Guest Lecture - Dan Parry
This podcast from Dan Parry was very informative - it took us all the way through the different stages of setting up a project. It made it very clear that the first thing you need in order to create a successful business is an original idea that pinpoints a gap in the market. Uber was a really good case study to use for this - they spotted that people were using their phones for more and more but cabs were still something that were done by calling the company - Uber changed this and in turn changed the way we order cabs completely. I for one have ordered cabs for the last few years only via an app. It was interesting when Dan spoke about the assumptions any start up has to make - about your product, your audience and how it fits into your desired market. For example, the Uber assumptions included people being happy to use an app to order a cab, that at any given point they would have enough drivers and they could deliver an app all over the world.
A piece of advice I am definitely going to take forward from Dan's lecture is to do surveys and find out what people think. According to Dan if you ask the right questions it can give you a valuable data bank to proceed from. However it is important to remember not to ask leading questions and ask why rather than what. This is definitely something I will take forward when developing my artefact in the coming couple of week.
Dan's podcast was really useful when looking at market research and positioning for potential products and services.
Workshop Challenge
How can you ensure a business / creative idea is targeted and researched to maximise potential?
Select one of your ideas from the previous week and develop a clear business outline of your intended audience outlets for distribution or purchase.
You may need to evolve aspects of the proposition, and ensure there is a clear objective for the next stages of development.
Your output will include product development, research insights and production challenges; all of which will come together in the final week of this module.
Upload the artefact and evidence of any development undertaken (this might also include brand names and approach to the product’s story), and include a one page report outlining research, insights and development challenges.
My first step is to narrow down my ideas
I narrowed my ideas down to three - From Earth to Mars book, Ümba the Space Whale interactive children's book and an exhibition about what people would say at the end of the world.
After seeking feedback from my peers and tutor, Harriet, I decided to go with my idea for a series of interactive children's books about Ümba the Space Whale.
This has been a story 25 years in the making- when I was six years old I wrote a poem called The Magical Whale all about a whale with a whole universe inside her, I drew pictures and sent them to my Nan. Ever since I have had it in my head as a book I want to make one day. My passion and enthusiasm for this project made it the obvious choice for my authored project!
Ümba the Space Whale
The Idea
Ümba is a whale. She lives in outer space. Ümba has a heart the size of a Universe but she has nobody to share it with. One day, Ümba spots a spaceship in the distance. It grows larger and larger as it comes closer and closer. Until, through the windows, she sees a boy and a girl sitting inside. After being frightened they won't like her, Ümba gathers the courage to talk to them. They are friendly kids called Pippa and Barney and they are looking to make friends and have an adventure. Ümba says to Pippa and Barney “There’s a whole universe in my heart with lots of planets to explore. Shall we go there?”
They excitedly agree and with a burst of magic they find themselves inside Ümba's universe. After exploring planets made of cheese, triangular planets, birds swimming, fish flying and smiley aliens, Pippa and Barney realise they have to get home. Ümba exhales and the two kids shoot out of her blowhole and back into normal space with a loud POP! Ümba looks sad that she won't see them anymore but they promise to come back and see her soon. They give her a parting gift, a drawing of a planet. Ümba takes the drawing and absorbs it into her heart, creating the planet inside her universe.
With that, Poppa and Barney go home for tea and Ümba is happier now, knowing that people will accept her for who she is.
I was also thinking there could be blank pages at the end for children to draw their own planets and send them in, and maybe they will appear in future editions.
This is my base idea that I will develop according to research and insights from other people. One thing in particular I want to test with audiences is the idea for having blank pages at the back for children to draw their own planets and send them in - with some being used in future editions. I need to know if kids and parents think this is a good idea and if they will use them.
My next step is to research the age ranges of children's book to really determine the possible audience for Ümba the Space Whale.
Audience
Publishers generally assign age groups for readers of various formats as set out in the following list:
Board books: Newborn to age 3
Picture books: Ages 3-8
Colouring and activity (C&A) books: Ages 3-8
Novelty books: Ages 3 and up, depending on content
Early, levelled readers: Ages 5-9
First chapter books: Ages 6-9 or 7-10
Middle-grade books: Ages 8-12
Young adult (YA) novels: Ages 12 and up or 14 and up [1]
Looking at this list, Ümba the Space Whale will be perfectly positioned in the picture book, 3-8 year old range. It is really useful having a list of categories like this as it is the first step to writing and designing Ümba the Space Whale and I will know where to pitch it to possible publishers.
