A common obstacle in marketing and selling products that pay for themselves over time is the pay-back period, or the amount of time required before the advantages of the product overcomes its investment. A business buying such a product would need to have the cash reserves to tie-up money for months or years in order to achieve future savings. 

A hybrid pricing model that balances the upfront capital cost (price) with ongoing operational expenses may provide a solution. In other words, you could price the product at near-cost and require periodic payments (maintenance agreements, annual licenses, etc.) to generate revenue. This is a well proven and effective approach since the selling price covers your costs and the payments bring in cache flow and profits.

If this approach seems attractive and feasible for your business, consult an accountant to ensure your pricing and fees are precisely balanced and do not create cash flow or other financial challenges.
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Take a look at www.ustream.com since this may allow you to achieve what you're after.
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I think pictures and graphics make books more pleasant to read, whether they are printed or not. However, you will need to adapt your book for each distribution vehicle -- PDF, iBook, Kindle, etc. -- as each supports different text, graphics, and layout options.
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In my experience, small business owners can benefit from understanding that tools should not be allowed to define outcomes. Some do not fully appreciate this, perhaps because they spend so much time running their businesses.

I recommend small businesses determine a "why" (strategy) before they consider any "hows" (tactics). Only then should they review available resources (tools) and choose those that will best ensure their desired outcome. Many owners reverse this process and the success of their businesses is compromised as a result.
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I've worked with several startups and young companies and assisted others that have found themselves in similar circumstances. I think it's wise to simplify the decision. In other words:

Do you want to be the majority owner of a stable and profitable small business...

...or one of many minority owners of a rapidly growing business that will be acquired or sold in the future?

If you choose the later, you'll be working for a reasonable pay check until the company is acquired or sold. If you want to make bigger paychecks sooner rather wait for a big payoff all at once, get stable and profitable ASAP and accrue your big bucks along the way.
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Check out www.99designs.com. For about $100 or less, you will be presented with several to many good designs providing you with lots of logo ideas to get you started. Some of these designs may good enough to use without hiring a designer or pursuing other more expensive alternatives.
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I suggest you take your idea and imagine you are starting a new business instead, then prepare the materials you would need to get funding from a venture capitalist or other investor. The result should be that you develop a clear way to communicate your idea and a way to express its value. Once you have achieved this, paths and options will begin to appear for moving forward and making it real.
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You should expect to find that Walmart will show little interest in an idea. Their business model involves offering discounted products they can purchase that have a demonstrated demand from consumers rather than taking ideas and making them products.

You should try to create a small batch of products from your idea and market them directly to potential buyers. You will find that about one person per hundred is willing to take a chance on an unknown product or company. These people are often referred to early adopters and this community can often be found (or will find you) on the Internet.

Once you have some customers you can approach small resellers and work your way to larger ones, eventually convincing Walmart to carry your product.
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You will find it's possible to have some of the resources you need at essentially no-cost such as credit card merchant services, website, etc. Still, you should expect to need a little money for obtaining the materials you may need to deliver products or services. Perhaps this could be assisted using a personal credit card.

For example, you can sign up for a Google Checkout account at no cost and begin to accept credit card payments. You'll pay a small percentage (about 3%) of the amount and some small fees (usually less than $1) each time you bill a credit card, so include this in your prices to cover these expenses. There are other solutions such as Weebly.com for setting up a free website with an online store.
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You will need to meet the expectations of medium sized businesses to become a viable provider. For example, you will need to provide the types of services they expect at the quality levels and price points they are accustomed to experiencing.

Yes, this probably means you'll need to raise your prices or provide more comprehensive 'solutions' for them. You'll also need to brand and act like a medium business provider. Perhaps by using terminology like solutions. All of this helps to remove any apparent risk in trying your organization.
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