The Karma Bookstore
Our goal with this project is to create children's books as self publishers and use the earnings to support disadvantaged children.
Together with my friend and colleague Jan Mayer I was looking for new challenge. My goal was to do something completely different apart from my current field of expertise. I wanted to see if I could also be successful with a project in an unfamiliar field. The only requirement we set to ourselves was that the focus should not be on making money but on creating social value. In the following, you can read how we approached this project and find our results.
Start with the customer pain point
Every successful project is the fruit of hard work, and this applies to every field of business. Intuition alone is not enough to create a product that people will love and use. You also need to do your research, thinking, planning, differentiating yourself, and more. As we both have working experience in developing digital services we decided to use the approaches we learned at work. One of the principles that helped us developing successful products is: Start with the customer pain point!
After talking to parents (customer & user in this case) of young children (user) we realized that many kids don´t understand why they can´t meet their friends nor their grandparents int times of the COVID19-pandemic. However, there was a lack of children literature helping parents to explain this difficult topic.
Listen to the user feedback
A fter the topic of our first book was decided, we started to create the content in several night shifts. In this phase, it is really important to iteratively get feedback from your future customers and users. Similar to concepts from Service Design Thinking (that we apply when we create new digital services) we got some user feedback in an early stage with a prototype version of our book. Don´t start to ask for feedback when you already have colored illustrations, start with your first pencil drawings!
Partner up
When you work for a corporate, you soon learn that in many cases it is not smart to do everything by yourself to successfully finish a project. In some cases, it is better to collaborate with other companies and to focus on your core strengths. Therefore, we had to find an illustrator with experience in designing pictures for children books. In our case, the platform fiverr, which offers on demand freelance services, was perfect to find our illustrator with whom we are working on several books now. For publishing and distribution amazon self-publishing services was the perfect choice for us. The books are printed on demand and shipped by amazon to our customers.
Stay updated about new releases and upcoming books
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
-
![]()
It was about time…Now also available in Ukrainian 📚☮️ Find it on Amazon! #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Tervetuloa Suomi 🥳 After #german and #english, next stop: Finnland! 🇫🇮 #OrderItNow #OnAmazonButton -
![]()
Happy to announce that the 3rd book has been published! 🎊 This book explains to kids the Russia-Ukraine crisis in a child-friendly way. Focused on the topics of escape, language barriers and #compassion, it teaches kids how they can help refugees and people in need. You can find the book on Amazon. New co-author: @marchepting 🤓📝Button -
![]()
It’s about time for new adventures! #IAmEnni #GreetingsFromTheForest #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Wishing you all a blessed and holy Easter! 🐣🐰💐 Stay healthy! #GreetingsFromTheForest #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Well, there is a reason why they look like they are having a bandit‘s mask on! #funfacts #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Can you believe it? True architects of the forest! #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Would you have thought? I can only sleep on a plane while flying though. #FunFacts #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
I am happy to announce that the second book The Karma Bookstore is out now! This one is about teaching kids the basics about voting and democracy 👨👧👦📚 All wraped in sweet pictures and our friendly animals in the great forest! Go check it out on Amazon! Of course again the entire revenue will go into charity! #TeachingKidsTheEssentials #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Did you know?! Stay tuned for more cool facts about the characters of our books! #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
„Bodo dr Kloine Igel ond dr kähle Huschda“ - Jetzt auf Amazon bestellbar! Einfach den Titel in die Amazon Suchfunktion eingeben und bestellen! Unser SCHWÄBISCHES Sondrhefdle. #Hoimat #LernSchwäbisch #SchwäbischesKinderbuch #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Merry Christmas from our three best friends to all of you and your families! #ChristmasInTheForest #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Our animals are counting down the days till Christmas. You too? #HolidaySeasonAhead #NewStoriesComingUp #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Den Link zum Buch findet ihr oben in der Bio! #LastMinuteChristmasGift #MoreBooksLessNetflix #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Jetzt tatsächlich auch in Spanisch erhältlich! Einfach nach „Bodo el Pequeño Erizo“ suchen! Esp.: Ahora también disponible en español! Solo busca “Bodo el Pequeño Erizo” en Amazon! #QuePasaCalabasa #AhoraEnEspañol #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Die Weisheit des Tages: Man ist nie zu klein um großartig zu sein! #SchreibtEuchDasHinterDieLöffel #LektionenFürKinder #TheKarmaBookstoreButton -
![]()
Bodo und seine Freunde sind grade sehr schwer beschäftigt! Sie lernen neue Sprachen, damit sie ihre Geschichte auch den Kindern erzählen können, welche andere Sprachen sprechen. #TheKarmaBookstore #WhatIsNext #kinderbücher #CovidKindernErklärenButton -
![]()
Unser erstes Buch ist nun über Amazon erhältlich! Dabei erklären wir für Kinder 👨👩👧👦 im Alter von 2 bis 7 Jahren den Umgang mit Corona 🦠 Den Link zu dem Buch findet ihr oben in der Bio ⬆️Button
