Most people who have considered self publishing know that there are plenty of websites online that are more than willing to print as many copies of your book as you want—as long as you’re willing to cough up a fee to print them. You can customize almost any element of your book: the type of paper you want your book to be printed on, hardback or paperback cover, the number of pages, black and white or color printing. But all these options can get very expensive very quickly, if you’re not careful.

Entrepreneur James Helmering came to this very conclusion when he had the idea to write and self publish children’s books. The costs of hiring an illustrator to create pictures for his books and then to print the books in color were too expensive, so Jamie re-envisioned his children’s books. He came up with a concept where he would write a story and let the kid be the artist. Unlike a traditional coloring book, which already has the pictures drawn, Jamie’s books let the kid take the reins and draw whatever they want, create their own pictures to fit Jamie’s story.

The stories themselves center around the everyday things that kids do: a day at the beach, a day at the zoo. Jamie has taken these normal events and made them memorable moments. Kids start to draw as soon as they can hold a crayon, and as a parent, you want to keep those keepsakes, but you normally end up stuffing them somewhere and not coming across them again for years. Jamie’s books are a neater, more accessible alternative. With his books, you can put them on a shelf, share them, and access them any time you want.

The inspiration for these books came from the fact that kids today are so connected to devices. Jamie hoped his books would inspire kids to put down their technology for a little bit and become invested in illustrating a book of their own. Scientific research has proven that time spent drawing and creating helps kids develop important cognitive skills like creativity and imagination, whereas spending time playing with devices inhibits these same skills.

Having this fantastic idea, Jamie sought out Sandbox Creative when he reached a point where he wasn’t sure what to do. As a website programmer, Jamie knew how to build a website to promote his books, but he still came to Sandbox because he knew he was lacking the ability to tell the story of his product. He had tried to fit his concept into existing web templates, but none of them helped him lay out the story he wanted to tell about his products.

Sandbox Creative walked Jamie through their own brand story approach, which helped Jamie define his story refine his presentation. Sandbox helped Jamie create a name and a logo for his books. Then they came up with the presentation and branding to tell the story of Jamie’s book series—Drawn By Me.

Jamie came to Sandbox with a unique project that had the potential to become a cool opportunity for kids to get creative. He wasn’t sure how to present his awesome idea in a way that parents and their kids would understand, which is where Sandbox was able to help. With a Facebook page that has already garnered more than 4200 likes, it’s safe to say Sandbox Creative and Jamie found a new way to help kids expand their creative horizons.

If you have a new business you're looking to promote, we would love to hear all about it. Please call us at (314) 968-2323.