In the midst of much financial turmoil and reorganization, a new division of Golden Books is receiving positive feedback on its inaugural list. Throughout its 91-year history, Golden has been known primarily as a mass market house, but a little more than a year ago, Margery Cuyler was hired with a significant mission. After 21 years at Holiday House and a year-long stint as associate publisher of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, she came on board in September 1997 as v-p and associate publisher of trade books, with the task of building a full-fledged trade list for Golden. "What excited me about coming to Golden," Cuyler said, "was the challenge of developing a program of high-quality, child-friendly books that would work well in the trade but, given this company's distribution capabilities, could also reach the masses."
Cuyler has worked quickly: the first books issued under her editorial direction shipped in July and several additional series have fall release dates. Reportedly already faring well in both markets is the Road to Reading line, a reading program that is not based on age or grade designation but encourages children to proceed at their own pace through levels measured by "miles." The 11 paperbacks that launched this venture in September include Hot Dog by Molly Coxe, I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Joan Paley, and Marsha Makes Me Sick by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Denise Brunkus. The line began with Miles 1, 2 and 3; miles 4 and 5 will be added in spring of 2000; an auxiliary program, Road to Writing, with prompts to inspire kids to write and draw, will debut next June.
Golden issued 100,000 copies of each of the Road to Reading initial titles and has already reprinted 75,000 copies of each, reported Cuyler, who has signed up numerous traditional trade authors and illustrators for the line. She called the series a "huge success story," saying, "Not only have many accounts taken these titles, but the sell-through has been very good."
Hannah Schwartz of Children's Book World in Haverford, Pa., has seen enough of these Golden titles go out her door that she recently placed a reorder. "Frankly, I thought the market was saturated with beginning reader series, but I have found there is a niche for this program," she observed. "Kids and parents are asking for it by name. They seem to like both the look of the books and the series angle."
Establishing a Trade Look
From the start, achieving brand recognition -- historically a strength of Golden's mass-market publishing program -- was one of Cuyler's goals for her list. "Everything that I publish is branded, has a specific marketing plan behind it and is positioned for all channels of distribution," she said. Meeting these qualifications is a new line of $9.95 hardcovers, called Golden Books Family Storytime, the first six of which will ship in December. Conforming to typical trade picture book specs, these titles have a uniform 8x10 trim size, are numbered to encourage readers to collect them and feature jackets with a spine decoration derivative of the vine-patterned design used on early Golden treasuries in the 1940s and '50s. Strategically priced below the $10 price point that generally marks the ceiling in today's mass market, the Storytime titles have been ordered, according to Cuyler, by "all mass retail outlets as well as chain and independent trade stores. We picked up so much support for these books in all markets that we doubled our initial print runs from 25,000 to 50,000 copies."
The debut list includes four titles mined from the Golden backlist (one, Joan Bowden's The Bouncy Baby Bunny, with new art by Patience Brewster), as well as two original titles: My Big Dog by Caldecott Medalist Janet Stevens and A Blessing from Above by Susan Stevens Crummel and Patti Henderson, illustrated by Liz Edge.
Cuyler has also tapped the Golden archives in another new trade effort, Golden Hardcover treasuries. Released this summer, the first of these anthologies, A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books, edited by Ellen Lewis Buell, collects 46 Little Golden Books in a large-format, jacketed hardcover. Given its $19.95 cover price, the book has had greater success in the trade than the mass market, though, Cuyler reported, strong special sales have contributed to the volume's 45,000-copy in-print figure. Shipping in December and January, respectively, are this line's next installments, both priced at $12.95: The Golden Books Treasury of Prayers from Around the World by Esther Wilkin, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, and The Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies by Jane Werner, illustrated by Garth Williams.
Several booksellers applauded Cuyler's interest in sharing such out-of-print material with a new generation of readers, including Judy Bulow, children's buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, who commented, "Through the years, customers have asked for some of these treasuries, which I remember from my own childhood. I think they'll be as successful today as they were then."
Nonfiction is also on Cuyler's agenda, as three recently introduced series attest. Letters and Numbers are the debut installments of the My First Book and Disk line, offering spiral-bound books and CD-ROMs that teach concepts to preschoolers. Geared to a slightly older reader is a new line of paperback Look-Look Books featuring laminated pages filled with photos, illustrations and facts, the first of which are titled Dinosaurs, Insects, Sharks and Snakes. Mummies, Rain Forests, Sea Creatures and Spiders are the inaugural Totally Amazing titles, large-format paperbacks that offer information, jokes and quizzes to readers ages seven to 11.
Future Golden trade projects include a revival of The Big Golden Book of... line, with an all-new volume on space scheduled for a May 1999 release and a compendium on U.S. presidents a year later; also planned is a new series of My First Golden Books introducing such concepts as the alphabet and numbers. Though Cuyler acknowledged that she misses editing older-level nonfiction and "giftier" picture books, she said she is enjoying working in this new environment and is becoming accustomed to what she called "a different mindset, one that has much more focus on merchandising, marketing and point-of-sales material."
"Creatively," she explained, "it's been a challenge to design a trade program to take advantage of the best that Golden can offer. It has been an adjustment, but a positive one." She said she hopes that the notable roster of trade authors and illustrators she has signed up for various projects -- among them Fredrick and Patricia McKissack, Mary Jane Auch, Nadine Bernard Westcott and Gloria Whelan -- will also make a smooth transition into the mass market. In Cuyler's words, "I know this will be a new world for them, and an exciting one."
