Gibbs Smith, the 54-year-old publishing company known for its lavishly illustrated books on interior design, crafts, and cooking, as well as children’s books, is launching a children’s imprint this fall, called 7 Cats Press. The titles will emphasize “early learning concepts in both secular and inspirational themes.” according to a release. Describing 7 Cats Press titles as “colorful and fun,” and containing high-quality content, Gibbs Smith noted that the books will be sold at price points “below the average of comparable trade books.”
The Utah company, which has been employee owned since 2015, is described by sales director Moneka Hewlett as “mission-driven. As such, we feel it is important to make books available, and affordable, for all families at a variety of retailers.”
Hewlett, along with publisher/chief creative officer Suzanne Taylor, will oversee the imprint, while design editor Danielle McGuigan will guide its creative processes. McGuigan promises “to offer value in a new era of early learning titles with a fresh perspective and trendy themes.”
Taylor noted that Gibbs Smith has already been extremely successful in the marketplace with its two children’s imprints, BabyLit and Flying Frog. Gibbs Smith reports that total sales of of books published under the BabyLit imprint—launched in 2011 to introduce toddlers to classic literature and to teach early learning concepts such as emotions, numbers, letters, and colors—have topped $14 million.. And in 2022, Gibbs Smith sold 1.7 million books published under the Flying Frog imprint, which the publisher acquired in 2019. Children’s books account for about 50% of total units sold for the company, both frontlist and backlist.
Gibbs Smith plans on releasing 16 titles annually under the 7 Cats imprint. It will debut this fall with 12 board book releases that include such titles as Everyday Counting; Books with Bumps: Animal Colors; God Is Good; and We Are Blessed. Each of these board books will be released on August 1 with a 10,000-copy initial print run.
The 7 Cats Press name pays homage, Hewlett noted, “not only to the role cats have played through millennia as protectors of books against harmful elements, but also to the seven morale-boosting cats that reside at the barn at Gibbs Smith headquarters,” located on a working farm at the base of the Wasatch Mountains, midway between Ogden and Salt Lake City.
