The Little Elephant's of publishing

Remember back to wanting to become a princess? An astronaut? Or a zookeeper? Childhood dreams can come true. For three close friends with a passion for the imagination of children’s books, the fantasy of keeping the dream alive for future generations of children has become a firm reality.

In 1998, self-confessed bookworms, Petra and Georgie, along with another friend set up a small publishing house called Modry Slon (otherwise known as Little Elephant Book Publishing). They work with local artists and writers to bring the best personalised stories to children. Little Elephant Book Publishing is in the business of personalised books and other personalised products, such as games. They found that when children read stories about themselves, with their own names included, they were more likely to get absorbed in to the story and stay focused longer. In turn, improving their literacy from a younger age.

Since 1998, the company has published over 60 original titles written and illustrated exclusively for the publisher’s innovative production system. Each title has become a bestseller from a sales perspective. But it’s not all about taking, the company follows a ‘giving back’ ethos and has partnered with The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DWST). A charity that supports the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife in Kenya. Every time you buy one of their books, they send 50p to DSWT on your behalf. Shopping with Little Elephant not only helps children fall in love with reading, but you're also helping DSWT to rescue little elephants in need and help them back to the wild!

In 2001 the company released a ‘Tangle Book,’ a didactic aid (game). In 2004 their Tangle Book won the first prize in the category ‘Novelty of the year’ and the third prize in the category, ‘The best promotional or gift item,’ in the competition called the Star of 3D Advertising, 2004.

From 2010, the company has addressed the beginner-writers and beginner-illustrators for cooperation on the project. A year later the ‘I read project’ was initiated into which the publisher participated together with 477 primary-school students. The children’s reading skills were evaluated before and after reading the personalized book. The project was declared as an extremely motivating way support to improve reading literacy by the Ministry of Education. The results demonstrated an increase in the reading literacy by 28%.

More recently, the publisher has participated in the ‘For Kids’ and ‘For Babies’ trade fairs. In the same year at the ‘For Kids’ trade fair in Prague, the publisher won the Grand Prix Award for the personalized book ‘Robin.’ Furthermore, in 2017, their ‘Sea World’ and ‘On the farm’ memory games were awarded the CAPARD certificate.

The company itself is built on a franchise model. Anyone who meets the given requirements may become a franchisee and partake in the future developments. The Little Elephant has been operating in the Czech market for almost 25 years and is constantly developing its sales and partnership system. The company emphasises that beyond the commercial aspect, their positive approach to reading development via the Reading Support Project should be maintained.

Marek Halfar, owner of Little Elephant told Franchising.eu the franchisee will learn to provide the technical background for the printing and completion of personalised books according to the specifications of the franchisor. "This kind of cooperation is suitable for people who want to make money. It is ideal, for example, for women or men on parental leave, for speech therapists or teachers,” Mr Halfar said. 

OWN UNITS

• Czech Republic (Opava)

FRANCHISE UNITS

• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Poland
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Hungary
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Romania
• Croatia
• Lithuania

SUPPORT FOR FRANCHISEES

• Printing Development and Know-How, completion of personalized books and their presentation
• Product delivery (Hand-made product) to the end-customer
• Technology support needed for completion of a personalized book (end-customer receives the desired book in 100% quality)
• Marketing consultancy for successful operation of a branch
• Commercial materials and the overall portfolio
• Exclusivity of a country or territory

BASIC NETWORK REQUIREMENTS

Partners will receive exclusivity in their country; therefore, they need to have the ability to deal with offices, schools and companies. It’s necessary to be communicative and represent our company in PR. It is essential to be familiar with internet and social media (Facebook, Instagram), and having some experience in online shop operation is beneficial.  

• Partner interested in our business system
• Partner that believes that children can through reading of personalized books discover the magic of a written text
• Partner who really believes he can compete on the market
• Partner that speaks English

KEY FIGURES

• €1,000 per one million inhabitants
• No ongoing fees
• The renewable contract is concluded for a four-year term

Profit

• 50% of the customer purchase price