So, You Wanna Be . . .Breaking into the kids’ market — those who’ve done it share their stories

MAKING KIDS’ MUSIC

Do you make up songs that have your toddler laughing hysterically? Do you go to concerts and think that the songs you compose are just as sing-able? If you have a particular affinity for kids and music, you may have what it takes to become a children’s performer. Talented singers usually become children’s performers through one of two routes: either they are music educators, or they are parents who want to reach a broader audience. And it can’t hurt to have a catchy name. Dan Cohen, whose alter ego, Danna Banana, has been reducing children to hysterics for the last four years, went the latter route. A trained opera singer, Cohen began writing songs when his first child was born 11 years ago. He went full-time as a children’s performer four years ago, after his first CD was released. Cohen, who has a studio in Manhattan, but lives in Nyack, said his perspective is “playful — I emphasize fun, seeing things from a kid’s perspective.” Erin Lee Kelly from Manhattan, and Marci Appelbaum from Astoria, Queens, make up the acoustic guitar folk duo, Erin Lee and Marci. The duo went the educator route. They test their music out on the “300 kids we teach each week” at a musical theater class at Trevor Day School, and at Music Together classes. They just released their first CD, “Someone’s Gotta Wanna Play”, which “focuses around a child’s actual experiences — losing a tooth, or visiting grandparents.” Elmer L. Hammond, who teaches vocal music at a middle school in Jamaica, Queens and is the choir director at a church in St. Alban’s, sidelines as a local performer and is working on a children’s hip-hop CD. The Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter, Wendy Gelsanliter, was originally a performer for adults; while doing that, she got a teaching license and started teaching preschool. She described a “natural progression” of moving from teaching kids to entertaining them. And once Cohen became a professional performer, he was offered a job teaching music in Montclair, N.J. “This was the best thing that happened to me. I’m not a trained pedagogue,” he says. “The job offers a way to hone your craft as a musician and to see how things work with kids.” Cohen says, “As I perform songs more and more, I see some lend themselves naturally to performing.” He is also able to better gauge what activities work best with different ages. Cohen tests out his songs on his three children, now 11, 9 and 6. Cohen notes that there is a “lot of opportunity to perform if you look for it” — libraries, bookstores, schools, temples, churches all look for children’s musicians. New York City, in particular, has dozens of venues where children’s musicians regularly perform, from the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and the Jewish Museum to parks, summer festivals and zoos. But Elmer Hammond cautions that it is vital for children’s performers to go into all performances prepared — “not just for what you want to do, but for the audience.” Hammond notes, “The audience will make the performance for you. I use them, and encourage a lot of participation. “Listen to your audience,” he advises, “and you can almost never go wrong.” Ironically, while the metro area offers many performing venues, the city is not particularly friendly to fledgling musicians because of cost. Many performers find themselves priced out of the city. But while Cohen cautions that the career is “not exactly a path to huge riches,” he adds that the job is very rewarding in other ways. “I like the hours and the environment,” he says. “And you can’t be unhappy performing for kids.” Gelsanliter, who has produced both of her CDs, “Dancin' in the Kitchen" and "Ants Wear Underpants", says that once a fledgling performer has enough material for a CD, producing it at a home studio is relatively easy and not expensive. What costs money is promotion, and Gelsanliter, the mother of a 7-year-old, has also taken on this role herself — “pounding the pavement” with her music and getting it distributed nationally. All the musicians we interviewed attributed part of their success to luck; Cohen says he “lucked” into his teaching position, and Gelsanliter says it was a stroke of luck that led a song of hers, the title track of "Dancin' in the Kitchen", to become a picture book. She notes ruefully that while she was sought out to turn the song into a book (by Putnam), she has not had such publishing success since. The musicians suggest researching other musicians on the Internet. Gelsanliter got a boost from another performer, Laurie Berkner, just by finding her number and calling for advice. “She has been invaluable. Network with other musicians in your area,” she says. “I haven’t met one children’s musician who isn’t willing to sit down and give you advice. Because it’s children’s music — they’re good people. “We’re not competitive,” Gelsanliter says, “I will help another musician the way Laurie helped me.”

