Spotto Books

Jess Day is the Founder of Spotto Books, a start-up offering books that entertain and educate kids while travelling.

If you’ve been a parent or a sibling on a long car journey, you’ve probably encountered backseat bickering.

As children, Jess and her brother were no exception, constructing makeshift partitions out of pillows and blankets piled high to prevent skirmishes breaking out. ‘Spotto’ was a clever diversion tactic deployed by their mother.

“When we went on road trips as kids, we always played Spotto. It kept us entertained and helped keep the whinging at bay!” says Jess.

Spotto, for the uninitiated, is a time-honoured car game played throughout the world, where passengers keep watch for vehicles that are yellow. Once sighted, victory is achieved by being the first to yell ‘Spotto’.

Road trips have been a predominant feature of Jess’s life. She has over fifteen years’ experience working as a tour guide throughout Australia.

Now as a mother of two, Jess enjoys road trips with her family. It was during a trip to the Birdsville races, many hours away by car, that she was inspired to think of ways to keep her young kids entertained.

With fond childhood memories as inspiration, Jess had the idea to create ‘Spotto Books’, cleverly expanding the Spotto concept into book form. Her first book, Classic, is filled with many yellow things to spot.

“Distances in Australia are immense, and car rides are long. I knew I needed to find ways to stave off the boredom and I didn’t want my kids to be staring at screens all day,” says Jess.

To her delight, the books resulted in less nagging and genuine enthusiasm.

“It was lots of fun. The kids were really engaged and actually learned a lot from our trip. It helped to make the holiday about the journey, not just the destination,” says Jess.

Tapping into her impressive stockpile of travel shots, Jess’s interactive books feature photographs of landmarks, animals, vehicles and other quirky things for kids to discover on long journeys.

“A memory I will always treasure occurred on the last day of one of our long distance trips. We had just pulled into a car wash not far from home and the kids were devastated because there was only one item they had not managed to spot - a purple Ute. Incredibly, a purple Ute pulled up in the washing bay next to us. The kids erupted with joy. They couldn’t believe it,” says Jess.

Requests poured in from friends and family, and then friend of friends, for one of Jess’s ‘genius’ Spotto Books.

“Everyone was encouraging me to sell them,” says Jess.

Then COVID-19 closed international borders, sending domestic tourism into a frenzy.

“Covid was a huge motivator for me to scale up. I knew people were going to start travelling around Australia, so I started creating more books, covering more of Australia, and working out publishing options,” says Jess.

Since then, she’s created Spotto Books for specific destinations including the Hunter Region, Red Centre and Gold Coast.

“These books allow you to explore a region from top to bottom. My newest edition, ‘Camping’ gives parents some down time when at the campsite, with the kids busily looking for everything in the book,” says Jess.

Their sibling rivalries long forgotten, Jess’s brother is one of Spotto Book’s biggest supporters.

“My brother loves Spotto Books. He helped me launch at the Caravan Camping Holiday Supershow 2021 and although we weren’t in a great position, it was an absolute hit. We sold 700 books in six days,” says Jess.

Her success noted by event organisers, Jess has been invited to partner with the Supershow in 2022.

For Jess, the Female Founders Program has helped her to consider her business in a different way and armed her with the right tools to accelerate.

“It’s been incredible. It’s opened so many doors and the theoretical information has blown my mind,” says Jess.

“I can bounce ideas off my mentor. She challenges me, encourages me, and gets excited with me. The course helped me experiment faster with ideas rather than sitting on them. I’ve learned not to be scared to do small trials and either take an idea forward or pivot.”

Like many female founders, Jess believed in her product, but was curious to see if others would.

“The program has given me the confidence and validation to say to myself ‘You’ve got this’ and I’ll be forever grateful for that,” says Jess.

With over twenty other book concepts she will be developing, Jess is heavily invested in production and establishing strong distribution channels.

“Currently, Spotto Books are available online. My next goal is to get them into petrol stations, camping stores and airports across Australia.”

“My first international Spotto Books will be New Zealand, followed by Canada and the United States. In ten years’ time, people from all over the world will be using Spotto Books when they come to Australia for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.”

You can contact Jess at info@spottobooks.com.au