In an effort to boost its children’s and young adult division, Tyndale House Publishers has expanded the staff at Tyndale Kids and is making a series of acquisitions.
Changes to the staff at Tyndale Kids include the promotion of Tyndale Kids’ acquisitions director Linda Howard to associate publisher. Further, Jesse Doogan moved from Tyndale’s digital deployment and marketing area to Tyndale Kids as acquisitions editor, and Kristi Gravemann, formerly in marketing and product development at Awana, has joined as marketing manager. Lastly, Nancy Clausen has taken the expanded role of senior marketing director at Tyndale, overseeing the marketing for adult nonfiction titles as well as children’s.
“Retailers have been requesting more creativity— not the same old Bible stories,” Howard told PW. “We are looking for some big names and quality books, stepping up our commitment to parents who want to present biblical truths to kids in fun and engaging ways.”
The publisher is planning on increasing its annual output of children’s and YA releases, from roughly 10 a year to between 20–25, starting in March with Your Magnificent Chooser by John Ortberg, a pastor and the author of several adult nonfiction titles including The Life You've Always Wanted (Zondervan, 2002). Your Magnificent Chooser is based on Ortberg’s 2015 All the Places to Go... How Will You Know? (Tyndale) and centers on helping children develop a sense of responsibility for their actions.
Your Magnificent Chooser will be followed in summer 2017 by Wow: The Good News in Four Words by Dandi Daley Mackall, author of the bestselling middle grade series Winnie the Horse Gentler. Several other acquisitions are currently in the works, including an agreement with a “major NFL quarterback,” according to Howard.
In addition to building its children's and YA publishing program, Tyndale House recently inked a publishing agreement with Compassion International, a Christian humanitarian organization based in Colorado Springs that sponsors impoverished children around the world. Tyndale and Compassion will team up to publish family activity books, children’s books, and adult nonfiction titles.
Tyndale Kids has also launched its own website and is growing its social media presence to promote its titles and authors, share resources for parents, and engage in conversation with parents, teachers, and churches about Christ-centered learning materials for kids.
“We are getting back to the roots of who Tyndale is,” said Howard. “[Founder] Dr. Taylor started this company after trying to make the Bible understandable for kids—that was how Tyndale started. We’re built on kids. We’re getting back to that.”
