We have already informed the subscribership via the letter that accompanied our most recent volume, Stranded in Strange Waters, and we let selected households in the tri-state News Channel 8 viewing area in on the secret last week, so the time has come to share the news with you folks. We are planning on starting a new small press, one devoted entirely to children’s books, which we’ll distribute via subscription.

We know we don’t have time for this. But neither did we have time for a third child. We just knew we wanted a third child and we know that we want to make books for kids, so we’re going to do it.

As we were thinking about whether or not we could make this work, our biggest concern was my ability to write a decent children’s book. We had some success with My Henderson Robot, but could I write another book for children, and another after that, and another? Could I write enough children’s books to maintain an ongoing subscription?

We did not know. And so I decided to find out.

I am basically a creature of excess, and true to that form, I decided to write a children’s book a day for 100 days. I figured that would give me enough time to encounter problems, figure out how to address them, and hopefully come up with a few stories that worked.

Yesterday was day 100. It was fun to write all those stories, but I am really glad to be done.

Before we left for Alaska, we printed out the 55 stories I had written to that point for Robbi to read and consider. Here she is in our bed on the tundra, playing critic.

Both of us read through the stories and rated each one as “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” The good news was that there were a total of 20 stories that we both thought could make plausible children’s books and five that we both really liked. We were heartened.

There were an equal number of “no” votes, including some spectacular failures that I’ll share with you at some point.

The important point is that we convinced ourselves that we can start a small press that publishes children’s books, and so we’re going to do it.

We don’t know exactly when we’re going to have the first book ready to send out. We already have the name, are in the process of developing the logo, and have made a good start on the web site. We have the first year’s books written, but they remain unillustrated. Because our lives are full, busy, complex, etc., we want to have a good chunk of the books for the first year completely done before we launch, so we’re still a ways off from going live. But we thought it would be fun to use this blog to share all the steps and headaches that go into starting a new press.

So there you go—a dull, descriptive post with just one photo. Poor you.

Here’s what Kato had to say when we told him the exciting news.

We’re hoping kids elsewhere in the world can muster a bit more enthusiasm.