Yes, Leah, it's a conversation worth pursuing.
I've been thinking more about the topic. I don't think we'll have trouble finding the people to write about, nor the authors to write the books. I think the challenge is going to be in finding the publisher who will commit to doing it. As a publisher myself, I think it makes more sense to actually do the books as a series, releasing 3 books the first year, 3 books the second year, and so on. That will do a few things: 1. build the momentum for the series; 2. keep librarians and teachers and students interested and coming back for more; 3. show other publishers that this is a topic worth pursuing, which should generate more interest from the publishing (and author) perspective in making this happen. My press is tiny and I'm not sure I'm the right match for this project. On the other hand, if the AJL or some other source comes up with start-up grant money to get the project going, I could be the press to spearhead and make this happen. The next step is to hear from the AJL leadership and/or someone willing to contact other publishers to see if they're willing to step up to the plate (forgive the sports metaphor). Chag sameach, y'all! Debra Debra Winegarten, Austin, Texas 512-789-5491 www.sociosights.com www.winegarten.com -----Original Message----- From: l schechter bennett <[email protected]> To: Debra Winegarten <[email protected]>; Hasafran <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Dec 11, 2017 1:21 pm Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Israeli bios for elementary school Dear Debra, I'm thrilled beyond--how my quest for Israeli bios opened such discussion and follow through! My husband is a copy editor at a large publishing house and children's book author so I am familiar with the lengthy and costly rigmarole. I would like to continue this discussion. I'm glad that my colleagues and publishers see that there is a great need for these books--quality books--and, very hopefully, maybe something can actually be done! Sincerely, Leah Bennett Yeshivah of Flatbush Brooklyn NY From: Hasafran <[email protected]> on behalf of Debra Winegarten <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 8, 2017 6:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Israeli bios for elementary school As both an author of middle grade biographies (focusing on Texas women) and a publisher, I can say that partnering with authors and publishers with grants would go a long way towards helping get these types of books out into the world. It takes me at least a year of research and writing to produce a middle grade biography, and I can't do that full-time, because I still have to pay the rent and have a day job. I'm speaking now from the author's perspective. It costs me between $6000-$12,000 to produce a quality biography in terms of my time and research costs. Switching hats to the publishing end, I'm not sure that people understand all the back-end costs that go into book publishing. Quality editing and proofreading, book design, photo permissions, and the actual printing. Then there's the book distribution aspect, and publicity, publicist, and all the marketing that goes into it. Editing and proofreading runs $2000-3000. Book design depends on length and complexity, between $500-3000. Photo permissions can run from nothing (if photo are in the public domain) to between $25-500 a photo, and you pay more for the cover photo. Printing again depends on whether it's black and white or color, the number of pages, the type of paper, whether its hardback (librarians prefer this) or soft cover. E-books have the advantage of only costing to host the electrons somewhere, but the above costs still hold for e-books. A 125-page paperback, in a print run of 1000 copies is about $2.38 per book, print more, the cost goes down. Book distribution, the distributor charges about $1 a book, plus postage. When a book is sold to Ingram (the wholesaler for bookstores), Follett (the wholesaler for Barnes & Nobles), or Amazon, the book is bought by them at between 40-55% discount. The margins are so bad for publishers on Amazon that a children's book I published this year (my first illustrated children's book), by the time I pay the author and illustrator's royalties, the distributor, postage, and figure in my print cost ($5.03 per book, I print 3000 copies and made it gorgeous and high quality because it's going to be a classic and deserves that kind of quality),I net .17 per book. That is not a typo.This doesn't take into account the money I paid the publicist nor the book designer. This is why you ought not buy on Amazon. I also didn't talk about author royalties, which range between 7.5% (university presses) to 10% to 15%, depending on the number of copies sold (the more copies sold, the author's royalties increase). The author often gets an advance against royalties and has to earn back that advance before they start collecting royalties. A standard publicist will run $5000, that's usually 50 hours work @ $100/hour. My point here is that there's a huge up-front investment for the publisher before a book even "hits" the streets, and conventional wisdom (and when has that ever been right) is that it takes a book two years to reach its maximum selling potential. While it's true that in this day and age there are more avenues than ever to actually produce books, there is still the challenge of producing quality amazing books, which I'm committed to doing. PJ Library and the Harold Grinspoon folks seem to be really committed to getting books out to kids for free. This is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because many households get free books. A curse because PJ Library prints their own paperback edition, pays the publisher a "tiny" profit margin, and then by sending out so many books for free in the first year of a book's publication, that "undercuts" the books that would have been bought from the publisher at larger margins. However, PJ Library might be willing to subsidize a series and it's certainly worth a conversation with them, particularly since Heidi R. is now working for them and although the new kid on the block, she might be able to help frame the conversation in a way that they would be receptive to working on this. I'd be delighted to continue this conversation with anyone who would like to explore it further. Warmly, Debra Winegarten, Publisher Sociosights Press www.sociosights.com Sociosights Press-Home Page www.sociosights.com Featuring "Katherine Stinson: The Flying Schoolgirl," a biography of an aviatrix. www.winegarten.com Debra Winegarten - Author www.winegarten.com About Debra L. Winegarten. Debra L. Winegarten, a third generation Texan, is the author of six award-winning books, in addition to being the founder and owner of ... -----Original Message----- From: Devorah Bader <[email protected]> To: Amy Turim <[email protected]> Cc: Diane Romm <[email protected]>; hasafran <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Dec 8, 2017 4:19 pm Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Israeli bios for elementary school It would be great if they could be a part of the who is/was series. That is already a popular series with students and wouldn't have to be just for Judaica bio projects. Devorah Bader Library, Information and Media Specialist Tarbut v'torah Community Day School On Dec 8, 2017 10:15 AM, "Amy Turim" <[email protected]> wrote: Thank you, Diane, for adding some support to my comments. (Yes, I, too, remember when teachers assigned biographies, and I think if we had GOOD ones we would at least be able to enthusiastically recommend them.) I also wondered about some kind of incentive from AJL… perhaps setting up an AJL Grant for New Biography to support a writer(s)? Or maybe your idea of working with a publisher is more practical. Other thoughts? Amy From: Diane Romm [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, December 7, 2017 12:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Israeli bios for elementary school I agree with Amy that the lack of bios about famous Israelis is very troublesome. As for them not being checked out, once upon a time teachers used to assign the reading of biographies as an assignment. I do think the lack of information is something we as an organization should think about trying to remedy. Could we approach a Jewish publisher with the idea of creating such a series and assure them that as librarians we would purchase them? Alternately, would an organization like Avi Chai or a Board of Jewish Education consider funding authors to produce such products? Diane Romm Virus-free. www.avast.com __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
