Treasure Hunt - Children's Picture Book

[iluc]

Folks,

I thought you may be interested to know that I'm publishing a children's picture book about the monetary system and the investment merit of copper Pennies and Nickels. Realcent gets a shout out in the acknowledgments.

The title is Treasure Hunt in the Enchanted Forest (The Search for Good Money).

Most copies (along with various coins discussed in the story) will be given away in contests aimed at folks under 18 years of age...that is, the generation that's going to bear the brunt of currency debasement, to whom the book is dedicated.

Illustrations (see uploaded samples) are nearly complete and the book should be released by the end of November. I've got an offer and a request for all of you:

1) Shoot me a private message and I'll let you see the manuscript ahead of printing.

2) I'd really like to get someone with name recognition to write a blurb review for the back cover. If you are such a person or know someone in your network you think would be interested in this, I'd really appreciate the connection.

Thanks,
Ian

[shinnosuke]

So did you get the idea for the book before or after joining realcent? I applaud you for wanting to teach children something they won't be taught in school. Are you worried though that their parents (who most likely don't understand Good Money) won't buy the book for the kids? I guess your publisher has some good ideas for marketing?

[iluc]

I'd had the idea to try to write a book about the monetary system since mid-2010, but it was after perusing Realcent and researching Gresham's Law that it gelled at the end of 2010 or so. It's simply a labor of love that I'm self-publishing. The main distribution will be through giveaway contests through popular YouTube personalities with sizeable youth audiences - both hard copies and ebooks plus lots of Pennies, Nickels, pre-65 silver, and maybe a pre-'33 gold piece just to make it interesting. Other than that, I'm hoping for word of mouth sales to fund further printing.

Fuller disclosure: I'm an investment advisor and, although my background is in Graham-Buffett-Greenblatt equity investing, the metals thesis hit me like a ton of gold bricks and we've been educating others and encouraging them to buy bullion as we ourselves have done. I myself am roughly 75% silver, 23% gold, and 2% Pennies/Nickels.

[shinnosuke]

OK, good story. I'd like to help. Do you have some extra copies for marketing purposes, such as for placement in school libraries? I could try to put one in my 3rd grade son's school library.

Do you have a Facebook page established for the book project?

Do you plan to write a sequel?

[iluc]

Thanks! Sure, I'll be running enough hard copies to spare some for marketing and some libraries; actually established a non-profit (Gresham Corp., naturally) for the giveaways. There will be a FB page along with a standalone site for sales/distribution when I'm sure about the publication date. I have a sequel in mind, but I've got two books coming out at the same time and I want to see how that goes before I plunge in for a third - self-publishing ain't cheap!

[Double3]

Cool, my son's name is Reese.

[iluc]

Haha, good choice, Double3. In real life Landon is my son and Reese is my daughter . . . Daddy's little Reeses Pieces.

[shinnosuke]

PM sent. I hope your book is a smashing success. Not for just you, but also for the children (and their ignorant parents) who read it.

[iluc]

shinnosuke - replied. Thanks, doing what I can to pull back the curtain for as many as possible to do what they can for themselves. Definitely not doing it for the money, since we only advocate physical possession for our clients and it's hard to charge a management fee on that! It is, however, the right thing to do.

[highroller4321]

If there is anything we can do to help let us know.

[tractorman]

This is great! I will definitely get one for my kids!

[iluc]

To everyone that has messaged privately, thanks for your interest and especially for the very nice feedback and constructive criticism. The book will be stronger for it.

By all means, keep the comments and questions coming. I'll cut down on the back and forth and just say email me at ianlucas1@gmail.com if you'd like to see the manuscript.

[iluc]

Hi, everyone, just wanted to let you know the book is in the publisher's hands now, set for a December release. Pre-orders on Amazon will probably begin sometime in November. Want to thank everyone again for the support you've shown so far and the private inputs/comments. I'll share the entire story as it will appear with complete illustrations with anyone that emails me at ianlucas1@gmail.com.

Website is also up at http://www.treasurehuntkidsbook.com

[68Camaro]

Wow - I missed this thread when it was up earlier. Way to go! My kids are grown, and no grandkids (yet), but if I get any younger kids in my life again I'll put in an order. Might order one anyway.

[tn-dave]

I would love to have a copy to donate to the school library where my wife teaches. Send me a PM if the offer still stands.

