“Stranger in the Woods” Leads to Bestseller Trilogy

By Jim Barnes - Dec 20 , 2007

Model for success—Wildlife photographers turned children’s book publishers

How is a successful book publishing project born? Sometimes, by accident.

For example, about ten years ago veteran nature photographers Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick were planning a book about the whitetail deer, and, while sorting through their thousands of photographs, Jean spotted a whimsical, wintry shot of deer gathered around a snowman.

“We should do a children’s book,” she blurted out. The impulsive statement eventually changed both their lives. This 2007 holiday season now marks the launch of their third children’s book featuring the whitetail deer, and the snowman now graces the cover of about 1.5 million sold copies of Stranger in the Woods.

“At first, doing a children’s book seemed crazy, but we soon realized that it made perfect sense,” says Carl about his wife’s prophetic suggestion. “The coffee table-style book we had planned would have been very expensive to produce. With a 48-page children’s book, we could consider self-publishing it and maintaining control of the project. Plus, it would give us a product under $20, a kind a magic number in the gift market.”

As it was, they still went broke producing and printing the first 20,000 copies in 1999, with no idea how it would sell when they set out hand-delivering it to stores. Their close connections with nature conservancies and community groups familiar with their nature art paid off. The book got lots of attention, the intimate animal photography struck a chord, and it was a perfect holiday gift. A month later they were reprinting another 40,000 copies, and they haven’t looked back since.

The original book spawned a movie, soundtrack, board book, and the follow-up titles, Lost in the Woods (which became a smash hit and won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Best Children’s Picture Book of Year in 2005), and the newly released First Snow in the Woods, to complete a trilogy that Carl is just now realizing the power of.

“I didn’t realize until now that people are buying all three books. They’re collecting them all.” It also got the books into the “series” category on the New York Times Bestseller List, right alongside Harry Potter and Olivia. At Borders, the new book ranks #1 in sales, and Stranger in the Woods ranks #2, demonstrating the “add-on” purchase principle. At Amazon.com the new book is paired with a board book in the “Better Together” feature, and the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” feature suggests eight more of their products.

In 2004, the couple took another chance with their second book by coming out early in the summer, and designing it with nothing to do with winter or the holidays – check out the spring-like color palette — and its success confirmed the quality of their work.

“We had to prove we could do it again, and it did seem a bit crazy to come out in early summer and ignore that 80% of books sell at the holidays,” recalls Carl. “But we also had a huge following with teachers (and grandmothers, too), who were out there on vacation and really helped it take off.” Retailers were still lukewarm about the book and its viability for the holidays, when Sams and Stoick fired off a 20,000 piece mailing to announce the book, using the huge contact list they’d compiled during years of exhibiting at art fairs and book shows. Soon their newest book was on the New York Times Bestseller List and well-stocked in stores.

With First Snow in the Woods, Sams II and Stoick should again satisfy holiday sales-hungry retailers with a fall/winter cover image, and please fans of the book series with another charming story about the fawn growing up and learning about life and its changes. The book has really taken off, thanks in part to a marketing plan bolstered by a direct mail campaign, early press coverage with glowing reviews, and personal appearances at regional shows.

Today, when they do a show they send out a mailing to their contact list of the region’s target audience. All the signals of another hit are in place: the bestseller lists, Amazon ranking, press coverage, reviews, and bookstore displays.

But what really turns Carl on is the reaction from the kids themselves: “It’s when their eyes light up and they give you a big smile, and you know you’ve reached them — that’s what really matters.”

Lessons Learned in turning a successful book into a franchise

“If you’ve got a book that’s really good, you’ve got to keep it alive,” says Carl R. Sams II about the way he and Jean Stoick turned their first children’s book into a line of products and promotions that all self-publishers can learn from.

Customers love to collect a series
Keep books in the same format and make it a natural for them to “Collect ‘em all!”

Reach various age groups
Create products for different age groups and styles of reading (e.g., board books).

Produce in multiple formats and price points
Adapt your book into video and audio formats to reach different reader styles, and create add-ons and products like plush toys and greeting cards to offer different price points.

Teachers and schools are great customers
Teachers and librarians can be your best promoters, so treat them well and create curriculum guides, posters, and giveaways they can use in their classrooms. What better way to reach kids than where they’re learning to read and to love books?

Utilize technology
Use technology to highlight your books and your other products and make it easy for customers to buy. Add activities, coloring pages, and fun features to attract users and give them a reason to revisit your site.

Maintain a good mailing list
These days it’s hard to keep contact lists updated, but it’s worth the effort. Customers can’t buy new products if they don’t know they’re available, so make every effort to get the word out, especially to those who’ve purchased products and contacted you already.