Testimonials

The following letters were received at Create-A-Book. For those dealers who have yet to do a "Give-A-Book" program, we encourage you to set one up and help the children in your town. You'll be glad you did.

Mrs. Flowers,

I just wanted to email you and let you know that the books
that your company is publishing on "McGruff" are wonderful.
The books seemed to really catch the kids attention.
Would you also thank Petro Spect Inspection Services again for
Tim and I, for their community involvement in making sure our children
have every resource available to make good choices.
If Tim or I can be of future service please feel free to contact
us.

Sincerely,

Adolph Velasco III, Cpl.

Texas City Police Department
1004 9th Ave.N.
Texas City,TX. 77590

Levi Fry Intermediate School
Att'n: DARE Program
1400 5th Ave.N.
Texas City,TX. 77590

Just wanted to forward the "above" email I received after our Give A Book program today. Everything went great. The kid's were so excited. A little girl came to me and asked for an extra book. At first I told her no because we didn't have any extras. Then she told me "That's too bad. I want to give one to my Mom, she's in jail." My heart just dropped John. I immediately got the little girl another book. This book really touches the children and delivers a powerful message. We have several sponsors wanting to do this program and I only hope we have enough books to fulfill the orders.

Today was a very touching experience for me and my staff. I feel very privileged to be able to offer this program to our children. Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity. This is the most rewarding "job" I've ever had.

Sincerely,
Marlene Flowers
Star Publishing Co.
starpubco.com

Just returned from Baby Kellie's b-day party. I must say, you do tremendous work!! The presents were opened at the end of the party prior to the guest's departure. After the opening of the first three gifts (typical stuff i.e. shoes, dress, toy etc...), your book was next. Upon reading the first two pages of the book, Kellie's mother burst into tears at the beauty, individuality and personal nature that your book represents. In the eyes of everyone in attendance, I immediately became the person who put the most thought into their choice of gifts. You (my sweet lady) are "The Bomb!!!" Everyone (and I mean everyone) wanted to know where I got that book! Now, the elite of Atlanta know of Nikki Stephens. I trust that the website info. in the back of the book will lead them directly to you, right? Thanks again for a wonderful idea!

Donnie

From: GloriasBookBag
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

I purchased my business in October. I have had very successful craft shows and fund raisers since that time. I have found that the two favorite items in my life other than husband and children is my laptop and printer! One thing I have found most
successful is the Home Party business. People just love when you come to their homes and display the books. It gives them a more relaxed atmosphere without pressure, and they have a good long chance to read the books before purchasing them. I recommend them to anyone! I usually make about $300-$500 per party! They sure are a hit. I average about 4 per month. Sometimes I even give specials to increase sales, then I give back a percentage to my hostess, and she is equally happy!

One thing I wanted to say is Thank you so much to the office staff of Create-A-Book, Inc., especially Chris. I got a chance to talk about marketing properly and ideas to get involved in more fund raising! There is absolutely no one around me introducing these books except, ME! I just landed 2 fund raisers with elementary schools in my area! One will start next week for 1, 175 children. The other one is a smaller elementary school with about 400-500 kids. I am so excited to start these and also a little
nervous, but I am sure this will be a hit! It's funny, now the kids refer to me as "the book lady", and you know, I'm okay with that! My kids love telling other children what the books are about...little salesmen!....thanks kids! And Thanks Create-A-Book for putting up with my many phone calls and orders upon orders! See you after the "book making" hibernation! Good luck to the rest of you too!

Gloria Stoudt
Gloria's Book Bag

I just got back from vacation and came home to a wonderful surprise. I was so excited that you chose my book to be published! It has always been a dream of mine to have a book published. I can't tell you how much this means to me. I don't think I have stopped smiling since I found out. My family is also excited. I have been checking e-mail several times everyday to see if there was a winner. When I told my kids I was checking e-mail tonight they said, "But why mommy, you already know you won!"

I want to thank you for publishing my book and giving me this opportunity. I have been so impressed with Create-A-Book since the day I started. You run such a professional operation and you really care about the dealers. Giving us an opportunity like this with this contest is a prime example.

I was wondering when My First Day of School would be ready to order? I can't wait to see it in print.

(Sue Smith's book was chosen in as winner of our story contest from among many entries from our dealers....)

