Enchantico is an idea meant to bring delight to every child’s life. This enterprise wants to explore the world of imagination for the children and help them to do so through books and a world of activities and collectibles connected to the books.
This brilliant idea came to three people, who already have a deep connection with the world of books- Ravi Subramanian, Enchantico’s Co- Founder and Chief Advisor, Sangram Surve, the Co-Founder and Chief Contagion Agent and Shalini Bajaj, the Co – Founder and Chief Delight Officer. While Ravi is one of India’s best selling Fiction authors, Shalini and Sangram have been the marketing brains behind most of the best selling popular fiction authors in the country.
From writing the best-selling books to marketing them and also organizing the literature festivals, they did it all. So in a world, where bookstores are shrinking, and discovery of new books was becoming an issue, they figured an innovative way to introduce children to books – Enchantico – The Box of Delights. Enchantico is India’s first book subscription box for kids. The box however does not stop at books alone. It adds to the books through specially designed activities based on the books, plus collectibles, which the kids are hooked onto. Children wait for these delightful boxes, which enchance the experince of reading.
Where The Idea Came From!
After Litomania, the literature festival which is about two years ago, Ravi, Shalini and Sangram were already thinking of the next big thing to do for the world of books beyond Literature Festivals. One fine day suddenly Ravi came up with the idea of book subscription boxes, and found Sangram and Shalini to be the perfect partners to bring it to life. Till date, they never looked back. The idea was seeded in January of 2016 and Enchantico went live by August 2016.
Gadgets (0) Vs Books (1)
In this fast moving life, kids are increasingly getting addicted to their Laptops, Mobiles or Tablets. Yet they need something that will take them beyond their school syllabi. Through books, children build their vocabulary, explore new destinations, make new friends and open up a world of imagination and creativity in their mind. Reading a book makes a child reflective, helps his/her concentration and expands perspective.
Whats the X-Factor ?
But how do you make reading exciting ? Firstly feed the kids the latest and the best. Shalini and Ravi alongwith Lubaina Bandukwala – a children’s book curation expert, go through hundreds of latest releases from the top publishers in the country and handpick 2 titles for each group. There are 4 age groups – 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12. The books are fresh, off-the-shelf, age appropriate and hand-picked. Now to raise the volume on excitement ! Shalini who wears the ‘Chief Delight Officer’ title has taken this job to heart and more. She leads the team who rack their heads on designing activities around the books. This ensures a lot of engagement and deeper immersion into the books. How to make reading interesting? Here’s how! Plus children will find a delightful collectible to be part of the box ! So they will discover a Hermaine’s time turner or a miniature Thor hammer (In a book based on Magnus Chase). So well.. 10th is awaited for, with baited breath, because that’s the day the box of delights is expected.
Tackling Discoverability: Only The Best Books
With so many books to read, which ones does one pick up? How do you discover great books? The key as explained earlier is Curation. The books picked by Enchantico are a mix of those picked from Indian and International publishers. The box also features international books that are not easily available in the regular book stores. The 8 books that make it to the boxes can be safely assumed to be the 8 most recommended reads for that month amongst the latest releases for that period. Enchantico also publishes this list every month to give an idea of the kind of curation they do.
Resources and Partners!
To bring this vision to life, Enchantico has tied up with the best publishers in India. Internationally, Owl crate in the YA segment and Bookly Box are doing similar things as Enchantico, except the handcrafted activities, which is the secret sauce of Enchantico.
Enchantico’s current publisher partners are:
- Penguin Random House
- Harper Collins
- Duckbill Books
- Pan Macmillan
- Westland
- Bloomsbury
- funOKplease
- Katha
- Little Latitude (Bangalore)
And the list keeps getting added onto each month.
Enchantico Dreams To Offer More
Enchantico’s Book subscription box contains a minimum of 2 books, an activity and its instruction sheet aimed to make the book/story/ concept memorable. Their merchandise designed to inspire the kids to read more. They also give author cards so that every child would know those famous personalities behind the books are better.
Enchantico also provides a digital community of bookaholics who will meet, interact and share their love to inspire the children for reading. They also thought of a school contact program to make the students meet up with the authors and learn and enhance their hidden creative writing skills. And the final extension to this interesting ecosystem is Little mania; the literature fest for kids. It is a carnival that is dedicated to books and the characters of the stories.
How To Get in Touch With Enchantico?
One can reach Enchantico through their official website. The person has to log in to the official website of Enchantico and fill up some basic details. To subscribe one has to select the correct age group: 5-6 / 7-8 / 9-10 / 11-12 years followed by selecting the tenure of their choice from 3 months/ 6 months or a year.
The next step is paying for the subscriptions through the online payment gateway. The 3-month subscription is for 2999 plus the shipping charges, 6 months is at 5499 plus the shipping charges and 12 months is at 9999 plus shipping charges.
You are then set to receive the box of delights that will keep the child entertained and enchance learning month on month.