RALEIGH – Imagine a book where your child actually gets to see themselves as the star of their own story, no matter their race or ability.
Thanks to Keepsake Tales, a Raleigh digital publishing startup specializing in personalized books, it’s not such a far-fetched idea anymore. It’s a reality.
“We want to revolutionize children’s literature,” says its co-founder and self-described “book nerd” Mike Vaggalis, who recently completed LAUNCH Chapel Hill’s five-month startup accelerator. “That’s the only way that we can get to true inclusion.”
Peruse the children’s shelves of your local bookstore these days, and Vaggalis says the “overwhelming” majority of them will feature white and able-bodied protagonists.
He estimates less than one percent of children’s books include kids with disabilities or sicknesses.
“I had parents tell me, ‘it would be so powerful if you could put like my daughter in the story because she has Down’s syndrome and they don’t make books for kids like her,’” he recalls. “I started really digging more into that and learned that, unless you adopt an extraordinarily personalized model like we’ve done, there’s no way.”
When kids can’t see themselves in the books they read, he adds, it causes them to question their self-worth.
Source: Keepsake Tales
New book launch
Enter “Mount Jungle,” the latest book by Keepsake Tales launched in partnership with Colorado-based non-profit No Barriers USA this month. The protagonist is a character with the same name and image of the individual reader, who overcomes obstacles with their “Rope Team.”
How it works: Once a purchase is finalized, multiple photos of the child are uploaded to the site. Images are then sent to a production company based in the Philippines called NarraSoft, where a team of artists personalize the full-colored illustrations.
The entire process takes around six weeks.
As far as Vaggalis and his co-founder, Atlanta-based children’s author Erin Burchik, are concerned, Keepsake Tales creates “the most personalized children’s books in the world.”
However, it’s still labor-intensive and they’re looking for ways to streamline the process.
“I’ve got another aspirational vision of integrating facial mapping technology in a way that doesn’t require the same sort of customer input,” he said.
However, as Vaggalis admits, launching a startup during a global pandemic is no small task. Initially, he had “a couple of hundred thousands” of investment capital lined up, but that fell through when COVID-19 started to escalate.
Nevertheless, he remains optimistic and will continue bootstrapping the company.
“At this point, I’m like, I don’t want to do anything else. This is what I meant to be doing.”
Keepsake Tales is currently offering a 10 percent discount with the code: WRAL10.
