The end of this week will mark exactly 3 months since UK schools closed their doors in the wake of Covid-19. Since then, an army of bewildered parents have been motivating, persevering, cajoling or resorting to outright blackmail in their attempts to home school their kids. 

But Joanna Britland has been tackling the challenge of story writing for kids for years. Under the banner of Little Writing Company, her range of children’s activity books are like covert fun for phonics practice. Beautiful illustrations dance across the pages. Doodles and symbols create irresisitible boxes to write and draw in. It’s an enchanting package that earned Joanna a prestigious silver award at last year’s Junior Design Awards.

For little people less confident about writing, or without the will to try, Joanna has created a world to encourage imagination to come alive, as well as the structure to make sense of it all.

I spoke to Jo about playing games to encourage writing, where new ideas come from and how to build a business when you’ve got a “real” job and family on the side. 

So Joanna, of all the businesses you could have started, you chose to build one around story writing for kids. Why was that?

Little Writing Company started about 3 years ago but I had been creating workbooks for quite a while before that for the pupils in my own class. As word spread I started getting orders from parents for siblings and orders from other parents in the school, then friends and it just started to grow organically. I then decided to take the plunge and start having them available online with the idea that the website should not only offer booklets and stationery to inspire writing but also offer lots of free resources for parents who want to support their child’s writing at home.

At the moment some children are obviously going back to school as the coronavirus lockdown eases but millions of others are still learning at home. Do you have any advice for parents of reluctant writers who might be struggling?

I always think that if possible you have to make writing fun. It doesn’t have to be an essay – it can be writing a script for an imaginary TV programme, it could be writing a recipe, creating a comic. Anything that taps into a child’s imagination so that the writing becomes less of an issue. My son is a very reluctant writer and we often play games, draw pictures and I sneak writing in without him realising. 

Your books have a beautiful layout and illustrations. Do you use an illustrator and can you tell us about the process of how the product comes together?

Yes I come up with the ideas, concepts and activities inside each workbook. I then work with a locally based illustrator who is currently studying at Kingston University who creates the layout and illustrations inside. I then work with another illustrator, Seb and Charlie Design, and she creates the front covers. The whole process for each workbook from concept to finish product takes between 6-9 months. All the workbooks and books are UK printed and everyone I work with is UK based because I really wanted to use local designers and businesses.

Where do new ideas for products come from and how do you test them out?

The ideas come from my experience as a teacher. I always think what products could support the national curriculum as well as being fun to do and beautifully designed. I’m lucky enough to still be working as a teacher part-time so I tend to use the ideas on the children I teach and get their feedback as well as ask other teachers and schools for feedback about what they think of the products.

What would you say have been the biggest challenges in starting and building your business and how have you overcome them?

I think the biggest business challenge has been juggling the business, the day job and my family life. Still something I’m trying to get better at doing but I do now have better systems in place to pack orders. I still do a lot of late nights but it’s certainly becoming more manageable. 

How important is community in your business and how have you fostered and grown that over time?

Instagram is so important to me as are groups that I have joined such as The Mamahood and the NOTHS facebook group. I’ve made such lovely business friends who always support me and vice versa.

What are the three most important ingredients to encourage story writing for kids?

Fun, imagination and creativity!

Visit the Little Writing Company website here or find out more on Instagram.