This is the second interview in a series of discussions I’ll be having with owners of small, start-up presses who specialize in books for children. It’s my hope that by interviewing these folks we’ll all get a better sense of the trials and successes of D.I.Y. publishing. Some of the people I’m interviewing started at self publishers, and some of them started publishing other people.

If you would like to be considered for an interview, please contact me at adrienne@drtpress.com. My goal is to do at least an interview per week.

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Ellen Feld, owner of Willow Bend Publishing, a small press devoted to publishing books about horses for young adults, shares what she’s learned over the past seven years operating her own small press. With upwards of 50,000 copies of her books sold, she obviously has tapped into the keys to marketing: persistence, a good product, and above all, knowing how to reach her market.

Q: Ellen, on the Willow Bend Publishing website there’s a lot about how you started writing about horses. When and why did you make the leap from writing about horses to publishing your own books about them?

A: I’ve been writing for horse magazines for about 25 years as a freelancer. These magazines are both regional and national in scope and the assignments kept me fairly busy. But at one point, I was between assignments, and as any writer can relate, felt the need to write. So I wrote a short story. A few friends read it and said it was quite good and that I should expand it into a book. I took their advice and wrote the book. Thinking it would be easy to get my book published as I’d been published countless times in magazines, I was in for a rude awakening when I submitted my manuscript to various publishers and received form letters back from each one saying ‘no thanks.’ Not one to give up, I decided to self-publisher. That was back in 2001. Now, with over 50,000 books sold, I’d be hard-pressed to go with a traditional publisher.

I never really thought about running my own publishing company, it just happened. As I sold more and more of my first book, I was getting asked when the sequel was coming out. Now, seven years later, I’ve got a regular following of horse enthusiasts, a full-time career with my publishing company (although I also have a “regular” full-time job), and when I took a year off from writing to concentrate on promoting, I had a lot of “oh drat,” reactions for fans at book signings who thought I’d have a new book this year. It’s been a ton of work but also a ton of fun!

Q: The key to small press success in a big press world is creative marketing. Can you share some of the more creative things you’ve done to market your books?

A: Creative marketing is definitely the key. I spend almost no time marketing to book stores. It simply isn’t worth the small sales and big headaches that I get from them. About 70% of my sales are through events such as craft fairs, big state fairs, horse shows, etc. These are direct sales which translates into sales at full retail price and there are no returns. I also sell to shops dealing specifically with the horse world. These “tack shops” tend to be small and although they may only order 10 or 20 books at a time, they tend to be very loyal, and again, they never return books.

Q: What has been the most successful way you’ve marketed your horse books? What has been the least?

A: Most successful: Remember all those magazines that I mentioned above? Well, I used my connections at those horse magazines to get FREE publicity. Having great relationships with the editors, I found that each one was enthusiastic about giving my books press. They’d write reviews, run any press release I sent them, include full-color pictures of the covers, and even include the books in their annual gift giving guides. One of those magazines, although focused on horses, was focused primarily on model horse collecting. They’d reviewed all my books and when they were looking for a book to package with one of their model horses, they came to me. They purchased the first book in my series, created a model to look like the horse in the book, and sold it nationally and internationally. In essence, they were marketing for me, plus they bought thousands of my books. It was a win-win. Since all the other books in my series are listed in each book, those buying the book/model set were all now aware of all my other books.

- Least successful: Signings in the big book stores such as Barnes&Noble. They never drew a crowd. However, some of the local, small, independents draw 10 times as many people. They’ve got a much more loyal following and I’ve found customers in those stores eager to support local authors. I’ve also had little luck advertising on the big, horse specific websites. These sites get up to a million hits a month, but are expensive to advertise with, and produce few results.

Q: Do you have any words of wisdom for people starting out in this business, particularly those who are interested in publishing for children?

A: Keep plugging away. The horse model/book sale didn’t happen overnight. I wrote for the company’s magazine for several years and had an excellent working relationship with them, and still do. Also, use your connections. If you’re written for a magazine, don’t be shy – ask them to run a press release about your new book. The children’s market is really tough and competitive so you must work at it every day. Think of new angles to market. Is your book about a dog? What kind? Approach the breed organization to see if they’d like to sell your books. There are also loads of local clubs for every breed of every animal. They all need to raise funds so ask them about using your books as fundraisers. Whatever your book is about, there’s probably a club somewhere promoting that topic. Tell them, then show them, how perfect your book is for them.