Chanel Lee’s Gypsy/Traveller children’s activity book a massive success!
Romany Gypsy entrepreneur Chanel Lee, already a successful milliner and jeweller, decided over Christmas to chance her arm at adding another skill to her many talents - and is now also a published author of children’s books!
Chanel’s first effort is an activity and colouring in book for Gypsy and Traveller children – published through Amazon – and Chanel has already sold 400 copies of her book on the very first day it became available!
The Travellers Times caught up with Chanel Lee and asked her to tell us all about it.
“I have always wanted to make kids story books since having my own kids,” said Chanel.
“I found some I really love, and I have always thought that I can’t believe someone was paid to make this!”
The prompt for Chanel making her dream a reality were childhood memories of travelling on the road with her family and the work packs and activity books that the council traveller education teacher would bring to their camps.
“So over Christmas I had a bit of down time and I was thinking about when I was younger I only used to do three months of school in the winter when we was pulled in our yard, but all summer we travelled and there was a Traveller education teacher who would come out to us and bring work packs, and often they would have activities in them that related to us,” says Chanel.
“Now for my own kids there’s nothing really like it available, I’ve got a few books for them in the past that somewhat relate, but if I’m honest my eldest would rather colour than read,” adds Chanel.
Chanel, who is now settled in Surrey, was also concerned that her local school didn’t have much in the way of books and other resources that her children could relate to and that celebrated their culture and heritage.
Chanel initially turned for help to Sally Barter, a Romany Gypsy campaigner who works as a council Traveller education specialist. Sally gave her some pictures and bits and pieces that Chanel was able to pass on to her school in time for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month and that helped for a bit.
“The school said to me that there weren’t enough education resources for Gypsy and Traveller children out there that they could use, and they were not sure what ones were OK and what ones were outdated,” says Chanel.
So … in the best Traveller tradition of ‘if you want something done then do it yourself’, Chanel decided to create her own activity book.
“While I had a bit of time, I did some research and found how to create the book, and what was actually acceptable and would not break copyright rules, and then who was best to print them,” says Chanel.
“In the end I found that Amazon was the best for me, as they take your manuscript and print it, advertise it, and can send sold copies all over the world,” adds Chanel.
“It was never about the money for me, I only get a fraction of the cover price for each sale, it really is just about getting the word out there and letting our kids know that their culture is recognised.”
And the word is getting out there, and, thanks to some big-hitting support and promotion from both the Traveller Movement charity and the Romany Heritage Facebook group – the largest Romany Gypsy and Traveller Facebook group in the UK – Chanel’s book is now flying off the Amazon shelves.
Chanel is already planning her next book, building on the experience she has gained.
“Now I’m not saying I’m JK Rowling, but now I know how to do it, I’m definitely going to be creating and publishing another book that is more in depth and has some more learning tools inside,” says Chanel.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am of every single person who got behind this book,” adds Chanel.
“When it reached number 5 on the Amazon children’s activity book best seller list, I really thought this just can’t be true - I thought I would only sell a few copies!”
“All I could say to anyone wanting to do something, is look into it, Google everything and read up on it, and then just go for it!”
TT News
(All photos courtesy of Chanel Lee ©)
Chanel Lee’s activity book is available to buy on Amazon: Roma,Traveller kids colouring book : Lee, Chanel: Amazon.co.uk: Books