Pearson brothers self-publish book series

A handful of Fairfield residents have collaborated on a series of books published by a brand new company that two of them started.

Brothers Craig and Erich Pearson recently launched a publishing company called Quippery. The company has published two books on a similar theme, compiling the most gut-busting quotes ever uttered about pets. One book is called 'Fur & Purr: The Funniest Things People Have Said About Cats,” and the other is 'Fur & Grrr: The Funniest Things People Have Said About Dogs.”

Though the quotes come from famous comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Barry and Ellen DeGeneres, the production of the books was a thoroughly local affair. The covers of the books were designed by George Foster, the website for the books designed by Kevin Riley, and the website hosted by Craig Ridgley, all Fairfield residents.

An idea is born

Starting a publishing company is an idea Craig and Erich have ruminated over for years. It goes back to the 1990s, when Craig and wife Melissa grew tired of buying Christmas presents from a store. They wanted to give their family members something original and personal.

Craig hatched the idea of putting together an anthology of humor related to food and eating. The two compiled the material into a book and printed enough copies for each family member.

Then came Christmas Day. Craig and Melissa handed out the wrapped books during the gift exchange. Everyone opened them at once and began reading.

'Within moments, my sister was laughing. Everyone wanted to hear what she thought was funny, so she read it aloud - and now everyone was laughing,” Craig said. 'Then people resumed reading, and seconds later my brother was laughing - and the process repeated itself. This went on for 20 minutes before moving to the next gift. I thought, ‘There's something here.'”

Craig and Melissa did the same thing the following Christmas, except this time their anthology of humor was on kids and parenting.

'The same hilarity ensued,” Craig recalls.

They did it again the following year, focusing on humor about love and relationships.

'Another laugh-fest,” Craig said.

Craig and Erich began talking about publishing the books commercially. The brothers had run a successful house-painting business in their teens and 20s that paid for their college education. They dreamed of doing another business project together, and were convinced they had finally found it.

Instead of pitching the idea to an established publisher, the brothers set up their own company to do it.

'Finding a publisher is very difficult,” Craig said. 'Thousands of other authors are also competing for their attention. We also wanted total creative control. And between us we had the skills and experience to make this happen.”

Craig and Erich began working on these books in earnest about three years ago. They started by creating a list of topics that people would be interested. Craig and Melissa had already covered several in their homemade books, but the brothers generated many more, about 70 titles in all on topics such as marriage, health and fitness, growing older, golf, and of course, dogs and cats.

They wanted all the books in the series to have rhyming titles. For instance, the book they have planned for kids and parenting is called 'Rattles & Battles,” and the one on food is 'Eats & Treats.”

Cats and dogs were chosen for the first two books because their appeal is so wide. Craig said there are 70 million pet cats and 75 million pet dogs in the United States. That's a lot of potential customers.

Once the two had narrowed down their favorite topics, the real work commenced. The next step was spending countless hours researching the comedic routines of George Carlin, Jeff Foxworthy, Jim Gaffigan, and many more. They combed the archives of The New Yorker and The Onion. They even found hilarious material from ordinary folks on social media.

The brothers whittled down their selections for the book, then grouped the quotes into chapters. Erich was charged with tracking down the comedians' publishers to get permission to use the material, which carried a fee.

They made the books a square shape on the advice of a publishing expert who told them, 'Square says fun.” They searched far and wide for a cover designer and landed on one in their very own town, George Foster of Fairfield.

'George loved the idea and hit it out of the park with his designs,” Craig said. 'We've had tons of compliments on the covers.”

Foster recommended the Pearsons hire Kevin Riley to design their website.

'Kevin came up with a design that works perfectly with the cover designs,” Craig said.

Finally, the brothers needed someone to host the site, and for that they turned to another Fairfielder, Craig Ridgley.

The Pearsons have published their two books both in print and as e-books. For the print books, they use a system known as 'print on demand,” meaning that when someone orders a book online, a copy of the book is printed and shipped specifically for them.

'This means we don't have to invest in printing, warehousing and shipping thousands of books – that's all taken care of,” Craig said.

The books are available at several online outlets and at the Fairfield Public Library.

Craig and Erich are working on their next three titles, which they hope to publish later this year. They will be on kids and parenting, men and women, and golf. They plan on publishing three to four titles per year after that.

So far, the reviews have been everything the two could have hoped for.

'Two couples we know got together to read the books aloud, taking turns reading,” Craig said. 'Later, we learned that one of the guys laughed so hard as he read that he started crying and couldn't finish, so his wife had to finish reading aloud for him … just the kind of thing we were hoping for.”