Midwest-Based Educational Book Publisher And Distributor

Business Description
Midwest-Based, Market Leading, Educational Book Publisher and Distributor Available for Immediate Sale.

Since 1991, this company has established itself as a leading traditional royalty paying publisher and distributor of educational content for grades K-4. This company publishes 800 English and Spanish print books and 795 e-books which are sold to public and private schools throughout the US and internationally. Revenues from proprietary print titles were 74% of revenues, e-books were 26%.

The company differentiates itself from its competitors by the quality of its content and materials. All books are paperbacks of 8 to 112 pages, with saddle stitch or perfect bind bindings. Most of the Company's titles are officially leveled by Fountas & Pinnell (Heinemann Publishing). Many books are on approved reading lists for national organizations. The company is an approved vendor with numerous school districts across the USA and has 2 years remaining on the 7-year contract with NYCS to provide books for K-2 assessments. All books are printed using outside printing companies in the Midwest for shorter print runs and overseas for longer runs. In 2021, the

company launched a digital collection of nonfiction titles (LEAP) combined with fiction titles. Print was also added in early 2022. New products are developed internally by the company's content development staff. Many titles are created by the staff, submitted by authors, or contracted out to book developers.

The company is structured with competent employees in all positions to continue the growth of the company. The owners are not integral in the day-to-day operations of the company, and the owner is willing to continue for a period of transition if needed or desired by new ownership.

This is turn-key business opportunity with established brand equity, in-demand product lines, customer contracts, printing and distribution processes, and a well-trained, motivated, and professional team in place to generate returns from Day One.

Facilities/Location/Real Estate
The company leases 1,800 square feet of Class A office space in a large office building located in populated, diverse, and vibrant community. The lease has triple net terms at the rate of $2,953/month with an escalator each year based upon shared building costs. The present lease matures June 30, 2025 but the landlord is offering renewal options. The company pays utilities and since some employees work remotely, there is room for expansion of the office staff in the space if required.

The company also contracts with the third-party fulfillment company for book distribution. The contract provides for rent of $8.00 per pallet and a fixed cost per order picked and shipped. The present agreement runs until January 2026 and renews annually thereafter. The agreement may be cancelled with 180 days notice for any reason.

Reason For Sale
The owners have built this company, its intellectual property, clients and other databases and trained a team as the means for a life-long career but also as a means to fund their retirement. Now they are at an age when retirement is approaching and grandchildren are demanding more attention.

Products, Services & Licenses
The company's books are a powerful complement to any K-4 reading program. Carefully written to standardized criteria for early, emergent, and fluent readers, the books provide a fun and educational experience for every student!

The product line offers a variety of fiction and nonfiction titles, many of which support cross-curricular learning. The titles are aligned with curriculum standards and offer built-in teacher support to guide and enhance instruction. Many of the titles are also available in Spanish and approx. 120 of the books are on the National Reading Recovery Book List. The company's writers’ knowledge and experience ensure the books appeal to children and motivate them to develop their reading independence.

The licensing content is a valuable resource with attractive incoming royalties supporting the cash flow and margins.

Terms & Options
The Company leases 1,800 square feet of Class A office space in a large office building. The lease has triple net terms at the rate of $2,953 with an escalator each year based upon shared building costs. The present lease matures June 30, 2025 but the landlord offers renewal options. The company also contracts with the third-party fulfillment company for book distribution. The contract provides for rent of $8.00 per pallet and a fixed cost per order picked and shipped. 
The present agreement runs until January 2026 and renews annually thereafter.

Financing Comments
This business has been pre-qualified for conventional financing for 20% down for 10 years. Please review the Prospectus for complete details on this offer. Candidate will be required to undergo full underwriting and final lending terms will be based on prospect creditworthiness and operational capabilities.,

Competition
This company directly competes with all school publishers. The largest competitors include McGraw Hill, HMH, Pearson, Benchmark, Capstone, Scholastic, Wilson Learning, and others. These companies provide packaged curriculum for schools K-12.

However, this business has carved out a unique, targeted niche by catering and supplying to the supplemental classroom market rather than compete directly against these volume competitors. The products supplement the curriculum product provided by others by providing teachers additional resources to use when the formal instructional program is not sufficient to reach the student needing additional support.

Potential for Growth
The company has identified the following growth opportunities. None of these opportunities have been incorporated into the financial projections contained in the detailed Prospectus.

Title Development - New books are in the pipeline for completion in 2023 with additional stories ready for development. Expansion with 24 decodable books will occur in 2023. Some of these titles are licensed from Giltedge Publishing and others are being developed by our internal staff.

Distribution - The company is searching for two new distributors who are interested in carrying our product line in 2023. The company completed agreements with Amazon in 2022 and launched the site in 3Q 2022.

Sales Representatives - The company has employed sales representatives in the past but converted to a distribution model in 2004. Engaging select high quality sales representatives is a valid opportunity for 2023 and beyond.

International - The company has a small international footprint but has on staff a part-time employee who is familiar with international markets and is presently working to identify two or more international markets and distributors for our products.

Marketing Opportunities - This area has been a consistent weakness for the company. Additional opportunities for growth are in expanded offerings within schools for learning lags caused by the pandemic, develop a complete phonics program, offering summer reading programs, home-school learning, exploring new channels such as gift stores, libraries, gift stores, early childhood, adding subscription packages for books plus ebooks for the home market, and more. Additional efforts in well constructed marketing campaigns using direct mail combined with email follow-up, social media coordination and TicTok videos are needed to propel the company to the next level.

Other- Additional opportunities exist in (1) licensing out many of our titles to other digital platforms. Since the company has its own platform, we can add titles from other publishers to display on our platform to receive royalty income, (2) pair Al instruction with the digital content of our books in phonics and regular reading instruction, and (3) develop a TicTok marketing plan to reach the Gen Y & Z markets.

Total Sales: $1,020,201

Cash Flow: $151,913

FFE: $50,000

Inventory: $440,771