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The toy industry suffered a major setback during therecession. Thankfully, it survived but the products comingout of the toy industry of late are quite boring. Onewonders where has all the innovation gone? If you have anoriginal idea to sell to the toy industry you will need togo about it the right way or else suffer rejection andfrustration.

Toy companies receive thousands of ideas from inventorsevery year, and accept only a fraction of them. So how canyou increase your chances of success? If you are planning toenter the toy industry you may benefit from these tips:

The first thing to remember while embarking into the toyindustry is to do a great deal of research but don't befoolhardy to presume that you can reinvent the wheel. Also,don't try to improve on existing popular toys. Don't thinkyou'll re-do Slip-N-Slide, for instance, and make it evenbetter. A lot of inventors make this mistake, or submit aso-called new idea that's already on the market. Do yourresearch, and leave product updates to a company's internalResearch and Development staff.

Your research should help you decide which companies totarget. As a rule of the thumb you should target toycompanies that produce products most similar to your idea.You may find more success with small and mid-sized toycompanies. It's a good idea to take the assistance of anagent who can be helpful in opening doors.

Next, you have to develop a prototype to show proof of yourconcept. The inventor has to bring more to the table thanjust an idea. He has to convince the company that it works.While making a presentation of the prototype, always aim forsimplicity. If you take twenty minutes to explain howsomething works, there's very little chance of success.

Understand the review process. In disclosing an idea, thingsoften come down to who had the idea first. Often the companyalready has the idea before you submit it. Companies likeWham-O document every interaction with an inventor. You cansteal an idea once, but then no one's going to work with youagain. So they depend on their integrity and honesty. Thecompany creates a few co-inventor relationships each year,in which two ideas are combined to create one product andthe co-inventors share royalties. Professional inventorsdocument every interaction they have with toy companies.

Finally, you must figure out your production costs.Surprisingly, many fledgling inventors do not. You shouldaim at the lowest possible cost per unit. Cost control willalso help you achieve your overall point: selling someone onyour idea. There are a lot of magic price points in the toyindustry and $20 is a big, magic price point.