Where is the Village at the Crossroads Headed: Our Vision for the Future

Welcome to the final part of our three part blog series introducing our project. Thanks for sticking around, or if you’re just finding this page, I recommend checking out the previous posts linked below:

·       Part 1: What is the Village at the Crossroads?

·        Part 2: Who is Creating the Village at the Crossroads?

·        Part 3: [You are Here] Where is the Village at the Crossroads Headed?

Assuming that you’ve read Part 1 and Part 2 of this inaugural blog series, you now have a solid understanding of who we are and what the project is. We are two guys, with a love of fantasy, who want to write quality books for kids. If we’re trying to summarize things, that’s really all you need to know.

However, I’ve always been someone who loves to dream. I’m guilty – almost always – of daydreaming about the largest and most fantastic possible outcome. After all, if I set the unimaginable as the ultimate goal, then I should be pretty satisfied if I only ever get 25% of the way there, right? 25% of “unimaginable” is probably still pretty good.

This project may result in nothing more than a single book on a couple of bookshelves for our friends and family. That’s probably a fairly likely outcome, and we could achieve that even without a crowdfunding campaign. But Sid and I have spent some time thinking about where we want to take this project if interest is high and support is significant. Here are some of our thoughts on the future.

A Growing Cast of Characters

As we’ve mentioned already, our current plan is a three-book box set that introduces some of the villagers who live in The Village at the Crossroads. These characters will be announced soon, and we’ll be using some classic fantasy archetypes as inspiration. What’s fun though, is that we’ve already thought up far more than three characters. Fantasy is such a wide genre to explore, and there are so many great roles to fill.

At this point we are envisioning several “groups of three”. If our first set of books is about “Villagers”, then what other groups could we introduce to the Village? “Adventurers” stand out to me – a group of characters that exist in and around the village less as residents and more as beloved heroes.

Or what about “Rogues”? Fantasy has all types of legendary characters who are morally grey. I’m envisioning a charming bard and a misunderstood thief featuring in a set like this. We also keep coming back to “Creatures”. Who lives in the wilderness around the Village? I would assume dragons, unicorns, griffons and other sentient mystical creatures that populate the most beloved fantasy lore. Nothing is stopping us from introducing these sorts of characters to the Village as well.

I won’t say the options are endless, but they’re certainly close! The key thing is that if we successfully produce and sell the first box set and are happy with the reception, we have plenty of ideas for future crowdfunding campaigns. The Village can and will grow!

Finding a Publishing Partner

As it stands, our plan is to self-publish these books. This isn’t because we are opposed to a publisher, but more so because we like the idea of having a “proof of concept” first. Creating a public website and social media presence is the first part of developing that proof. That said, the most important part will be the crowdfunding campaign, where the community can decide if this idea is worth supporting.

Assuming the crowdfunding is a success, our intent would be to pitch the project to traditional publishers. Self-publishing is doable, but it’s a lot of work. With Sid’s background we are confident we can put together a professional looking product – that’s not the concern. The challenge is going to be logistics: ordering from a manufacturer, packaging box sets and handling fulfillment. And that will just be for those who support the campaign. If the series has any legs, we’ll eventually want to be in proper bookstores, which logistically would be significantly more complex harder than whatever fulfillment we need to pursue after crowdfunding.

So a publishing partner is on our radar to really take this thing to the next level.

Merchandise, Toys, and Beyond

Let’s call a spade a spade – Sid and I are both entrepreneurs. Yes, the goal is to write wonderful children’s books my kids (and yours) can enjoy, but successful children’s brands often succeed by developing additional merchandise beyond the primary medium.

With the imagery Sid is already creating, we’d be remiss not to think about things like colouring books – we’re actually thinking of making this a stretch goal for the crowdfunding campaign. We’re designing characters we think are fun – maybe fun enough to wear on a t-shirt. Could these characters be cute enough to exist as plush toys as well? There is one character in particular that my daughter has already inquired about as a “stuffy”.

Focusing on Now, First

It’s fun to dream, but the reality is that before we could ever reach the heights, we first need to take the first steps and succeed on a smaller scale. That’s what we’re focused on now: completing the first book, and then moving on to the second.

The point of concluding our introductory blog series with this post isn’t to suggest that our heads are in the clouds. What we’re trying to highlight is that we are thinking about the big picture from day one. If we are lucky enough to be successful, we can keep the momentum going and hopefully grow the Crossroads into the wider world we think it could be.

Whatever it turns into, we’re hopeful it will be a project we can be truly proud of.