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Getting a kick-start
Sep 07, 2010 (Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Paul Wood and Cash Wilson, high school friends in Bowling Green, are now hoping to cash in on a business relationship as adults.
The two have formed W&W Creative, combining the Weisiger Publishing and Ned Records companies that the two college sophomores started.
Wood is focusing on the business and marketing end of things, while Wilson is focusing on music and the layout and design of books.
"Cash was at (Belmont University in Nashville) and he got experience in the music business while in work-study and he got the idea that there was an untapped market for those musicians who couldn't just sign with a big record label," Wood said.
"And I knew this great writer, Dori (Norman), who had been rejected by several agents," he said. "I thought we could give her the attention she needed."
So the two hooked up with a nonprofit arts-related organization, kickstarter.com, that helps artists raise funds for a variety of things, including publishing books or producing music.
They have until Sept. 27 to raise $1,500 to have a first printing of Norman's book. The Bowling Green resident's sister is selling T-shirts that are expected to contribute about $300 for the cause. If they don't raise all of the funding by the end date, the donations are given back to the contributors.
Contributors are given "rewards" at certain contribution levels for each project. In this case, a $5 pledge gets a personalized e-mail from the author, $10 will get you the first three chapters of the book in prerelease, and $25 will get you an e-mail copy of the book and the prerelease chapters.
The website is: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1016973399/taming-clancy-a-teen-read-without-vampires-0.
"Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors," the organization's website says. "We believe that ... a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide; a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.
"Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully funded or no money changes hands."
The website has been featured in several national news publications.
"We decided to use the website because we are two broke college students," said Wood, an economics major at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. "The $1,500 will cover all the costs of production, but we will have to use some of our own money for marketing."
Wood is marketing the book, "Taming Clancy," as a teen-read "without vampires" -- a nod to the popularity of vampire-related young adult fiction.
Wood said the two worked with Chris Bixler, assistant director for Western Kentucky University's Small Business Development Center, to build a business plan.
"And I met with Hart to Hart Publishing in Morgantown and Linda J. Hawkins, who publishes children's books, to get ideas about start-up costs," he said.
Wilson, who is a music business major with an emphasis in song writing, said they presented the business plan to parents and a few friends.
"Our parents have been extremely supportive of it from the get-go," he said.
"It's one of those things that just sort of happened," Wilson said of their partnership. "All through high school I played in bands. And this time last year I decided I wanted to form my own record label. Because it's not like there is going to be a giant hand in the form of major record label that's going to swoop you up. I looked at the facts to see what it would take to get up and running.
"Paul had talked to me all through high school about publishing a book. And he had built up a certain knowledge about marketing tactics and the business side of publishing, so we decided it would be a good idea to take the best part of both of our skills and form a company."
So far, Wilson has recordings from two artists -- one of himself at a live concert and the other by guitar player Rick Corte. Both are available on iTunes and Amazon.
"It's nothing huge, but we have a little bit of revenue coming in every month from them," Wilson said.
Wilson, who for now will record music using computer software, said they are looking at becoming a partner with the iTunes store.
While the music is only available digitally right now, Wilson said they might consider re-releasing it and packaging them as CDs as the business grows.
While Wilson and Wood are both away at school already, they plan to keep up with the business, communicating through e-mail, videoconferencing and Skype. They hope to spend several months focusing on Norman's book launch, but also want to have a new writer's contest in area schools, looking for new talent.
The two hope this is a business they will continue in even after graduation.
"Hopefully it becomes a thriving publishing business with 10 or 20 projects going," Wood said.
-- To contact Wilson or Wood, e-mail creative1@gmail.com. Their website is http://weisigerpublishing.books.officelive.com/default.aspx.
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