I have had wonderful success since day one. I paid back my intial investment after my first arts and craft show. That is almost unheard of in most small businesses. I then went on to finish the year ahead of my projections. The books sold great! Most people ordered more than one. I was very pleased to find out that people loved these kinds of book as much as I did.

I have focused on arts and crafts shows and booths at Baby Superstores. These have both been good avenues. My plans this year are to expand into hospitals, doctors offices, and also work on the McGruff program. You offer great marketing programs for these avenues.

I want to thank you for the excellent product you produce. This has been a great part-time business. I am a mother with three small children. I love the flexibilty and the wonderful income I can make in a short period of time. It's also a lot of fun. With this type of product I have noticed the customers are so upbeat and excited about their purchases. I have received many calls to thank me for the product and told me stories of how much the children loved the books. I even recieved Christmas cards from some of my customers! This is an extra perk that I find very rewarding.

We have enclosed a copy of the news article where we were featured in our local newspaper. We have also been featured on CBS Good Morning Show and mentioned in this Month issue (Jan 99) of Seventeen Magazine. The exposure has been great thus far. Our mother is in marketing, so for us, it have been easy. The books Create-A-Book offers makes the product easy to sell We have not had the time to devote to selling the books like we want over the past year because of our school obligations (we both are maintaining a 4.0 average our junior year). With the help of our mother, we are however, looking to secure more book sponsors for low income children. Our local police department has agreed to purchase 50 McGruff books for children at the Boys and Girls Club. We will be placing that order soon.

I signed up with Create-A-Book just about 6 months ago. I had my business legal and running within about 3 months. Hefty has been incredibly good to me. You have helped me with the technical side, sales and worry over getting books out to my customers. Your staff is simply a pleasure to work with and refreshingly knowledgeable! My best sellers have been Create-A-Book Books.

With Christmas 2 days away, and with my online giftshop only 3 months old, I am amazed to know that it is working so quickly. We aren't rich, but for almost never leaving my home and 5 children, we're doing great and I have you to thank.

It is a pleasure to work with such a great company and I look forward to seeing what you come up with next. My customers and I think you are the best ever!

"First I'd like to express my appreciation for the phenomenal support from you and your staff in answering all my questions and getting me set up as a dealer. This is the perfect business for me while I'm in graduate school to become an Elementary Teacher, as children's literature is my main focus of study. I'm amazed at how easy it was to set up accounts with five stores - the sticker books really sell themselves. I'm looking forward to approaching three hospitals with the Baby Book Give Away when I receive the artwork from Dave. I'm also eager to approach some local car dealerships with the Book Give Away idea you presented in the training manual."

"As you know, I have received my conventional book software and I am so pleased that I made the decision to go with your personalized books business venture."

"Although this is my first week to work with the books, they are getting great response. They virtually sell themselves. The art work and illustrations are of the highest caliber. You apparently have some very talented and dedicated people on your staff. I have already setup four accounts with the local merchants within the first two days of this week. I am very excited with he way things are going."

"I am looking forward to making lots of new little friends with these great children's books. I hope I can play a part in teaching children to understand if you can read and follow instructions, there are no limits in what you can achieve. After all, our children are a very large part of what life is all about and they are our future."

"Please extend my thanks to Mike Johnson and the rest of the staff. You are a great bunch of people to do business with.

"I'm happy to say that I received my software package and safety bind machine yesterday as you had promised. I can't wait to get started in my new business! I want to thank you both for your patience in answering my numerous questions over the phone before I made the decision.

I'm currently in graduate school to become a reading specialist, and personalized books are products which I truly believe will motivate children to read. I am also a mother of two, and several years ago I ordered some personalized books through the mail for my daughters. Imagine how disappointed I was to receive cheap stapled paperback books to give as gifts! Of course the girls enjoyed hearing their names in the stories, but these were not books that I was proud to share with anyone. In contrast, I was very impressed when I received my hardcover samples from your company. Several of my friends have also commented on the quality of these books.

"Just wanted to say Thank You for all the assistance you lended. My family and I are very excited about this new venture. In fact, Just from looking at the quality and versatility of these books, I know that Nico's Publications is going to take off like a rocket.

Thought I should tell you - my husband, Lenny, cannot wait to come home from work to see what books I've put together during the day! Please just keep up the Wonderful work you've done with these books.

Once again, thank you for your time and support. I look forward to a long-lasting relationship with Create-A-Book.

This is simply to let you know how much the children who use our library enjoy the books you have given us. The books go out almost as soon as they come in. We have used several for our pre-school and school age story hours, and they have been gleefully received.