Resources —Children’s Music Network: www.cmnonline.org —Kids Music Planet: www.kidsmusicplanet.com —Danna Banana: www.dannabanana.com —Wendy Gelsanliter: www.bizzybum.com —Erin Lee and Marci: www.gottaplay.org —Steele Recording Studio. www.steelerecordingstudio.com

Making a CD: how much does it cost? Cutting your own CD can cost as little as $2000. Benny Steele, a drummer, songwriter, producer and engineer says, "The technology is so good that anyone with a PC can have a studio." His, Steele Recording Studio in Brooklyn, started out as "a little project studio" but has since grown professional. According to Steele, a CD with just an acoustic guitar could be produced for $3000-$4000 at a professional studio, plus about $2000 to print 100 copies of the CD; he estimates the cost for a professional graphic designer at $1500-$2000.

KIDS IN STORE By Nancy Cavanaugh

You see children’s specialty stores everywhere you go — from small town Main Street to high profile areas in major cities. They’re usually smallish locations, crammed full of unique merchandise. It looks like it would be a piece of cake to own one, right? Lisa Maldonado has owned Fidget’s in Park Slope, Brooklyn for 15 years. “I wanted to work in the neighborhood near my kids,” Maldonado says. “When I was getting started, I did a lot of research, finding the location and finding products. “Some of the challenges that we face every day include the weather, the economy, and the competition,” she says. Maldonado, who sells clothing, accessories, baby goods and fundamentals, credits her success to liking the business. “I like what I do. I like what I sell. People come in because they like what we have. I would like to think our customer service helps.” The keys, Maldonado believes, are “knowing your competition and knowing your location. Location, location, location.” Richard Moskowitz, a former garment manufacturer, opened Knoyzz in Rye Brook and Mount Kisco, two years ago. He says, “I saw an opportunity in the teen and cool young mom market.” Getting started, Moskowitz realized, “I knew I was going to need a catchy name. I originally wanted to go with ‘Noyzz’ but I couldn’t trademark it, so I needed to try something different. I ended up with Knoyzz. It’s great marketing,” he says. “People don’t know how to pronounce it right away so when they figure it out, they start chatting about it. Word-of-mouth is the most important marketing tool.” Moskowitz concurs on the importance of ‘location, location, location’. “I opted to open the stores locally because people don’t want to go to the mall any more. They want to shop in the local community where they can get excellent quality and service.” Moskowitz also credits his success to merchandise variety. “The secret to our success has been having unique merchandise of a wide variety. We have a constant flow of new stuff in. You can come in our stores and find something new every day. With our stuff, you can spend a little or spend a lot. There’s something for every budget. We offer a lot of ‘pluck for the buck’,” he says. Barry Cohen and partner Perry Schorr own Lester’s, a high fashion children’s department store with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and New Jersey that got its start as a kids’ boutique. Lester’s carries everything from layette to young men’s and contemporary young women’s fashions, as well as shoes and special occasion. “We’re all about fashion, we’re not a basics store,” says Cohen. “We want to be the first one to offer a new trend or item. We are shopping constantly. Every buyer and principal is reading every trade publication looking for the next hot company… hot trend… hot item. We have our buyers work on the sales floor so they can get a handle on who we’re buying for.” There’s much more to the business than knowing what to buy and buying it, says Cohen. “It’s a big challenge to get a staff hired and trained. We need to make sure our staff enjoys and accepts our goal of offering the customers the best service we can provide,” he says. “We deal with everything. We’re a family-owned multi-store business.” Founders Lester and Lillian Kronfeld opened Lester’s as a boutique for girls in 1948. Their first store was a small, 300-square-foot shop on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn. “They started the store because they wanted to be retailers and bring great fashion at discounted prices to the people living in Brooklyn,” says Cohen, who is also the Kronfelds’ nephew. “Lillian had a tremendous eye for fashion,” Cohen continues. “They were really the originators of choice, style and service. They put in a lot of hard work and long hours. Every day or two, they would go into Manhattan to get new merchandise. They would deliver orders to people’s homes. As the business started to grow, they hired a staff.” It wasn’t long before the Kronfelds recognized that their formula was working and that it was time to expand into other areas. “Brooklyn was becoming an upper-middle-class area. Their customers were requesting the same service and fashion for their other children. They began expanding to other stores to satisfy their customers. As stores became available, they bought them. They expanded to boys, then to pre-teens. Through the years, they expanded to nine stores on one block. “Presently we have four locations — the Brooklyn stores, one in New York City, a store we just opened in Greenvale, Long Island, and one in Deal, N.J.,” Cohen continues. “We have good locations. We try to get ourselves in where people are driven by style and fashion.” How has Lester’s stayed in business for 56 years? “The secret to our success is getting back to the basics — being fair to our clientele, being consistent, offering a great product and great service, and hiring good people,” comments Cohen. “I would like to think we have good services. We bend over backwards for our customers.” Cohen offers some advice for those who are looking at opening a kids’ boutique. “Save up your money. Make sure you work in the field for two years. That’s probably the most important thing. You need to know what you’re in for,” he advises. “You need to be smart about a lot of things; it isn’t just about buying and selling clothes. I’ve seen a lot of stores open, and they’ll be out of business in a year, year-and-a-half. They usually didn’t allot enough dollars and cents, and didn’t have a five-year plan. “It isn’t as easy as it looks,” says Cohen. “It’s a seven-days-a-week business, with the principals working 12-hour days.”