I have a contact in publishing, Becky Felton, a friend of a friend who works for Hachette UK. Hachette UK is a leading UK publishing group. The group is made up of ten autonomous publishing divisions and over fifty imprints with a rich and diverse history. Hachette UK is owned by Hachette Livre, the world’s second largest trade and educational publisher, and also has subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and India as well as working closely with sister company in the USA, Hachette Book Group. [2]
Becky agreed to chat to me about possible routes into getting a book published and general information that might be useful about the market and audience.
At the time of writing this blog I am waiting for a response.
Competitor Research
My next step is to look at competitors in the market for Ümba the Space Whale. I went into Waterstones to see what I could find that was in the age range and subject area.
The Whale Who Wanted More
Price on Amazon - £6
Price in Waterstones - £6.99
Humphrey the whale is on a quest: to find the one perfect object that will make him feel complete. He roams far and wide, gathering endless undersea treasure as he goes. Yet, no matter how many goodies he accumulates, Humphrey still doesn't feel content. Could it be friendship, not possessions, that will really make Humphrey's heart sing?
A sparkling rhyming tale that encourages sharing and kindness, this heartwarming story of friendship is perfect for reading aloud.
Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
ISBN: 9781408349229
Number of pages: 32
Weight: 230 g
Dimensions: 298 x 238 x 8 mm [3]
This book was similar to the thickness and quality of what I was imagining for the Ümba book. It is also about a whale too so it was great to see the illustrations in this book and the way Rachel Bright represented the whale in her story.
Look Up
Price on Amazon - £4.99
Price in Waterstones - £6.99
Rocket's going to be the greatest astronaut, star-catcher, space-traveller that has ever lived! But... First, she needs to convince her big brother Jamal to stop looking down at his phone and start LOOKING UP at the stars. Bursting with energy and passion about space and the natural world, this heart-warming picture book will reignite your desire to turn off those screens and switch on to the outside world.
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK ISBN: 9780241345849 Number of pages: 32 Weight: 195 g Dimensions: 285 x 234 x 4 mm [4]
Look Up! was one of the most successful children't books of the last couple of years. I think it will be interesting to look to this when writing and designing my book as this celebrates both diversity and the thirst for adventure - both of which are important to me.
This research into competitors was an interesting place to start as it gives me a good idea of length and price - children's books aimed at ages 3-8 seem to be 32 pages long and cost around £6.99 in high street retailers.
After looking at these two books I thought the next thing to do should be to look at the reviews to see what is important to people and what pit falls I could avoid with my book. The Whale Who Wanted More is quite new so doesn't have many reviews so I'm just going to look at Look Up!it bein
Look Up Reviews
Positive
People overwhelmingly loved Look Up! It has an average rating of 4.8/5 start which is really good for anything on Amazon! The positive comments focus on it being educational and having a strong moral. Other popular comments were about the diversity in the book and also the beautiful illustrations.
It is also praised for being an interesting story littered with space facts and remains engaging throughout.
Negative
I think a pinch of salt has to be taken with negative reviews anyway but the fact that there is only 2 out of almost 2000 says a lot about the quality of this book. The only one star review questions where the dad is - this is a personal preference and you can't always please everyone.
Other negative comments include being too complicated with too many factors in the story - too many elements for children to follow. This is something to think about when writing Umba.
Overall Look Up! is clearly an exceptional children's book that is praised for its diversity, story telling and illustrations.
Survey
The next step I want to take is to do a survey to see what people who would be buying the book think. I will put it out on social media, at work and also email.
Here are the questions I plan to ask:
Age
Gender
Number of children
How often they buy children's books
Would they buy a book about a whale with a universe inside
How much they would pay for a book like this
Who the book would be for
Where they would buy the book from
What makes people likely to buy a children's book
I put the survey out on the platforms mentioned above and within 24 hours I had over 100 replies. However, as Survey Monkey charge £99 to see responses above the first 40, those 40 are the results I have.
This survey gave me so much valuable information. The assumptions I can now make about my audience are -
They are mostly female and between the ages of 25 - 34
They buy children's book a few times a year (including but not limited to special occasions)
They would buy Ümba the Space Whale if it looks interesting (cover art)
They would be willing to pay from £5 - £7.99 (which perfectly fits with the market research above)
They would be most likely to buy the book for a family member
The supermarket and chain book retailer are the most popular places people would buy from
The most important things when choosing a children's book is the moral of the story, the quality of the illustration and diversity and representation
People do judge a book by it's cover
Because I understand some of the answers may be slightly bias as I was asking my family and friends, I also made sure I sent it out anonymously at work to people I have never met, hopefully ensuring less of a bias.
Production
The aim would be to get Ümba the Space Whale published as this would mean they take on the printing costs. However, I also want to look into other methods of production that could help this project get off the ground because I believe that it could be successful.
