‘Twas the month before Christmas, and far across the sky, new copies of Pebbles and the Biggest Number were ready to fly… or so we thought.
The truth was that despite months of preparation and careful expediting to get the first edition of the new book ready for the holiday shopping season, thousands of copies were held up in Chinese customs instead! How did Pebbles get into such a mess and how did he get out? Well, let us tell you…
Many self-published authors today like to utilize Amazon’s “Print to Order” route, which enables you to publish without investing in printing a large batch that may or may not sell. Joey, the author of Pebbles and the Biggest Number, decided to go a different route. In order to maintain the beautiful quality and uniformity of the books, Joey, (author of the book,) enlisted the help of an overseas printing company. He ordered 3,000 copies to be transported from Shenzen, China to Brooklyn, New York. A third of the books were planned to travel via air and anticipated to arrive well before Thanksgiving, in plenty of time for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
However, in mid-November, Joey was notified that the books had been held up by customs in China.
As weeks and then even a month passed, Joey scrambled to find out just what was causing the delay. Eventually, he learned that everything had been caused by a tiny image, just over one square inch, at the back of the book. In this section, a map of China was shown to illustrate just how huge a space would be filled with 1 septillion grains of sand. The small, simplified map did not show Hainan and Taiwan, two small islands off the coast of China which happen to be disputed territories. To customs authorities in China, it seemed that this children’s book was flagrantly stating that China’s claim over these territories was false. The truth is that both Joey and the book’s illustrator, Laura Watson, were completely unaware of the issue and that their simplified map would be interpreted as an act of defiance.
Printing and distributing such books in China is actually punishable by jail time, and the books were subsequently transported to the Anti-Smuggling Department.
With the clock ticking, and every day decreasing the chance of a big Christmas sale, Joey reached out for legal help. American lawyers referred him to international law specialists, who told him that only Chinese legal help could assist with this particular problem. However, despite all of his attempts to secure reliable legal help in China, Joey was informed that overseas firms found the case to be “too sensitive”. He was warned that his books had probably already been destroyed.
Considering the fact that it was unlikely that the books would ever be recovered, Joey and Laura decided to reprint the book with a modification that would avoid any conflict. The map of China was replaced by one of the United States, with updated facts to reflect how much space 1 septillion grains of sand would fill in the continental United States. The team ordered a new batch of books from the same Chinese printer (with a discount, fortunately!) with updated graphics that wouldn’t cause a hullabaloo in customs.
Once production started for the new books, Joey was given some good news: 2,000 copies of the first edition were able to be salvaged! They could still be sold–provided they didn’t have any problematic maps on them! A custom sticker was printed and painstakingly placed on each book with an updated map of China that included the disputed territories.
Both the new books and the updated books were received in New York by January, too late for the holidays, but ready for a new year nonetheless!
In the book Pebbles and the Biggest Number, Pebbles the butterfly travels clear around the globe, from the jungle to the desert to the tundra. During Pebbles’ journey, the butterfly doesn’t worry about borders or maps. However, a glossy-paged children’s book doesn’t have quite the same freedom! So if you yourself are on a journey of self-publishing, take it from us: maps receive sharp scrutiny at the Chinese border. When using an overseas manufacturer, take note of anything that might be under dispute.
So far, we’ve limited the distribution of our books so that only books from the second printing run, with the map of the United States, are available for sale. In the future, we’re considering a special limited release of the first edition: the stickered books that made an intrepid journey through Chinese customs. What do you think?
