Neil Said:

Does anyone know what is needed in order to begin a small business writing personalized books for children?

We Answered:

It can be extremely expensive to publish books, especially if you are personalizing each one. The cost of printing is very high these days and most publishers will look to print en mass, thus making this route unsuitable for your associate's needs. Her best bet is to research self publishing on the web for companies that print on demand. Because they are printed as they are sold these companies may allow for some personalization for each printing. Start with Lulu as they are one of the premier self-publishers. (www.lulu.com)

As for illustrators, she can go to Elance (www.elance.com), a website of freelancers that will bid on her project. She will be able to post the job that she wants performed (for free I believe) and people will bid on what they are willing to do the work for. Many bids are very inexpensive but you will get what you pay for. If she does not find a suitable bid she can try again or not, there is no commitment.

As for software, MS Word is probably the best bet for doing the layout. She can probably do 90% of the work here since it is a book. If publishers will not accept Word's .doc format and require a PDF, she can download DoPDF for free (www.dopdf.com)

Hope this helps.

Mike
M&G LaserWorks
www.mglaserworks.com