Wauconda couple starting kids book business

A new online children’s book business is weeks away from launching, thanks to a strong social media and web marketing campaign by a Wauconda couple.

By mid-June, Shawn and Christine Currie expect to begin operating Lookio Books, producing and selling customizable kids’ books out of their home in the village. Users can design a book for a specific child who then appears in the book, with the goal of getting kids “on the path to a healthy obsession with books,” according to Shawn Currie.

He said their ability to cultivate a loyal online following has given them an edge.

“We saw that the competition wasn’t capitalizing on the Internet and social media, so we made a concentrated effort to develop those relationships,” said Currie, who used to work for a children’s book publishing house in Lincolnwood.

Since laying out their first serious business plans last summer, the Curries have relied on their blog, Facebook and Twitter for marketing, garnering more than 200 followers.

The project became feasible for the family after an online fundraising effort in April through the website Kickstarter. It lets users back projects in return for rewards from the project organizer if that person’s fundraising goal is met.

In less than three days on the website, the couple raised more than $3,000 on the site from around 60 family members, friends and strangers. To date, the Curries have raised more than $3,500 for startup funds online, with the Kickstarter campaign running until May 25. That money has gone toward printing and binding equipment.

“It was shocking,” Christine Currie said. “We were overwhelmed by how positive and excited people were for us.”

With two book templates ready to go and two more close to completion, some final touches to their website are all that separate Lookio from launching.

Although their short-term goals for the business are modest, the Curries said they’d like to make it a sustainable business and partner with literacy organizations.

“We’re so lucky to have a strong support network, and we want to give back any way we can,” Christine Currie said.

For more information on the Curries’ business, visit www.lookiobooks.com.