Production costs
After research I determined that doxzoo.com was the highest quality at the best price. This is only a guide to production costs as it is for an A4 book rather than 285 x 234 x 4 mm which is the average size for a children's book in Waterstones (I asked the assistant who looked it up for me). Obviously it would be more expensive to print at this size as it is bespoke whereas A4 is standard.
I feel like the book would be better as a soft back book considering my 3-8 age range and target price. The price of £6.99 I took from the average price of books around this size, including Look Up! and The Whale That Wanted More. This would also please 82.5% of respondents to my survey as only 17.5% said they would pay £4.99 or less which isn't realistic.
However, this has shown that the amount of money needed before any profit can be made is still substantial so I will need to look at funding options as a back up in case it doesn't get picked up by a publisher.
Funding options
Kickstarter seems to be an excellent platform for first time authors/illustrators and many have had successful products off the back of this, for example The Adventures of Lily Huckleberry raised almost £40k and The Children’s Book for Little Girls Who Dream BIG raised £20k and both went on to sell thousands.
On Kickstarter, the way to raise money is to come up with a rewards scheme for different levels of donation. The ones I would suggest for Ümba the Space Whale are:
£5 - A PDF of the book
£10 - A PDF of the book and a hard copy of the book
£20 - A hard copy of the book and a print of Ümba the Space Whale
£30 - A hard copy of the book, a PDF of the book and 3 prints of Ümba the Space Whale
£75 - A hard copy of the book, a print of Ümba the Space Whale, a PDF of the book and a mention in the book
£150 - A hard copy of the book, a print of Ümba the Space Whale, a PDF of the book, a mention in the book and you can name a planet in the book
£250 - A hard copy of the book, a print of Ümba the Space Whale, a PDF of the book, a mention in the book, you can name a planet in the book and a commissioned A5 illustration
This is certainly a possibility when thinking about funding options.
SWOT/Development Challenges
Strengths
Children's books have mass appeal and an audience of approximately 12 million children in the UK [5]
You can reach so many people with positive messages
Creativity is limitless
It's a unique idea all about being beautiful on the inside and making friends
Contributing to children's education
Weaknesses
Market is potentially over saturated
Could take up to a year to get the book published - whether that it through a publisher or with a kickstarter
Have to sell a large amount to make a substantial profit
Currently no distribution/orders
Opportunities
You can include more diverse characters and encourage inclusion among children
You can encourage children to be more creative by taking part in the planet designing competition
You can make it accessible to most children by having braille, audiobooks, large print etc
It could go further than just a book - there could be competitions, exhibitions, schools could get involved
Threats
Downward trend in book sales
Currently tumbling economy
EBooks
Final Workshop Challenge
Summary
Well I have thoroughly enjoyed this week and it has definitely been my favourite yet! I love thinking strategically about how I could make this product work. I am so passionate about Ümba the Space Whale because it has been 25 years in the making, well, in my head at least. I really believe in this book and think I can make a success of this. I feel like this is exactly what these 4 weeks were made for, to tap into a project I would love to design and actually produce.
The research I have done this week I think is really useful to develop Ümba the Space Whale and has given me such interesting market research and audience insights. My survey was a great insight into the market I would be aiming the book at, especially regarding cost, what is important when they are considering buying a children's book and also the number of books they buy a year. All of this will be useful when developing this book further in the coming weeks. The fact that the strengths and opportunities were the largest part of my SWOT analysis was encouraging and it made me even more determined to make this successful.
Going forward I am excited to develop Ümba the Space Whale and use the insights I have gathered this week to make it the best book I can. Next week I also want to investigate the idea of expanding it to being more than just a book - to possibly be an exhibition, a school and library activity and even a creative competition. Off the top of my head I can imagine a big sculpture of Ümba being taken from school to school and children entering the planet designing competition by putting their entries in Ümba's mouth or blow hole. All this I am excited to explore next week!
References
[1] Myrick, A. (2021). Age Levels For Children’s Books. Available: https://www.book-editing.com/age-levels-childrens-books/. Last accessed 11/8/21.
[2] Hachette. (2021). About Us. Available: https://www.hachette.co.uk/landing-page/hachette/about-hachette-uk/. Last accessed 12/8/21.
[3] Waterstones. (2021). The Whale Who Wanted More. Available: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-whale-who-wanted-more/rachel-bright/jim-field/9781408349229. Last accessed 12/8/21.
[4] Waterstones. (2020). Look Up. Available: https://www.waterstones.com/book/look-up/nathan-bryon/dapo-adeola/9780241345849. Last accessed 12/8/21.
[5] ONS. (2019). Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Available: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2019estimates. Last accessed 12/8/21.
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