Entrepreneur Links Children's Authors with Teachers
Nick Glass brings the authors and illustrators of children's books to life through a web site he says is an unparalleled multimedia children's literature resource. He started work on www.TeachingBooks.net in late 2000.
Nick Glass believes that when teachers really know the authors and illustrators of great children's books, they will provide children with a significantly enriched learning experience in youth literature.
Glass is building a business and betting his future on TeachingBooks.net LLC, an Internet-based resource that makes global connections between authors and teachers a reality. He is an educator at heart, and the heart of his business venture is great children's literature and its creators.
"I quit working a wonderful job in a children's bookstore in late 2000 to devote my energies to TeachingBooks.net," says Glass. "I knew I had to learn about business. Three people told me to take a business fundamentals class at the Small Business Development Center."
Glass completed the class at the same university where he had done much of his graduate work -- the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He ended up with about 250 pages of miscellaneous notes. Then he got counseling from the SBDC's Jack Reiners. "Jack encouraged me to get a business plan into readable form. I knew I needed a plan if I was going to raise some capital.
"I've done everything the plan needs, but very deliberately, very slowly." Glass proudly displays a thick binder. It has crisp tabs that organize pages into all the categories of a classic business plan. The binder has a prominent place on a shelf in his home-based office. The rest of his shelves are overflowing with copies of new children's books sent to him by publishers.
How TeachingBooks.net Works
Here's a sampling of what subscribers to this virtual encyclopedia of children's literature resources can access. They can:
- Watch quality five-minute movies of authors and illustrators in their studios
- Access discussion guides to more than 1,000 books
- Ask questions of their favorite authors
- Obtain comprehensive author study programs
- Link to thousands of children's literature and educational sites
- Receive detailed, custom emails that instantly connect them with resources meeting the needs they specified
Glass has raised private financing to support his venture. His business plan has a comprehensive market research section. Revenue sources include advertising and subscriptions from individuals, school districts, and libraries. Glass says he is thinking about outsourcing the sales work to these markets while he concentrates on sales to major groups such as state departments of instruction and associations.
"I've got to try what I want to -- first!" Glass says he has been approached by a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner for a non-exclusive distribution agreement for his service, but that he turned them down. "I figure I'm independent only once."
Glass continues with SBDC counseling as he pursues his dream. He considers it a valuable reality check. As his business develops and issues become more complex, he still recalls some advice he got from a man he met on a bus. "The guy said, 'Watch your dollars and be as creative as you can, early-on. Because the day will come when you're not as creative as you are now.'"
Why is Glass in business? "Because I have something I want to accomplish. This is my strength; this is what I want to do. I want this job.
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