Two U.K. Houses Launch U.S. Lists
Sally Lodge -- 2/2/98
Publishers hope New Age and gift books find young audiences
A pair of British companies -- the brand-new Element Children's Books and the five-year-old Barefoot Books -- will this year publish their first titles produced for the American market. Publishers from the U.K. setting up shop in the United States is hardly a new phenonemon; the westward move across the pond has been done before -- and remarkably successfully -- in the children's book world.
Back in 1991, having established an impressive track record as a London-based packager, Dorling Kindersley changed gears and entered the publishing business, opening offices in London as well as in New York and several other cities, including Stuttgart, Moscow and Sydney. Though at first the priorities of the Manhattan office staff were primarily marketing and sales, before long an editorial team was hired to adapt British texts for the American trade. After considerable expansion, DK's New York office today has nearly 100 employees, and the number of children's titles it releases annually has reached 120.
Just one year later, Candlewick Press opened its Cambridge, Mass., offices as the American arm of London's Walker Books. An ambitious operation from its inception, Candlewick began with three editors on board and within a year had hired an art director as well as a design staff. In 1996, before its five-year anniversary, Candlewick had sales of $21.2 million and held the number 15 spot on PW's list of top-performing children's publishers. Its staff of 40 now creates, produces and markets an annual list of 150 hardcovers and paperbacks, many written and illustrated by Americans.
Though some may believer that this westward expansion by British publishers is further crowding an already packed Yankee field, others clearly believe there is room for more players. And two are ready to join the game.
Enter Element
Based in rustic Rockport, Mass., on Boston's north shore, Element Books has been publishing adult books, and distributing those of its parent company, Element U.K., for 20 years. Its reported 157% growth in sales between 1994 and 1995 earned the house the second-highest ranking in PW's recent roundup of "Small Publisher Standouts" (Nov. 17, 1997). Introducing its first 14 titles this coming May, Element Children's Books reflect the adult listís focus on the "body-mind-spirit" area and will, in the words of publisher Barry Cunningham, "shed light for kids on the 'wonder why' mysteries -- both those of the external world and the mysteries inside each of us."
Cunningham, who with editor Elinor Bagenal left Bloomsbury Books at the start of 1997 to head up Element Children's Books, explains that the venture grew out of conversations with children in schools, librarians and teachers in both the U.K. and the U.S. "The children expressed a huge interest in unexplained phenomena of the universe," he noted. "And teachers and librarians commented that there was nothing written on such subjects specifically for children, so kids turn to adult books that are not always suitable for them. We felt it was timely and necessary to fill this niche and produce a list to explore nonfiction subjects for which there are not conventional, scientific explanations."
Such topics include reincarnation, dream interpretation, handwriting analysis and the Chinese belief system of feng shui -- each of which is covered by one of the imprint's spring releases. Heading the list, which encompasses hardcovers, paperbacks and book-and-merchandise kits, is Joanna Crosse's The Element Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mind, Body, Spirit &Earth, which touches on such topics as meditation, extraterrestrials and the millennium.
It was the encouraging research in American schools as well as the response from Element's distributor, Penguin Putnam, that convinced the house to develop a full-fledged children's publishing program in this country rather than go the route of selling rights to American publishers. "We are actually taking a lead from the U.S. market," Cunningham said, "in that we will be publishing books derived from American interests rather than primarily British interests." Stating that his line is not esoteric or specialized, Cunningham noted that traditional trade outlets are the company's target markets, though he expects the books to sell well in gift and specialty stores.
Element's children's division will issue an estimated 40 books a year, edited and produced in England but released simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. There will be separate editions for each market printed in the case of titles for younger children, and one version for those books aimed at older readers, since Cunningham believes that "young adults in Britain are very accustomed to reading American books." He emphasized that, "in an attempt to be as international as possible," the company is interested in signing up American and well as British authors and illustrators. Though Cunningham anticipates that "if things continue to look as bright as they do now," there may be additions made to the American ranks, right now sales and marketing manager Karen Placzek (formerly institutional marketing manager for the Putnam &Grosset Group) is the sole children's staffer in Element Books' Rockport office.
Bold Steps for Barefoot
A publisher of picture books, fairytale collections and story anthologies for children since 1993, Barefoot Books will issue its debut list in this country in September with 15 titles. Founded by business consultant and accountant Nancy Traversy and former publishing executive Tessa Strickland, the company is run from their respective homes -- in London and in the rural Cotswolds -- to accommodate the lifestyles of the partners, who have seven children between them, ranging in age from 11 months to 11 years.
The two, who are in the process of hiring a sales and marketing director to head up a New York office, explained that their "up-to-the-minute computer system" makes such an unorthodox office setup possible and facilitates communication with each other and with business associates. Describing theirs as a "high-tech cottage industry that d sn't follow traditional rules," Traversy said that Barefoot was among the first U.K. publishers to set up a website, which has helped spread news of their books to colleagues and on several continents -- including this one.
With the American market responsible for 75% of Barefoot's sales, the company is obviously known to U.S. publishers, many of which have over the past five years purchased rights to Barefoot titles, among them The Barefoot Book of Goddesses by Brooklyn-based Kris Waldherr, which has sold a reported 60,000 copies for Beyond Words (under the title The Book of Goddesses). Though these foreign sales have obviously fueled Barefoot's success (in its fourth year of business, the company's sales in pounds reached the equivalent of $1.7 million), Traversy and Strickland are eager to build what the latter calls "a Barefoot brand identity in the U.S., rather than to sell rights to a title here or there and have our books scattered throughout other publishers" lists. And we're well aware that if we sell 10,000 copies by ourselves we are making more money than if we sell 25,000 through a U.S. publisher."
Clearly helping to establish such brand-name recognition for the company on its home turf is Barefoot's quickly growing direct-mail operation, which accounts for 35% of its business in the U.K. Strickland observes that the Barefoot Books catalogue, which last fall was mailed to 100,000 homes in Britain, bolsters rather than hurts trade sales, as it introduces the list to consumers, who are then apt to ask for the publisher by name when in bookstores.
Without a similarly strong database in the U.S., Barefoot will not launch a direct-mail campaign immediately here, though the publisher expects to continue to sell books through other catalogues, such as Hearthstone, which last fall carried eight Barefoot titles. Barefoot is currently hiring trade sales reps, and orders will be fulfilled by the American Book Center in Brooklyn. Traversy noted that in addition to focusing on library and traditional trade outlets, the company will actively pursue special sales to children's, gift and museum shops.
Though Barefoot's editorial and production operations will remain in England, Americanized editions will be shipped to the U.S. market. Highlights of the first list, which reflects both the imprint's multicultural scope and belief in the importance of myth, include Marleen Vermuelen's Forest Tales from Far and Wide; Farmyard Tales from Far and Wide by Wendy Cooling; Mary Hoffman's Clever Katya: A Fairytale from Old Russia, illustrated by Marie Cameron; and Tales of Wisdom and Wonder by Hugh Lopton, illustrated by Niamh Sharkey.
While Element's Cunningham, as well as Traversy and Strickland, expressed respect and admiration for what both DK and Candlewick have accomplished, these newcomers emphasized the distinctive features of their publishing programs and clearly view theirs as ventures that will break new ground rather than follow in worn footsteps. And all are optimistic that their books will receive a warm reception from American booksellers, librarians and kids.
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