[Copper Catcher]

I'd sent one to Ron Paul and call his office in advance and talk to a staff person to see if he might write an endorsement or help get them distributed. You will never know unless you ask!

[Copper Catcher]

Just for fun I'd also sends copies to the Federal Reserve Chairman and the rest of the board!
Also , I am sure GATA would love a copy http://www.gata.org/

[iluc]

68Camaro, shoot me your email address and I'll send you the story. I wrote it so that financial professionals would learn a thing or three and while it's probably on a 5th grade level, the cute illustrations should capture the interest of a younger audience.

tn-dave, will do!

Copper Catcher, I like the way you think. We're coming up with an outreach plan, if you will, and your suggestions will be incorporated.

[tractorman]

Thanks for the email back then iluc. I must apologize, I meant to come back and write a post, but it slipped my mind. I think this is a great idea and the book really delivers. I am looking forward to ordering a copy for the kiddos as soon as they are available. My kids are pretty young but I've been starting to teach them about real value and money. A book like this, in the child-story genre, is just the thing for reaching out to young children with the concepts, in my opinion.

[moparal7]

http://www.truthsetsusfree.com/ModernMoneyMechanics.pdf How is this for a sequel? Hard to illustrate and make readable at a 5th grade level though.

[Copper Catcher]

iluc shoot me a pm if you wish....I'd be happy to brainstorm a bit, free of course!

[iluc]

Moparal7, actually, that's not a bad idea. I'd like to do a sequel that actually follows a dollar as it flows through the system, going from digital to paper, to coins as it changes "ownership." In the process it would touch on the things in that document and make them easily understandable.

We're also looking to make a second version of Treasure Hunt that is suitable for ages 4-8 rather than 9+ as it currently is. That's a project for December, though.

Copper Catcher, will do, brother. Tractorman: thanks! Press releases, kid contests, and reviews are in the works for the coming weeks and the tenative date of availability from Amazon is 01 December.

Ian

[wbeck]

This is actually a really great idea! Sad thing is 99 percent of adults should read this book too!

I second that you should totally send this to Ron Paul. Last go around I was heavily involved, and knew the state campaign coordinator, whose husband was one of his top national guys, but no such in this time around to make sure he sees it, otherwise I would try to help out there. Sending it to some others that might be "inflamed" by it could be good too Talk radio hosts like Glenn Beck etc might get some response, as a few of them are finally pulling their heads out of... Well you know where... On the monetary issue a little bit. Not that I'm a fan of most of the more mainstream radio guys, they're all a bunch of sellouts who ignored every horrible thing Bush did, but they do have big audiences!

Don't know how you're distributing(could already be doing this), but if it's moving a decent number of copies you might consider signing up for the Amazon Advantage program. It's 30 something dollars a year, but then they order direct and pay 45% of the retail price you set monthly. I'm in the music biz, so we sell direct to them as it beats going through middle men and losing an extra 10+ percent!

[iluc]

wbeck, fantastic input! We're actually looking into Amazon options right now, so I'll definitely check out the Amazon Advantage program. Nothing is moving just yet because we'll see the "proof" in a couple weeks and should be set for shipping December 1st.

I've been considering building up to the radio host guys; there's enough common ground to get down with them.

Frankly, I have no better conduit to Ron Paul, so if you wouldn't mind feeling out the ability of your friends from his last campaign, we would LOVE to try. The book is as much for adults and financial pros as it is for kids, and there's fun/insightful (or so I like to think) for that wide audience. You can contact me at info@treasurehuntkidsbook.com and I'll send the preview of the book for them to see if you're/they're interested in helping out.

[wbeck]

Yea, definitely look into Advantage. Like I said there's the annual fee of 30 something bucks, but given that you'll be getting a better cut going direct, even if you sell a few copies a month the math would probably pan out. Plus they always keep all Advantage items in stock, special order items sales are way lower than in stock.

Yea, I'm love hate with some of the big radio guys. I guess it's kind of good that lots of people listen to them, because they're more correct than most sources out there... But I just wish everyone would listen to all the "crazy" guys I listen to! You know, the ones who tell the truth all the time instead of selectively, cover things that actually matter, slam politicians from BOTH parties when they deserve it, etc. Would be useful for you though, but perhaps it is worth waiting until the book is available to try to hit them up.

As for RP, I could try shooting an email or giving a call. I haven't talked to Maureen in 3 years or so, but she might still have the same email/cell number! I'll let you know if I hear back!