Make some money for your library/school

[Josie Whitehead]

I have been a member of TLNing for some time, and I am both a retired teacher and also a poet who writes extensively for children.  I write a great deal of my 900 poems with rhyme and rhythm, and lots of stories because the children at my local school told me they love poems done in this way.  I've had many many of my poems published.  344 were chosen two years ago to be published by an educational publisher, but, unfortunately when he brought out his five books, there were unforgivable mistakes in them and I had them stopped legally and my copyright returned to me.  They have been going out to schools all over the world from my internet website.  From April 2011 - April 2012 they went out to 188 countries of the world and I had 602,000 pages from my website viewed.  I also did many skype visits to classrooms. I am trying desperately to bring some work to some of our young animators and artists who are without work and hope they can illustrate beautifully my website.  So I have made my website containing the 900 poems into a low-cost subscription site, but I have told teachers and librarians, and also charities, that they may, with my permission and a legal agreement, use my poems to make books for their schools, and perhaps the children might like to illustrate them and make them personally their own.  I am sure they would never ever want to give them away.  All I would ask in return is a small return, ie 5% of the profit, and this is for myself and my artists and animators to improve the website so that your children will enjoy it more.  This is a new idea only this week, but in my own town the church is interested in this in order to raise money for the roof fund, and our local Grammar School who have now the children for whom I wrote the poems, are interested and said:  "What a really fun project for schools to participate in.  It is a project that will teach young people that they can use their skills to bring in income for themselves and their schools, and in a time of recession, this is a new way of thinking rather than looking always for someone to employ them." hmmm   I'd just love some feedback to my idea from your community.  You can see the website by Googling JOSIE'S POEMS and I'm assembling my poems into non-illustrated books at the moment.  You might like to try one of the books with your class first of all.  Feedback from you all please or tell your favourite charity to come to the website.