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FIRST EVER CHILDREN ’ S BOOK ON LIFE AS A LOCKSMITH
Preparing for motherhood , Natahsa Pugh , Sales Director of APECS , had the ingenious idea of producing a young readers ’ book on locksmithing . Richard Tracz , Marketing Manager , and father of three himself , was up for the challenge .
» HEAR HOW THEY POOLED THEIR knowledge , storytelling and creative skills to help nurture the next generation of locksmiths . Richard Tracz told us :
How did the idea come about ?
With Natasha expecting a baby ( in January ) she came up with the idea of producing a book to enable locksmiths to explain to their children or grandchildren what they do for a living . With Natasha ’ s partner being a locksmith too , it would come in handy for them and many of APECS ’ customers .
Project Journey : Unlocking Creativity
This project began with developing a narrative concept that set the foundation for the storyboard . Early drafts included loose ideas around key scenes and character development . The child being five-year-old Sam , who spends a day with his locksmith dad going out to a variety of typical jobs such as helping someone locked out , master keying at a school and helping an elderly lady who could have
access issues with a special automated lock . The theme of the book is how locksmiths keep people safe , positively impact lives and are , essentially , ‘ heroes ’ and part of first line in community protection / defence .
Once we had a storyboard outline confirmed , we appointed an illustrator who was experienced in creating illustrations for children ’ s books , who translated these ideas into visuals . The pictures were at first just outlined , uncoloured renders , which we needed to review and make character adjustments . As a team we worked together to perfect the book over several weeks in collaboration with Nik Goncharov , Managing Director , Natasha and myself .
Distribution and Expansion
The book was ready early December , which was the perfect time to distribute copies of the book included in customers ’ orders , a nice gesture just before Christmas and a great stocking filler . Feedback from customers has been very positive and the book has garnered interest both within and beyond the locksmithing community . It ’ s been well-received as a celebration of the niche trade . Over 200 copies have been distributed so far and we ’ re already planning for other promotional opportunities to circulate further .
Looking Ahead
The success has sparked discussions on expansion . Ideas include potentially branching into ebooks , exploring adjacent sectors like fabrication , and even representing other trades that often go unnoticed . This initiative aims to celebrate and highlight these underrepresented professions , drawing attention to their importance while fostering a new generation ’ s interest .
Themes like education , empowerment and inclusivity are central to the project , with the aim of going further than the typified , surface-level policeman , doctor , baker and basic professional representations that current children ’ s books provide .
This is just the start - this project opens doors for creativity and recognition across diverse , niche trades . There ’ s noone better than the people in the trade themselves to take the initiative in writing young audience material to put job roles such as locksmithing on children ’ s radars as an important role in everyday life .
How to Get a Copy …
It ’ s such an exciting time for APECS and we do hope that we manage to nurture a few young locksmiths along the way .
If you are a locksmith , that does not currently have a FREE trade account with APECS , please reach out to them on 0121 468 2352 or sales @ apecs . co . uk quoting BOOKFEB – copies of the book will be supplied on first orders from new accounts opened throughout February .
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JANUARY 2025
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