Thanks again for your gifts to this library and we hope your company will continue to grow and prosper.

"Thank you in assisting me in getting started in my new business creating personalized books. Things are happening so fast! I did a show this weekend at the Astrohall in Houston for the Kid's Expo! The attendance was estimated at 60,000 people. The response was overwhelming. I gave out over 1,500 of the well-designed and colorful brochures: two daycare centers (one was Kindercare) approached me with fund raiser opportunities and McGruff days, as well as several advertisers! Almost immediately I started getting calls on my voice mail number for brochures and order forms.

I have enclosed pictures from the show for you to share with some of the folks at Create-A-Book who helped me get started. Keep up the good work and keep those new products coming!

Hi. My name is Rachel T. I am nine years old and in the third grade. The book you wrote was given to me by my godmother. It is called God's Special Gifts to Me. I like the drawings and my name in it. I like it a lot because it is about God's creation. Thank you for taking the time to make the book.

I have just finished reading my new books from your press: My Best Friend and Santa's Story.

I am always happy to receive one of your publications. All of these stories are well written and a joy to share with others.

I especially likes Santa's Story because of the way that the first Christmas and the reference to the Bible are included in the text. As usual the illustrations and color are very appealing.

I have enjoyed reading and sharing these books with my family and friends and would recommend Presto Print Books to anyone who has a child.

I held a promotion in one of the medium size malls over a three day period and sold 180 of the sticker books. I was absolutely delighted with the results and in fact, on the Saturday, we lost business because the kiosk was so busy and people did not want to Queue up. I am mailing you today photographs etc. of our new concept display.

Our county school system participated in the Create-A-Book program sponsored by some of our local merchants. This program included colorful, hardbound books that included not only the child's name, age and hometown, but also the name of their teacher, school and classmates woven throughout the story. They were presented to our Kindergarten children after proper release forms were signed giving us permission to release such information.

The program was a total success. This statement and reaction is based on the enthusiasm the students displayed in having their own personalized book created in an educational manner, the comments from our Kindergarten teachers indicated their total support and, of course, the many positive comments from parents. As far as Santa Rosa County School system, we are pleased with the results and highly recommend its use when applicable. We found it to be a nice supplementary educational tool which was fun for the students.

Hi!

This is Brenda Clark. I have been with Hefty since Nov 1998 and have been working out of my home. Last week, I just got my own store in a local mall and I am looking for more Hefty products to sell. I will be there thru Christmas and hopefully longer! My store is called "Brenda's Personalized Books."

This business has been a lot of fun for me! We just finished participating in the annual "Back to School Bash" at the state fairgrounds here in Columbia, SC and it was a big success for us. We got to meet the Governor and we had great media exposure and lots of sales!

We were first spotted by WIS TV in another mall during Easter (with the Easter bunny!) and they liked your products so much, that they encouraged another local business to sponsor us for free for this event that normally would have cost thousands of dollars to attend. With all the contacts we have recently established, we are looking forward to our business growing much more this year.

By the way, every time we talk to a mall about your products, we always get a very favorable rent offer because they feel that these personalized books are a good draw for customers.

Thanks!

Brenda Clark

Date: December 12
From: (Dianne and Cory Baker)
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

Dear Create-A-Book,

We have only been in this business for 10 months and are already starting to make money! We started out at the mall and now are doing craft shows and home book shows. The home book shows are really paying off. On average am selling 20 books/items per show, which makes quite a
tidy profit for only two hours of selling time. (Two home shows sold over 35 books) For incentive I give the host a free book of choice and 10% of sales (in Create-A-Book dollars). I am trying to do at least 4 shows per month and am having no problem with that as people are asking
me to give them a home show - only in the beginning did I have to try to get people to have one!! We also plan on working on the Give A Book program in the new year.

Out of the almost 400 books sold, I have never had one upset customer!!! Now that's Hot stuff!!

Thanks to all of you at Create-A-Book who have filled orders so very quickly and are always so pleasant on the phone. You are always prompt when returning my phone calls and email's. Keep up the excellent work!!

