What it is
The PWB Book Project emerged from a story I wrote for my weekly Moondai Furbutts column. One commenter suggested that it would make a good children’s book and, before long, others were chiming in to agree. So began the PWB Book Project!
But it wasn’t as easy as saying, “Okay then, let’s just turn the diary over to a publisher.” First of all, only a few of the photographs in the diary were of PWB Peeps’ furkids. In the book, we want all the photographs to be by our members so it is truly a PWB Peeps production.
Secondly, all proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards Kossacks in need. At the top of the list is Pet Vet Help, a charity set up by elenacarlena to assist members financially with their vet care. Once PVH is furnished with enough funds (amount yet to be determined) to allow the charity to go into full operation, then some monies from book sales will be directed to those on the community needs list managed by bfitzinAR and some to buy Pootie Pads for those who cannot afford them.
Progress so far
The publisher chosen is Unbound which is the trading name for United Authors Publishing Ltd, headquartered in the UK. From their website:
The Unbound model is very straightforward: the author pitches an idea and if enough readers support it, the book goes ahead.
What does this mean? First it means that we pitch our book concept to Unbound via their submission process. I’ve started the submission and themis will be assisting me to finish it.
When that submission is accepted, the initial publishing costs are estimated by Unbound and this target amount is then crowdfunded, in the same way that the Pootie Pads business expansion was crowdfunded via Kickstarter.
Unbound is both a funding platform and a publisher, fulfilling all the normal publishing functions but also splitting a book's net profit 50/50 with the author. Under the traditional model an author is lucky to earn 10% of the cover price.
Within its normal publishing functions, Unbound also distributes and promotes the book in addition to setting up the funding process and paying us around five times more than traditional publishing houses.
The general estimation from submission to publication is approximately ten months. In order to make sure it is on the shelves in time for Christmas this year, we need to get the submission in by the second week of February at the latest. How long it takes from there will largely depend on… you!
How you can contribute
There are three ways in which peeps can help us make this project happen. At the top of our priority list is photographs! But not just any photograph – they need to be set up to specifically illustrate a section of the text. Another diary (which follows this one - look for PWB Book Project 2 – Illustrations Needed) will set out exactly what photographic arrangements we need. It’s important to note too that only photographs freely donated to the project will be accepted.
While we hope photographs will be as close as possible to what we need, we’re also expecting that some photoshopping will be required. If you have those skills and some time to donate to the project, please kosmail myself or themis to volunteer!
For the crowdfunding effort, Unbound also ask us to provide a video to promote the project. If you have video skills and would like to undertake this particular task for the project, we’d love to hear from you too! For the video, I have in mind someone reading reading part of the book to their kitteh who is tucked up in bed and all wide-eyed. Other ideas are also very welcome.
Once the submission is accepted, then we’re hoping everyone will pitch in and help us to reach the crowdfunding target by spreading the word far and wide and, only if you’re able, to contribute a donation towards the target.
When the book is published, we will then be looking at how everyone can help us to publicize it but that’s several months off yet!
We are aiming to make this a good year for PWB Peeps. You’re warmly invited to share the good times, good stuff and good feelings with us.
Next diary
PWB Book Project — Needed: Illustrations