This mumpreneur has self published a series of books based on a real need they solved – how to get distractible kids to eat and learn at the same time. Now the challenge is to drive distribution above the existing 1000 books over the last two years. With retailers seeing more than 40 new self-published titles a month, its vital to get a distributor that can help stand out from the pack and from the Majors, who sell the same generic product, to everyone.
By Claire Heaney This article first appeared in The HeraldSun July 03, 2014
LIKE many parents, Victoria Piperkos struggled to get her baby Alex to try new foods. “He was into everything apart from eating,” she said. She found that storytelling was her saving grace.
“I would make up these stories about imaginative Sneekybaby characters that would make mealtimes fun and it worked. He was learning and eating at the same time,” she said.
When Alex started responding, she and husband Tony started to think they were on to something. The stories aren’t about eating your greens and growing up big and strong, but concentrate on everyday problems of maintaining friendships and making the right decisions.
Ms Piperkos, who had worked in retail and most recently as a category buyer for Cotton On and Ms Piperkos, a CocaCola Amatil executive, put their heads together to work on developing a brand line.
Ms Piperkos said they threw around ideas including apparel, books, plush toys, digital and animation. She did some legwork about getting the apparel made in China and exchanged swatches of material with a manufacturer of tops and bottoms. They created a business plan but ended up going back to square one, deciding the books needed to be the basis on which the business was built.
“We thought we could always go on and do the other things from the books, such as animation,” she said.
Ms Piperkos said the series of four books introduces a different character and tells the story of their unique personality accompanied by a simple lesson. The Sneekybaby first series introduces Dan the Dog, Molly the Mouse, Bob the Bunny and Caz the Cat. Mr Piperkos illustrated the books, built a website and started a Facebook presence. Although the couple now live in Melbourne, the books were written and illustrated while they lived in Sydney with Bondi as the backdrop.
A distributor has been appointed to sell the books to schools and libraries, but Ms Piperkos takes a hands-on approach with the smaller book shops and boutiques. “I have found that when I go into a shop and speak to them about the books, that they buy them. I don’t have as much success if I ring up businesses,” she said. “If I can go into a shop and talk to them about myself and the books they will always take the books on.”
Going to her son’s daycare centre and reading the books also has been rewarding as she can see how kids react to them.
Alex is now four years old and the couple are planning to keep building the business.
“We hope to have some plush toys in about a year or so,” she said.
Ms Piperkos concentrates on the sales while Mr Piperkos looks after the marketing. “We have had excellent feedback. A few of the young professional mums I have spoken to have talked about what we could do with it. We have plans but it all takes time,” she said.
THE EXPERTS
John Downes, Director, acorro business advisers
GREAT job, Victoria and Tony! Selling 1000 books as a self-publisher is an amazing achievement and clearly involved a lot of leg work and commitment.
You are on the right track. Retailers see more than 40 new self-published titles a month — some fabulous and some landfill. So your door-todoor approach is helping get around the wow factor of the big publishers, by selling based on quality and personality.
The next big question is, “Do you need the bigger groups like Dymocks, Readings or Mary Martins?” This would probably need the support of a distributor.
The better distributors such as Dennis Jones & Associates have the ability to promote self-published works to the groups, independents, many online sellers, and to deploy Sneeky baby in any e-book form. They can influence what will be reviewed for the 2015 Children’s Reading Guide, which has amazing reach. To qualify, you will need to get a reading. They guard their reputations and have to be satisfied that the products are of a remarkable standard before they will put them forward to their customers.
Some self-publishers find the distributor’s costs, trading terms and sale-and-return policies just a bit too corporate. I’d do some research into this on the web forums to get a sense of the pros and cons.
Carolyn Tate, Marketing expert Carolyn Tate & Co
THE Sneekybaby books are gorgeous. I love the characters, the colours and the copy, and the messages are really relevant for kids today.
Building a sustainable and solid business from selfpublished books alone can be very challenging. That’s why it’s great that you are looking at generating additional income streams through merchandising, toys, events and even children’s entertainment services (think Wiggles and Bananas in Pyjamas).
My question would be, are you serious about growing this into a big business or are you looking to simply generate a healthy income to allow you the lifestyle that you want, to care for a family?
If it is the first you will need to think big, get a plan and be religiously diligent at bringing it to fruition.
Distribution is everything and a combination of direct to market and indirect through distributors and bookshops is paramount.
I would be studying other kids’ educational franchises and see what they are doing well and borrowing ideas from them. It’s not just about the books, it’s about bringing the characters to life both online and in the flesh. Are there online games you can play with kids? Get a plan and stay focused!
LIKE many entrepreneurs, Victoria started with a problem, got creative and came up with something that has connected with a specific audience. In addition to her current “offline” marketing, I encourage Victoria to invest more time to harness the power of the web as a way of reaching a far wider audience. While the website looks great and is mobile responsive, the amount of copy on the site is inadequate. Victoria should think about what she says to book retailers and parents that motivates them to buy and include this on the site. From an engagement perspective, segmenting the site to talk to specific audiences would also help parents, kids and retailers.
A blog, targeting parents with young children, addressing learning issues and parenting would be a powerful addition. This will build an audience and add needed content. Short, animated videos featuring characters from the books loaded to YouTube would be a great addition. The kids would love these and parents would be likely to share.
“On page” optimisation needs to be completed to assist visibility and a site map added to help search engines better index the site. Robot.txt should be added to pages they wish the search engines to trawl. I suggest they also consider offering a Kindle version, as increasingly many young parents are likely to consume books in this format.
Bruce Hall, Mentor, Mentor Small Business Mentoring Service
LIKE many entrepreneurs, Victoria started with a problem, got creative and came up with something that has connected with a specific audience. In addition to her current “offline” marketing, I encourage Victoria to invest more time to harness the power of the web as a way of reaching a far wider audience. While the website looks great and is mobile responsive, the amount of copy on the site is inadequate. Victoria should think about what she says to book retailers and parents that motivates them to buy and include this on the site.
From an engagement perspective, segmenting the site to talk to specific audiences would also help parents, kids and retailers. A blog, targeting parents with young children, addressing learning issues and parenting would be a powerful addition. This will build an audience and add needed content. Short, animated videos featuring characters from the books loaded to YouTube would be a great addition. The kids would love these and parents would be likely to share.
“On page” optimisation needs to be completed to assist visibility and a site map added to help search engines better index the site. Robot.txt should be added to pages they wish the search engines to trawl. I suggest they also consider offering a Kindle version, as increasingly many young parents are likely to consume books in this format.