Dianne Baker
Create-A-Book of Portage

Date: 11/24/99 10:26:27 PM Central Standard Time
From: srichardson@eiis.net (Richardson, Stacy)
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

November 24

To Create A Book:

Yesterday I did a Give A Book Program at our local school. Over 20 Local Businesses purchased 195 books for the Kindergarten and 1st grade. I rented the McGruff Costume and had our educational officer go around the school and give a short talk about the book to each class. This was a big hit with the kids and teachers! Last night upon getting home I had 5 messages on my machine from parents that had seen their child's book and wanted to order more today. I have received over 30 calls from parents and grandparents wanting books. This was a great help to me. It's a great program for any school! The newspapers were all there. The school has asked me to do this again every year.

Thanks
Stacy Richardson

Subj:
Date: November 22
From: (Cameron Gallagher)
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

Hi John! Wanted to let you know I participated in my second show this past weekend and it was a HUGE success. We sold 74 books Saturday and 40 on Sunday for a grand total of 114 books! Not only did I run out of books, but also the bags I use for FREE gift wrap as well as order forms! Glad Kinko's is open on Sunday! I never dreamed of selling that many books in one show! The customers LOVED the books and said they would return next year and hoped CAB would have some new titles. The Train and Fishing books are big hits down here in Texas!

Keep up the good work and Happy Holidays!

Cameron Gallagher
ABookAboutYou

Subj: What a Hit!
Date: 11/22/99 8:41:48 AM Central Standard Time

To: John@Create-A-Book.com

We did our first show this weekend. WOW! What a hit we were. Although we barely knew what we were doing, the first day was still good. But the next day was the big day and we kicked butt. Ran out of the most popular titles but took future orders. We had a blast. Everyone just praised the books, thought they where great.

Keep up the good work!

Your new friends over at Answers Computers in Willard MO.

About 4 weeks ago I received a call from a lady who said that she discovered a misprint in her personalized birthday book.[....] I asked her to return the book. I told her I'd send a new one plus reimbursement for the postage.

Imagine my surprise when I received the package about a week later and -- it's not even a book sold by Create-A-Book. It had been purchased from another dealer with a different company! [...] I offered to send her one of OUR books as a complimentary replacement, free of charge. I also told her I'd include a catalog, and asked only that she consider us for future book purchases.

You know what? Last week I received a $60 mail order from that lady, along with a request for several catalogs because her friends were interested in our books, too!
Not a bad result from sending out 1 free book, huh?

Regards,
Jerry Boehm
Create-A-Book For Me

Subj: advertising
Date: 11/12/99 10:31:42 PM Central Standard Time
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

I had these magnetic signs made a few months ago and have caused quite a stir. Since I've had the signs on I make sure I have catalogs with me all the time. A car that was behind me traffic kept flashing their head lights, I thought something was wrong with my van. The lady wanted a catalog. I've had people standing by my van when I come out of the store and post office wanting info on the books. Looks like I have an excellent and inexpensive form of continual advertising.

Subj: Re: Books
Date: November 1 12:06:10 AM Central Standard Time
To: John@Create-A-Book.com

I have been selling your books on the auctions for quite some time now and everyone just loves them and I get many e-mails praising the books and how OUTSTANDING they are. I just wanted to share with you what one of my customer wrote to me. This person has a feedback of over 300 on eBay and what he said not only affected me for making the book but also you as the company creating such wonderful stories.

I do want to take this opportunity to tell you how impressed I was with the book. I was shocked to see how many times you were able to put his name in the text. The book and the printing is all first rate, and I believe this will be one of the best purchases I made from eBay this year. Thanks again, Bob

I'm sure you have probably heard this before but I just wanted to share this with you, thanks for your time.

I know you are wanting dealer feedback about the new Eurps line. I LOVE it! I am thrilled to see an "educational" series of books. I especially like the sticker storybooks. Also, I would like to cast my vote for having these books become personalized sticker books, like the Presto line. It seems only natural to have educational type books also be interactive with stickers. Keep them coming - I was disappointed to find out that several are out of stock, and I could not order them. I'll keep checking back to see when more come in. Thanks for bringing this unique line of books to your dealers! If there are other educational Eurps books available from the source, please introduce them to us!

Subj: Re: Create-A-Book
Date: October 28 8:16:05 AM Central Daylight Time

This will be the third year that I have set up for a book show at our local county hospital that employs over 1000 people. Their gift shop which is run by volunteers are the one's that reap the 20% profit. Every year no matter what the circumstances I have managed to do over $1000 in sales with very little effort. I agree it is wonderful because they can offer "payroll deduction" to their employees making it very easy for the employees to shop no matter what time of the month it is.