I am a mom of 6 young kids, we moved to the city we currently live in not too long ago. When we did, I, for the life of me, could not find things around here to do with the kids. I came up with the idea of a book, geared specifically towards our county (& a bit beyond) that has things like good places for kids parties, parks in the area, seasonal events like county fairs, kid-friendly restaurants, etc.

I have considered attempting to get it published, but that is such a long shot, especially considering that my book would be so localized to one specific area. What I did think of doing is to "market" it to schools, daycares, etc. as a fundraiser for them. (i.e. They buy the book from me for $5, they turn around and sell it for $10. They make a $5 profit on each book sold.)

I'd prefer to go the fundraiser route, because my book will be a very basic book in black & white - no frills, etc. My Dad, an artist, is going to do any illustrations I need, etc.

Hopefully, someone out here is a little bit knowledgeable about how these things work. My questions are:

I don't have a lot of money to spend, and I want this book to be a real basic book - like I said above - with no frills, just details. I've seen books before that looked like the person made them theirselves with a spiral binding machine, had it printed out at Kinko's, etc. That seems the easiest route to go.

> What all, legally, do I need to do to get this done?

> How do I get my book copyrighted?

> What is a ISBN # & a Library of Congress Catalog Card # - and how
do I get them?

> As far as the fundraising goes - would I print up a bunch of books
ahead of time and have the kids just sell them door to door? Or
have the kids have one copy with them, show it to the people, take
orders and deliver them at a later date? Although the second idea
seems the most cost effective, it just seems to me that people
would be more likely to buy it if they could get it right then and
there. What do you think?

Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

My suggestion: look into self-publishing. You can get a book published for very little start-up cost using Print on Demand technology.

For instance, my tax guide cost me:
$50 for ISBN
$150 for cover design (free for you, since you're fortunate enough to know somebody with skills in this area)
$67 printing set-up cost.

And for that price, it's going to be available on Amazon, like every other book out there. I get to set the price, and my profit margin is a little over 50%.

I'd suggest buying Aaron Shepard's Aiming at Amazon for more information about how to go through the process.

To answer your specific questions:
1. You are likely to be required to have a business license for your city or county. Just look around a little bit on Google.
2. Your book is automatically copyrighted from the moment you write it. If you choose, you can register that copyright with the federal government, but it's not entirely necessary.
3. An ISBN is simply an identification # for a book. If you want to be sold through Amazon or at bookstores, you'll need one. If you want to simply find a printing company, have your book printed, and sell it yourself, you won't need one. You can buy one at Lulu.com for $50.

Hope this helps,
Mike Piper


Tax Guide for Sole Proprietors/LLC Owners: http://www.pipertax.com/content/view/36/46/

Hi Mark,

Your book sounds great, but couldn't get anything to come up from the link.
Let us know if/when we can access your guide.

Cyberhost at Idea CafeThe Fun Place for Serious Business(sm)