What first inspired you to create knowonder!?
I was living in England at the time with three young children, ages 7, 5 and 2. The older ones were going to school and would come home every day with a new book. It wasn’t a library, check-it-out-every day system, but rather, the children were able to go to the book racks and take any book they pleased. The next day, they’d put back the book and take a new one. I was amazed at how well this promoted reading!
At the same time, I would tell my children “imagicnation” stories at night. I would tell my children, “an imagicnation story is where you have to close your eyes and see the pictures in your head. That’s the magic in your imagination!” It started because I wanted them to close their eyes at bedtime, instead of trying to look at pictures in picture books. However, I soon learned how much they loved the stories, and it was fun to see them closing their eyes, truly trying to imagine the pictures.
I knew I would soon be leaving the company I was working for and be returning home to the states, so I was looking for “what’s next?” At that time, I met a woman who had a special craft magazine. Her business model was very unique from a traditional ad-revenue magazine, and I was very intrigued. When I learn about new business models I inevitably end up asking a hundred questions and thinking about it all late into the night. And that’s what happened. I sat there thinking, what can I do like that? What kind of magazine could I create? What would I do a magazine about if I could choose anything?
Around 1 am it hit me. All three things came together and knowonder! was born. I was so excited because I felt like I had finally discovered my meaning and purpose in life – the one thing I was meant to do. I’ve always been a jack-of-all-trades, and so for me, this was a profound and exciting moment!
What did you do before the creation of knowonder!?
I invented a product called the invisibleSHIELD and founded a company called ZAGG. Immediately before knowonder!, I was working in England as the Managing Director for ZAGG. My main duty was to build up the European distribution of the product. By the time I left the company, it was selling around $10 million in plastic shields annually. It is a public company and is now worth around $400 million. I should have stayed in longer! Darn it! J
Previous to that company, I had worked in many different fields and started many different companies. Some were successful and some weren’t.
Knowonder! has now moved the way of many publications and organizations and exists primarily as an online publication. With the increasing use of eBook readers and with new generations of children (and parents) confidently using computers from a young age how important do you see the online world as a tool for literacy?
Literacy isn’t hard – it doesn’t take a lot of technological tools. It simply takes someone who cares, and it takes time. That being said, I do think these tools will have a positive impact, but they also have a very negative (or at the very least, challenging) impact because of all the other “distractions” they put at our fingertips, as well as kids’ fingertips. We have to be so careful! We have to remember that it takes time, first and foremost. And love.
Now, of course, the world is changing and educational tools and methods will need to change with it. With more books being sold digitally now on Amazon than printed, there is most definitely a place and a need to provide good literacy products to meet the demand.
Last thought: There is no doubt in my mind that knowonder! magazine will come back as a printed magazine eventually. Nothing will ever take the printed word away completely. Unless, of course, we kill all the trees in the world. But we’ll have bigger problems if that ever happens!
What difficulties have you fought through in setting up and continuing knowonder!?
Getting knowonder! going has definitely been challenging, but it has also been a lot of fun! As a printed magazine, the biggest difficulties were in designing and printing the monthly magazine. Having an editorial calendar and planning that far in advance was challenging. However, the financial burden of printing the 15,000 copies each month was the biggest challenge. I felt like I had enough money to see the magazine through 6 months of printing, and that that would get us to the point where advertisers would begin paying for their ads as they would be able to see the powerful results we were delivering. But the cash fell short and I was only able to do 3 issues. Ad spend was down 40% to 50% because of the crash, and it left us in a very difficult spot, as we tried to compete for scarce ad dollars against well-established magazines and advertising channels.
What has been the most exciting moment so far in the knowonder! journey?
I think the most exciting moment yet was the initial conception! It was pumped! I literally couldn’t sleep for hours because I was so excited. A close second and third were the times that I held the first printed issue, and of course, when the website finally launched this month.
For anyone wanting to submit a story or article to knowonder! what advice can you give them?
Have fun and be creative! Don’t let your inhibitions keep you from letting loose. Kids like all sorts of things and are never as quick to judge as adults are. They’ll love your stories, even if you can’t spell, or don’t know proper grammar. Of course, those things are important, but even more important is a love of stories!
Let's create your fantasy issue of knowonder! Which authors, academics or celebrities would you want to publish articles and stories from?
Hmmm…. Not sure, to be honest! I absolutely LOVE the fact that we get submissions from all sorts of people, even just moms and dads who are writers. I think there are so many good stories out there that have been told by parents and grandparents alike, and I hope we will always be a gathering place for those, no matter how big we get, or how much money we might get. Having said that, I would also LOVE to have at least a couple of stories in each issue that were submitted by published authors of famous kid books! I’m not too particular about who, though. As long as they’re famous. J
Shhh, I won't tell anyone! What are the future plans for knowonder!?
Ha! Good try! ;)
Ok, ok. Here’s a couple sneak peaks:
We’ll have 3 sections that are each updated every day. knowonder! stories is the first, but we’ll soon add a story written by a child every day, and we’ll hopefully add a section for StoryGame stories, which are stories written using the StoryGame pieces (from the old magazines).
Speaking of StoryGame pieces, we will sell a nicely packaged, durable version of the StoryGame which will include 30 to 40 cards. We also will begin offering other knowonder! products which help inspire, promote and encourage literacy and creativity.
We’ll begin doing interviews of famous children’s literature authors… at least one a month. We’ll also begin reviewing children’s literature for our readers.
And #4 will have to stay a secret, even for you!
Of course, there are a lot of ideas and plans, including a bookstore on the site, but most importantly, we’re up and running right NOW with valuable content each and every day – and that makes me very happy! J
Oh yeah, I already mentioned it, but knowonder! magazine will be coming back in printed form eventually. It’s just meant to be!
Dulcinea Norton-Smith - Dulcinea is a writer, an avid reader, a loving wife, a terrible housewife, a mother of two, a Civil Servant and of course a freelance ...
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