And Doesn't This 6-Up Aussie Plan Selling Widgets look GREAT!???

Your wife and I are gonna give you the hairy eyeball over that one.

Having a unique product line (as Cory will point out) is what keeps you in business. Work on your product first. In fact, Lesson #1 (and 2 and 3) that Cory teaches is: "you aren't going to get rich selling someone ELSE'S 'Me Too!' product." He teaches you "develop your own product" and the FIRST thing you gotta do is figure out what you want to sell.

You have to have a clue what you want to do first: Dog shampoo? Llanguage llessons for llamas? Dressage for Dobermans? House sitting for Hummingbirds?

The problem that I've seen with Cory's course is that although he gives good advice and good examples, most people after reading his course STILL don't run out and have a sudden website and product. So they end up selling stuff for other folks (and often having very unfocused websites)... and they're back to square one and hanging on the words and products of people just dying to sell them the way to get rich.

Start thinking about what kind of sales person you are; what you love doing, etc, etc. Get some sort of idea. This is a lot of work and people typically fail at the first two businesses for lack of a consistant vision and consistant plan.

Start here:
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html

> Now Mel... I have what possibly amounts to the coolest idea for a
> children's book series... any thoughts on next steps?

At the risk of sounding terribly sardonic, writers hear that a lot from people who want to write (and I mean LOTS.) Cool ideas are literally a dime a dozen (I have a list of 80 of my own that grows daily) and telling an editor that you have a really cool idea is going to get a yawn -- unless you happen to have a proven track record.

First thing: start writing. Get that track record.

Next: kids books are an EXTREMELY difficult sale (I've sold nonfiction to Cricket magazine and have been around the block with kids' books (unsuccessfully) in spite of my being a published science fiction author and comic book artist.

Reality Check: You'll need an agent if you want to talk to the big houses. A really great agent. They aren't cheap. But a good agent will get your material read, and puts you into a 75% chance of having your manuscript picked up (this is up from about a .05% chance)

Educate Yourself: Become an expert on what they need for the market -- word length, topics, etc, etc. A writing group is a good place to learn this. Check out Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Market 2005 at the library.

Prove Yourself: What counts is if you can write and sustain the writing. You will have to know your market and the format and the length they prefer. You will need to know which publishers publish material similar to what you want to do (because... guess what... they're not terribly daring people.)

Edit Yourself: That manuscript better have been beta-read and critiqued by folks. Don't just try to sneak it in.

Kickstart Yourself: Get it started by selling the first one as a fiction story to a children's magazine. That's less difficult. Editors will look more closely at material that is based on something that you've already gotten into print.

Yes, J.K. Rowling did it the "wrote it and turned it in with no experience" with Harry Potter, but she's quite literally one in a million (and she did have some help.) The big publishing houses get around 200 manuscripts per day. They are not sitting around, languishing, waiting for you or me to dash up with manuscript in our hot little hands.

You can self publish (I've done it) but you really have to know your market and getting distribution is a nightmare. Pubbing via Internet and book on demand is interesting but requires a ton of marketing. Small presses are easier sells, BUT they can also disappoint you with sales and marketing material (I'm speaking from experinece, here.)

Join a writing group; preferably a children's book writing group.

Here's a good site:
http://www.writing-world.com/children/index.shtml

Another one:
http://www.nescbwi.org/

Popular Support group
http://groups.msn.com/TheChildrensBookWritersCafe