If you follow the principles in this book, it will pay for itself many times over!

Two characters in the last 30 years have enjoyed a commanding presence in the children's, middle grade and YA markets. For the rest of the industry, their level of achievement has been elusive at best and impossible at worst.

The world's most famous wizard and the original animated princess are more alike than you might think. They were both created by talented women from foreign lands. They rapidly re-made entertainment in their own images, and they combined to create a worldwide market worth more than $44 billion. Each of them changed the world in their own way.

They were so successful, no character has achieved similar results since. In fact, all their competitors have largely given up--

--And that's where you come in.

Industry veteran Shane Lochlann Black is proud to present the most action-packed business book you will ever read. Character Hero will de-mystify one of the most baffling markets in all of entertainment: children's, middle grade and YA books.

You will learn why everything changed in the late 1990s, how one business trifecta was replaced by its more modern upgrade, and how you can utilize the secrets of the most powerful marketing machine ever known in your own creative career!

Would you be surprised to learn both of the top character franchises failed, sometimes catastrophically? Would you also be surprised to discover the principles J.K. Rowling and Naoko Takeuchi relied on to succeed around the world are the same principles you can use to vault your characters to success in a market clogged with quantity instead of quality?

What followed the success of the 1990s? Total silence. The toy stores are gone. Cartoons are extinct. Even video games are becoming a concern for both lawmakers and parents. The book market is next. You need to know how to navigate this new world if we expect our industry to survive. There is only one kind of author who can save us:

A Character Hero!