Book Divas News™ Interview with Lisa Loucks Christenson

 2/10/2018

Book Divas News™ Interview with Lisa Loucks-Christenson Founder of Lisa Loucks Christenson Press.

 

Who is your company, what do you offer?

Lisa Loucks Christenson Press offers a complete book packaging experience,  grants of use to our pre-made serials, books, episodes and we do it for a fraction of the cost. We offer idea to finished book, the use of our name or your pseudonym; a finished product ready for market. All the writing, editing, photos/illustrations and more, included. 

How are you qualified to do this?

Lisa started selling stock photos (as a kid, actually), then spent years working for other publishers on various newspapers, traveling as an assignment photographer, reporter, layout and design, ad sales, telemarketing, subscriptions, shipping, fulfillment, moved into digital, broadcasting, and more.

Lisa began developing educational, science materials for the K-12 markets, Christian markets, secular markets and my work appears in textbooks, books, magazines, online. Lisa began shooting photos to art directors specs via digital direction. She'd shoot food (a specialty) in her Minnesota studio and the art directors in New York could, via electronic exchanges, tell her what they wanted changed. Lisa spent years shooting to spec the exact photo requirements and traveling all over the country to shoot and write stories.

In 2008, Lisa opened a gallery-publishing house, White Wolf Creek™, in two states, selling her own titles, handing photo trading cards of the dogs, promoting her (then) upcoming Bow Wow Detectives® book line pictured above), art, wildlife collection, books, ebooks, and exhibits.

Lisa owns her own call center that answers her brands, divisions, business calls 24/365, and clients that include other publishers, answering their calls, booking their schedules, more.  

In the fall of 2017, Lisa Loucks-Christenson opened Lisa Loucks Christenson Press a brand of book services and books, series licensed to other publishers. Lisa's spent thousands of hours of time, researching ideas, putting together her work as ready-made books, series, serials open to licensing in foreign markets, USA, print, electronic, and more. A larger publisher can take advantage of LLCPs established brands, book series, serials that Lisa's spent years developing, marketing, promoting into larger audiences, into new translations, and that may mean she'll get to do what she loves most: write, photograph, illustrate more! 

 Where do you get your photos and art?

Lisa has over 1M images in her personal library, photos she's shot for other assignments, books of her own, her documentaries, projects, clients and is always adding more. All of her art she creates from her photos, or stock footage, is owned, exclusively by Lisa. All of her images and art are Rights-Managed Images so they aren't licensed to two competing lines, series, or publications. This protects her buyers from designers copying book covers with the same models, images and the internet is full of covers in genres using the same images for competing titles, and that's because those images were licensed non-exclusively, or the rights ended on a license. 

Where do you get your books ideas?

All of LLCP serials, episodes, books, materials are written in-house from ideas Lisa gathers from inspirational moments, dreams, experiences, life events, and the outdoors––nature is a grand teacher. 

Who are your clients ? 

Due to strict confidentiality we honor we won't disclose our clients. We can share: we've developed fiction, non-fiction, secular and Christian books, materials, information, for various genres for over 35 years, as individual services (articles, content, story-text, news, photos, etc.).  

Why would a publisher choose a book packager? 

One reason a publisher comes to us (but it's not just publishers! We've always work with other agencies, companies, labels, non-profits, agencies), is to take on an already completed series, a ready-for-print book, a brand they can market and distribute under our grant of use license. We love creating new brands and works!

There are many other reasons, but if you're a publisher and you have an author who didn't complete their edits and you have a gaping hole in your editorial calendar––we can help! Publishers always needs new books, sometime they like the idea of creating a new book line or book series but don't have the budget or  time for editing, photos and/or illustration, book designer, indexer, or resources to create it. This is where we come in. We work fast, under tight deadlines, know the ins and outs of promotions and offer our network as a launching point. We know if you're successful with our books, you'll be back for more.

 

What name goes on the book?

It's all between the publisher and us. Can't share this, sorry.

What type of books do you package?

Illustrated, non-illustrated books, novelty books, pop-out, board books, fiction and non-fiction. 

What is an interesting service you provide that others may not know about?

We offer Stock Story™ a specialty service to publishers, book clubs, non-profits, business. Though the idea has been done by others, but under a different model, we offer another level of service. When a publisher is contracted to one of our Stock Story books, they choose whether they want us to handle call fulfillment.

If we handle the orders, we gather the character names for the Stock Story book, and make the changes in the file for the publisher. They simply print, or deliver the book. Or, for an additional fee we can send eBooks, Stock Books completed to spec.

 

What are Stock Story™ Books?

Stock Story™ books are our pre-written stories that we create using an establishment the client owns or wants to promote as the *Stock Story™ location and set with the buyers location and establishment. We replace character names, scenes, outcomes to the requests of the order (within certain guidelines). These Stock Story books are great for gift shops, tourism, businesses that want their own book about them and more. They can have us replace the Stock Story name with characters from their location (resell the stories using the book we created for them, and make personalized books for their customers!) A great way to create a book featuring a relative, grandkids, loved one, a friend and giving them a story they'll want to read––one about them!

What if the publisher (business, non-profit, store) wants to add Personalized or Stock Books but doesn't have the resources to handle the details or orders? 

We offer a 24/7/365 branded phone number "Good Morning Shop Name Book Ordering, etc."  and our operator will answer your callers, get their details for their personalized story.  We answer 24/7/365. 

For over 33 years (the call center) we've handled orders for publishers who aren't set up to take orders, and we forward those on to the publisher to fulfill. Other services are available too. 

Who owns the copyrights?

We own all the copyrights. We license all the books, art for generous time periods at reasonable costs. The authors name will be a pseudonym, but our publishing house name is listed inside. We own all the rights to our books, stories, photos, but if we use your business name, establishment we respect your copyright and trademarks and make no claim to your property.

How much are the royalties ?

We license all our Lisa Loucks Christenson Press Packaged Books under an exclusive flat fee license. This includes the languages, translations, distribution, print run, and other details determined per agreement. There are no additional royalties due us, when the contract ends the buyer has first right of refusal to renew it. If they don't the story remains ours to relicense, publish. We own all the rights to our works.

What if I get an offer for a television or movie offer on the book?

The books we create and licenses we grant are all handled through our licensing department. You choose what rights you want to include, exclusive or non-exclusive, film, dramatic, book, electronic rights and more. If you want to add movie rights you simply  request us to add it to the terms of your agreement. What rights are not under license, remain ours since we own all the copyrights. 

What is the best way to reach you?

Call us! (866) 562-5125 toll free 

Email us: BookPackagers@gmail.com

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

We'd like potential clients to know we love working with you for individual projects and for long term. Most of Lisa's clients have been her clients for over 35 years. 

Our clients have 24-hour access to Lisa for emergency changes, last minute needs, or questions that can't wait. 

Lisa has spent 40+ years shooting her own stock footage, films, wildlife footage and it's exclusive to her brands, and licensed to but not through other vendors sites. We don't allow our collections to be resold, every photo and illustration is Rights-Managed by us. So we don't allow a competitor to choose the same image as yours for their book cover. (We've heard many horror stories on stock  book covers). We also shoot on assignment, can create the sets, find models who we release for your projects. 

Lisa has worked with clients worldwide helping them create complete packages, looks, style, trade dress, their branding, ads, trade shows, books, exhibits and more. Lisa Loucks Christenson built her reputation and brands by providing original stories, photos, and can work with many budgets. 

Lisa's priorities remain: God, family, work.