Starter Kit. Idea 70 of 500. Cluster 3
A children's picture book of Sigiriya, Kandy or Galle in five languages, sold at the site
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
The first step
Write 12 pages about one site, Sigiriya, Kandy or Galle, in simple English and ask a local illustrator for three sample spreads. Print 10 copies at a local printer and sell them at the site shop or a guesthouse for two weeks. Copies sold, and the languages parents ask for, tell you which translations to pay for first.
- Who pays first
- Parents visiting the site who want a book their children will read on the flight home, in their own language.
- What leaves today
- Children leave the island with nothing that explains what they saw; a local book in their language carries the site home and earns here.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether they support children's books on heritage or know illustrators.
- Central Cultural Fund. Ask whether a picture book could be sold at their sites.
Check before you spend
That the history is accurate, that every translation is checked by a native speaker, and that writer and illustrator agree terms in writing.
Find out these three numbers
- What will parents pay for a picture book at the site?
- What does printing a first run cost?
- Which languages do most families at the site speak?
A comparison from the book
Sigiriya. Chapter Five
"And there is nothing to buy that is from there."
A book about the place, sold at the place, is a souvenir truly from there.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.