It’s my pleasure to introduce you lovely blog readers to Don Bosco. Last year at AFCC, one of Singapore’s writing festivals geared to children’s content, I was volunteering and was lucky enough to bump into Don and get to know him– that is, after I mistakenly assumed he was a moderator for the session he was actually co-leading…. Oops! But he was wonderfully kind and has continued to be so ever since.
Here in Singapore Don’s well know for his Sherlock Hong series and Lion City Adventures book. He’s a passionate advocate of digital publishing technology, and has been a featured speaker at writing festivals and media conferences. He and his sons created Super Cool Books publishing company, he’s a local co-organiser for StoryCode Singapore and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
I love it that you and your sons have created a business together AND it’s been so successful. Can you tell us more about your publishing company Super Cool Books and how this father-son business model works?
Wow, thank you for your very kind description of what we do. I guess if there’s one word to describe our model, it might be “naive”. Especially when it comes to things like marketing and branding. We really started out as a home schooling project instead of a business. I thought we would use Super Cool Books to teach my kids how to write stories, how to make books, how to sell books, how to get our DIY books to the shops, and basically how publishing and retail works.
I used to be involved in indie fanzines and small magazine start-ups the 90s. With Super Cool Books, I applied everything I learnt about the creative side of DIY publishing. The aim was not to create a big business, but rather just to stick around and not have to quit or shut down. We laid out our first few books on Microsoft Word, and then PDF-ed these and sent them to the printer. No overhead costs. It worked ok.
It’s since been seven years, with over 40 titles, mostly chapter books, all aiming to engage children’s imagination in a new way, by playing off Asian legends and pop culture. And now we have proper publishing partners, and through them, proper sales and distribution systems to get our books out to the world.
Very naive, even now. But still kicking along. Thanks to all the nice people who’ve helped us along.
So you’ve had you hands in digital media since 2013. 2013! That seems like a hundred years ago, technologically speaking! What made you go the digital media/app route?
In the digital format, you have to be really emotional and direct. Unlike print, where the page is static and you can allow the page design to work for you, digital has to be immediate. The screen is sometimes very small, and always very active. Readers can scroll past your words at any time, or just switch over to another app. So maybe it’s like telegram. You really need to know what you’re trying to convey. Every word has to resonate. Buzz and hum with the essence of life. That’s why I love digital.
This is where the small publishers can really stand out. Because you don’t need big budgets. A simple Twitter comment or Instagram photo can help people grasp what you’re about. And recognise your book as something they need to read.
Back when we started working on our first book, some people really wanted to know what else we were up to. Other parents, especially, wanted to hear about how we came up with ideas and designed our books at home.
Instead of always repeating myself, it was a lot easier for me to just put all this information on the Internet. Eventually it was easier to just take photos of the work in progress. And that helped me transition to Instagram.
There was no real plan to go digital. I just wanted to connect with people more and more and they wanted to connect with us. And digital allowed that to happen fast, and cheap, and easily.
This is an example.
How have your various projects—paperbacks, e-books, apps—been received by your audience?
When I started out, it seemed like the obvious thing to do would be to connect with the literary kind of the crowd. That, however, developed very slowly. Sloooooo—wwwwwwly.
To my surprise, it was instead the parenting crowd that got excited and enthusiastic about our early stories. I got invited to speak at parenting events and participate as a parent blogger. Parents like that our stories are fun and easy to read, and there is a sense of wholesome, playful entertainment.
I also started out sharing free learning worksheets list on my stories, and parents and educators really liked the stuff. Especially the homeschooling parents, and some literacy activists.
So from the start I didn’t really think too much about bookstores and literary outlets. It was more about connecting with these passionate people who had a genuine interest in what we were trying to do.
What has been one of the biggest challenges creating these products?
The biggest challenge is bridging the space between the author and the reader. Creating a really authentic connection. But the bigger the operation gets, the more professional resources you have, it can’t help feeling more impersonal, because there are so many considerations and expert input from everyone along the line. How do you keep the stories fresh, fun and full of zest? That’s what I think about all the time.
Would you do anything differently after the learning curve of the past 5 years?
Be less shy, less careful, less anxious, less conservative.
Whatever money we spent in the seven years so far, maybe I should just have spent it all in the first two years. And concentrated all our resources on getting in touch with as many people as possible.
Perhaps I could have rented a space to have storytelling sessions and other activities for parents and kids. Just allow people to hang out and experience our stories in different ways. Have fun. Because it’s obvious that’s what young readers really want. They like to use their imagination to explore our storyworlds, and they want to feel like they belong there too. Like they’re citizens of this imaginary space.
That would be a superb use of money.
You have a very active blog, SuperCoolBooks, you take part in several writing events as well as host workshops. Which of these do you think gives you the biggest return?
Yes, I’ve done all that, and they’ve been rewarding along the way. But really the one that pays off the most, is running the blog. Any information I share stays up there, and the stuff gets passed around too. For years afterwards. People see what happens behind the scenes, and they decide to get in touch. So much has happened this way.
Ok, well, since you never seem to run out of energy or ideas, what’s next?
I’ve started experimenting with choose-your-ending type of stories. We did a simple prototype called Toy Mystery: The Secret of the Chatter Blocks. You can get a free download.
Thank you so much, Don!
If you’re interested in getting your hands on some of Don’s creations check him out at any of these places:
Kristi Wientge is the author of KARMA KHULLAR’S MUSTACHE (S&S BFYR).