THE BESTSELLER LIST By Jan Wilson

Have you ever lulled your little one to sleep with a new picture book, and thought to yourself: “I bet I could write something like that!” Are you the kind of person who can fascinate your children and their friends with elaborate tales that combine fantasy and reality? Do you simply think that you “have a book in you”, and are your friends constantly telling you that you are creative and should do something with your talent? Do you envy J.K. Rowling? Maybe you should write a children’s book. But just how to you break into this competitive world? After all, people like Madonna, Maria Shriver and Spike Lee are setting their famous sights on writing for this lucrative market. And when you look at all the engaging books that are sitting on your children’s shelves right now, it’s easy to become discouraged and to go back to merely browsing in the bookstore, rather than trying to get your story into its stock. Jill Davis, the Upper West Side author of My Busy Day (Viking, 2004), says that creativity is still the key to getting published. “No matter what people think about what it takes to make it, selling a book is still about good, fresh writing that is directed to an audience that’s a known quantity.” Davis, who also is a children’s book editor, says she always tells other editors: “If you read something that’s not perfect but it has the germ of an idea that’s very unique and works on different levels, work with the author to make the story better.” Douglas Florian, of Jamaica, Queens, who has written and illustrated 37 books, including the upcoming Omnibeasts (Harcourt, 2004), says that it’s important to work on your story. “Try to develop your craft and have an open mind. Don’t think that the first thing that you are going to write is going to win a bunch of awards, although it may happen. Just keep writing,” he says. Marilyn Singer, the Brooklyn-based author of more than 70 books, including Block Party Today (Knopf, 2004), also believes in honing one’s skills. “The first thing I always tell people who want to write is that you must read a lot. You’ve got to know what’s out there. When most people talk about wanting to write a children’s book, they are talking about a picture book. But that’s the hardest genre of all. Every word has to be perfect, the rhythm has to be perfect, and the form has to be perfect. “The next thing I tell people is to write. A lot of people say they’ve got an idea, but they don’t actually put pen to paper. I also advise joining a critique group. It’s really important to read your stuff aloud and hear what other people have to say about it. There are also online writing groups. It doesn’t hurt to take a course, as well, in children’s writing,” says Singer. One organization that offers children’s book writing courses in New York is mediabistro.com, a website for media professionals, and other community organizations and libraries may offer seminars on the subject. Many online companies offer writing courses as well. Roni Schotter, a Hastings-on-Hudson writer of over 20 children’s books, says there are now many manuals that explain the nuts-and-bolts of the craft of writing kids’ books. “You need to be aware of the genres,” she says, “whether they are picture books, middle-grade books, or young adult novels. Be aware of the formatting of a children’s book. Most picture books are 32 pages, but many people have no notion of what the format is. Some knowledge is a great thing at the beginning.” Schotter, whose Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street (Orchard Books, 1999), offers advice to blocked young writers, began her career as a children’s book editor. She says that a writer must be able to deal with criticism and rejection. “Some of us love coffee ice cream, and some of us hate it. This is the same thing. In other words, writing is an art and it is so subjective. What one person doesn’t like, somebody else loves. “My first novel was turned down by a very famous editor. The second editor I sent it to wasn’t quite as famous, but was famous enough. She said that she really loved it. She said, ‘Frankly, I think it’s perfect,’” Schotter recalls. Florian echoes this theme. “There are many stories of successful authors who had to take their book to five or 10 or 20 editors before they got published.” He notes the Harry Potter and Dr. Seuss series as examples of titles that didn’t catch on with editors right away. Write from the heart, Schotter urges. “All of us who write for children write as children. You do it the way that children process the world. The best books deliver a message through a story that is deeply felt. When I write, I am a kid,” she says.