Storynory Tries Free Downloads

by Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 1/23/2006

As advances in digital technology continue, a number of companies are using updated strategies to create and distribute spoken-word product. One of the newbies is Storynory.com, a Web site out of London that offers free "iPod-ready" stories for kids.

Launched this past November, Storynory.com is home to a variety of public-domain properties including fairy tales like "The Snow Queen" from the collections of Andrew Lang and works by Charles Dickens. The twist is, according to Storynory cofounder Hugh Fraser, that "we tag on our own stories about Prince Bertie the Frog [the site's mascot] and his pondlife friends. We are building Bertie into a brand."

The stories are read by actress/narrator Natasha Lee Lewis. They can be downloaded to various MP3 players (or burned to a CD) from the Storynory site and are also available at iTunes.com.

Storynory.com is the brainchild of Matthew Lynn, Fraser's business partner, with whom he founded Blog Relations (blog-relations.com), a company that helps corporations create blogs and podcasts, last summer.

"We think there are only a very few good ideas on the Web, and audio for children is one of the last remaining ones left," said Fraser. "There's something very magical about listening to a story well told and we think there's a demand for high quality audio in this field."

Though future plans are to keep the site's offerings free for users, potential moneymakers for Storynory are Bertie the Frog merchandise and "dedicated stories," meaning parents could pay to get a story with a special, personalized introduction ("Hello, Freddie—Bertie says 'Happy Birthday' "). Print editions of Bertie the Frog books are planned for later this year, and Fraser says, "We might consider a sponsor for the audio, provided that it was not too intrusive." He also hopes to secure syndication of the company's podcasts in newspapers and public radio stations.