Exclusive Interview With Karen Robertson Author Of Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island
Karen Robertson is the author and Treasure Kai creator for the excellent story, Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island. It’s an interactive story book app for young children and one that we will be reviewing shortly. In the meantime though we wanted to find out more behind the scenes of this app.
This app retails for $3.99/£2.49 and you can download it here.
Read our exclusive interview below…
The Beginning
JC – Please explain how your app was originally though of and what were your thoughts behind the marketplace, specifically?
KR – “Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island” is all about adventure story fun and was first created to engage my kids who loved stories but weren’t keen to read. It was originally a printed treasure hunt storybook that used toys as clues to finding gold. When my son picked up an iPad for the first time and chose storybook apps over games, we knew “Treasure Kai” had to be an app. The “Treasure Kai” book app takes the the game element of “Treasure Kai’ to a whole new level with animation, sound, music and touch, with over 13,000 ways to find gold.
The Design
JC – Explain the design, how you came up with the colors and themes.
KR – This app is all about the treasure hunt! So the primary design element is the treasure chests that appear at the bottom of the page when Kai begins his adventure. The clues fly out of the treasure chest on the beach, scramble, and then disappear from view. From that point on, the story is in the reader’s hands to randomly choose treasure chests and experience adventures until finding gold.
Target Market
JC – Who do you see as the main target market for this app in terms of age, genre and expenditure?
KR – Treasure hunters 5-8 years old are the ideal audience as well as older treasure seekers who’d rather dig for gold than read books! The other surprising markets are teachers who are using educational activities developed to meet US core standards in the classroom and the speech pathology and autism spectrum communities who have embraced the app because it’s so uniquely interactive and was designed with literacy specialists to motivate kids to actually finish the stories they start.
Production
JC – How long did it take from the original planning to the production process of this app?
KR – Eight months from “let’s do an app” to being live in the App Store.
Sales
JC – How do you predict sales to be, is there a good solid market for this style of app?
KR – Fantastic! Kids from over 80 countries have downloaded “Treasure Kai” and feedback is phenomenal. “Treasure Kai” has been as high as #5 in the US App Store, won “Best in Category” for apps at the New Media Film Festival in San Francisco, has been a Digital Story time “Top 25 Most Essential, and Top 10 Most Original,” and is an Appstar Picks Top 250 All-time Children’s App.
Obstacles
JC – What has been the hardest obstacle you have had to overcome regarding this app development?
KR – Getting the word out about “Treasure Kai.” While it’s great to have lots of fan mail and win awards, unless parents, teachers and kids know about “Treasure Kai,” it remains a “best kept secret".
Third Parties
JC – Would you consider developing apps for third parties?
KR – We’re working with Room to Read founder, John Wood to turn his children’s book, “Zak the Yak with Books on His Back” into a storybook app to raise money for Room to Read. Room to Read has donated over 10 million books to kids in third world countries since 2011 plus built over 13,000 libraries, 1,200 schools and educated thousands and thousands of girls.
App Store
JC – What have you learnt from the App Store?
KR – Marketing matters!
Apple
JC – Have Apple supported you well with your App development?
KR – Yes! Apple is terrific because they handle all of the back end for developers.
The Future
JC – What next, are you developing another app, would you go for the same genre again, if not which?
KR – The sequel, “Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold,” is in production and will be live in July 2012. Treasure Kai goes back in time to race Coronado to find the seven lost cities of gold, inspired by events in the New World in 1540.
Android
JC – Have you considered developing apps on other platforms such as Android? If so, what has the experience been like?
KR – We will but it’s not our first priority.
Our Support/Advice
JC – What do you think about TheAppWhisperer.com? Have we helped you? Would you recommend us? Have we been supportive?
KR – I use TheAppWhisperer to discover new apps and am thrilled to present “Treasure Kai” to “TheAppWhisperer” fans.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
