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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City-based publisher raised more than $25,000 in three days with a Kickstarter page* for its first children’s book.
Mitchell Stevens said he and Ben Ehlert founded Dreamling Books in 2013 to collaborate with the community to publish inspiring children’s books. In 2014, they sponsored the Dreamathon project, an interactive, community art exhibit held at the old Granite High School.
“That was kind of our first attempt at inspiring people with art and stories,” Stevens said. “Since then, we’ve narrowed our focus to do printed books and printed stories. ... We wanted to kind of use what we are passionate about to put good content out into the world. So inspirational children’s books is the niche that we are really excited about and feel is unique to us.”
Stevens said they approached adventure photographer Chris Burkard with the idea of writing a children’s book. Burkard had previously published several books highlighting his photography, but this was his first children’s book.
Then they recruited Disney-interactive artist David McClellan to be the illustrator for the project. McClellan created digital paintings of beautiful landscapes to accompany the story of a boy exploring the world to find happiness.
“There really is happiness to be found in all the ups and downs of life,” Stevens said. “We do want to kind of promote this idea of getting out and exploring, whatever that means for people. We don’t all have the means to travel around the world like Chris gets to do, but we can find exploration in our own backyard. And that’s something we really wanted to push with this book.”
“The Boy who spoke to the Earth” was launched on Kickstarter on March 2 in conjunction with Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Stevens said. Within 36 hours, the book had exceeded the $25,000 goal. As of Wednesday afternoon, the book had raised more than $37,000.
As part of a stretch goal on Kickstarter, Stevens said they are including trip giveaways for an adult and child to have the opportunity “to explore.” They are giving away trips to Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park, Yosemite National Park and Iceland.
Stevens said he hopes the book and project will motivate others to write “their” inspirational story.
“You don’t have to be an author by trade to have an inspiring story,” he said. “Our tagline is that ‘We all have a story to tell.’ We think it’s a great opportunity to show the rest of our future community that, ‘Hey, you might feel like an average Joe, but you do have an inspiring story to tell and we want to help you tell that story.’”
*KSL.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does KSL.com assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
