I’m an author of several self-published children’s books. I have far more additional stories and ideas for additional books than I have the financial resources to self-publish them in a timely fashion. Self-publishing has become quite an expensive undertaking for me and I’m now on a fairly strict budget. (When I wasn’t, the costs were becoming nearly as large as my California Bay Area mortgage payment!)

I figure there are plenty of other writers and other creative types who may be in a similar situation. Perhaps together we can come up with solutions and models that will enable all of us to do more of what we love, with some earning more money to fund their own projects, and others working together on projects to save money. I love to write and to work with talented, reliable, honest, and fun creative people to develop ideas into books that will delight youngsters and those who are young at heart. I especially love to create books that are fun for adults to read to children for the umpteenth time. (Parents and perhaps grandparents of young children likely know what I mean about reading the same beloved books for children so often that the children memorize them and can “read” along.)

I’ve been blessed with three children (now all adults) and three grandchildren aged between two and three years old.

I seek creative solutions, suggestions, and alternatives for nearly all aspects of my present model. I write but couldn’t illustrate myself out of a paper bag. I have a wonderful illustrator but the cost of illustrations are by far my biggest self-publishing expense. I’d love to find talented illustrators who want to create children’s books of their own but struggle with writing compelling stories, or who those who both write and illustrate but would love to earn extra money illustrating  children’s books for others to earn extra money for their own projects, or would like to experiment with co-writing in a way that perhaps accomplishes some of each.

I also seek similar situations for those who do interior layout, editing, and perhaps cover design. All my books to date were self-published using Createspace. I’m open to printer alternatives, but ideally seek someone who has used Createspace for multiple children’s book projects.

I believe I’ve earned royalties for every month since my first children’s book was published about two or three years ago. I haven’t earned anywhere near enough to quit my day job and in truth that is far from my primary objective (as I love what I do for a living and plan to never retire from doing it.) My primary goal as a writer is to keep having fun and enjoying doing it while working with others who have similar, and perhaps complementary creative passions.

To give to you an opportunity to see the books I’ve published to date, they can all be found on Amazon by typing “Russ Towne” in the search field. If any of this sounds potentially interesting to you, or if you know someone for whom it might, I’d love to hear from you, or them. Please contact me via email at russtowne (at) yahoo.com. (I write it that way to minimize spam but please use the “@” symbol without parentheses, quotation marks, and without the spaces before and after the “@” symbol. You can probably also look up my email address via WordPress.)

I’m looking for Win/Win situations, mindsets, and attitudes and am not the type who wants something for nothing. I’m also happy to consider bartering Beta Reader, or story idea or flow services. I look forward to hearing from you!

With Love (for I believe anything not done with love is a wasted opportunity),

Russ Towne