Last December, Tracey Dils, a former children's book author, was hired as publisher of McGraw-Hill Children's Publishing. Since then, the Ohio-based company has been increasing its presence in the trade, both in mass-market outlets and in more traditional venues like Barnes & Noble and Borders. Dils now has two editors working solely on trade titles, with plans to hire more. "We see trade as a great area for growth opportunity," she said. "It fits well with our educational line and licensing program."
The company made its first foray into the trade last fall, with a picture-book series based on Molly and Emmett, two characters from Spider magazine that the publisher used under a special licensing agreement with the Cricket magazine group, publisher of Spider. Three books in the series are available now, with a fourth in progress. Dils said she is looking to expand the relationship with Cricket, as well as with other licensors, for future projects.
The biggest trade push to date for McGraw-Hill will come this fall and next spring, as the company plans to launch several new series. In October, it will roll out its Disney Parent-Child Read Together series with two Winnie-the-Pooh titles, and will follow up with four more titles in January. Dils plans to eventually publish eight titles in the series each year. Another high-priority initiative is a Mercer Mayer first-reader program; there are 12 titles planned so far, the first five of which will release next summer.
McGraw-Hill has published a number of Mercer Mayer workbooks and activity books, and Dils sees the first-reader books as a way to tie in to those—as well does the Mercer Mayer reissue program that McGraw-Hill will be starting. The first four titles in this program will be in stores next summer.
Next fall, McGraw-Hill will release to the trade several titles in its Peter Bedrick Books line (it acquired the company last fall), including The Incredible Journey to the Mummy's Tomb and The Incredible Journey Through the Human Body; three previously published titles in the series will be reprinted in paperback next January. Though most of the books in the Bedrick imprint are aimed at educational markets, Dils said select titles will be targeted to the trade as well. She added that she is looking to grow the imprint, and is seeking out nonfiction titles to add to the list; McGraw-Hill will continue to distribute the Bedrick backlist.
Additional series are also planned, including Legends of the Americas, a series of picture books that launches with two titles in January; Kids Have Feelings Too, which will begin next summer; and a series of fairy-tale books called Keepsakes, launching with eight titles in January. "We're looking to publish the kinds of books that inspire lap time," Dils said, "and for older kids, books that inspire further inquiry."
