We're making a book!

[notme]

Salam alaikum

I'm facilitating my first grade students writing a book on social, emiotional, self-management, and executive function skills, and we're going to have it bound like a real book and then distributed to all the kindergarten and first grade classrooms.  

I started with seven writers, and now I've got 17, with seven more wanting to contribute but I've told them I'm not sure I have space or time.  

We have a budget of $250, the prize money won by the original 7 writers from an anti-bullying video that they produced last October.  

Please make duas that I don't let these children down. It has turned into a much bigger project than I anticipated and we're cutting it really close on time left to finish before the end of the school year.  I just couldn't say no when more kids wanted to write. I'm not a writer or editor, nor even a literacy teacher, but I do love and believe in these children. I just hope I can get everything organized and beautiful then get it "published" and distributed by the end of the school year in two and a half weeks.  

[Hameedeh]

5 hours ago, notme said:

Please make duas that I don't let these children down. It has turned into a much bigger project than I anticipated and we're cutting it really close on time left to finish before the end of the school year.  

Salam, Sister. What a wonderful project for your students. Making duas for you. 

[Essentials123]

21 hours ago, notme said:

I'm facilitating my first grade students writing a book on social, emiotional, self-management, and executive function skills, and we're going to have it bound like a real book and then distributed to all the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. 

good job! any plans to self publish it on Amazon or a similar place?

[notme]

1 hour ago, Essentials123 said:

good job! any plans to self publish it on Amazon or a similar place?

Hadn't really considered it. If we were to sell it, who should get the money? The school? The students divide it up? Donate to local food bank or homeless shelter? Mainly, I plan to produce enough copies that each writer gets one, plus one for each kindergarten and first grade classroom, plus one for our school library, one for each four other school faculty, and finally, one for me.  That's 31 copies, though i got cost estimates for 35 copies.  Not exactly a large-scale run.  

Edited May 21 by notme

[Essentials123]

21 hours ago, notme said:

Hadn't really considered it. If we were to sell it, who should get the money? The school? The students divide it up? Donate to local food bank or homeless shelter?

I am not sure who would get the money. Maybe you could let the children decide who they would want the money to go to if you took this route. I  published a children's book for free on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing once. I only sold 19 copies on the Amazon platform to date but we did get to buy some copies at a reduced rate and we sold an additional 30 or so copies to local businesses and at art fairs. It didn't come out to a lot of profit - maybe $200 but it was a good memory. Amazon KDP basically rips off producers - I think I got about 32% of each book sold and they took the rest but what I liked about it is that it is print on demand and you don't have to pay money to sell books through their platform.

[Hameedeh]

@notme Salam, Sister. When the children write something, please don't use their last name. Even if a parent or guardian gave permission to share the content in your book, they might change their mind later due to fear of privacy. If Sam N. wrote something, it would still be semi-anonymous. 

[notme]

7 hours ago, Hameedeh said:

@notme Salam, Sister. When the children write something, please don't use their last name. Even if a parent or guardian gave permission to share the content in your book, they might change their mind later due to fear of privacy. If Sam N. wrote something, it would still be semi-anonymous. 

I know. Thank you for mentioning for future readers. 

I have two students who have the same first name. I guess I'll use the last initial for them. For all others, first name only. 

I used Canva to build the book, and it's already looking really cute. I still need to collect writing and/or art from about a dozen students. 

 

My big obstacle is going to be getting it to and back from the printer in time to distribute before school is out for the summer. My other obstacle, apparently, is finding someone who will print for less than $250 and will not charge tax for tax-exempt customers (public school). The printer that the school system usually uses does not have the type of binding that I need, and they said it would cost $800 to get a product that doesn't even meet my needs and is nearly four times the cost a small local printer quoted. 

[Hameedeh]

@notme Salam, Sister. Try to call someone at your university (email won't get answered soon enough). They would be proud to know what you have been doing since you were graduated and might be able to help you. InShaAllah 

[notme]

I just sent my files to the print shop. They are going to make a test print for my approval before they complete the rest of the run. 

My boss wants me to send her my Canva file so she can print additional books at any time. I guess I have to - but I don't like it. I'd be ok with sending her a pdf. Actually, that's what I'll do: I'll send her a print-quality PDF and leave it at that unless she asks again.