Felix—the stuffed bear that has sold 4.7 million books worldwide—leads the inaugural list of Parklane Publishing, the new children's publishing company that brings together former executives from Simon & Schuster, Candlewick Press and North-South Books.
The seven-employee company, owned by wholesaler Book Club of America, plans to release U.S. editions of books published in other countries. Its 25-book debut list this fall consists entirely of books licensed from German publisher Coppenrath Verlag. But Parklane publisher Philip Rodgers said he is looking to make similar deals with other publishers. "We just saw a book recently from Hungary, and that's something that we're planning to publish," he said. "We've also talked to some Japanese publishers."
While it establishes its publishing program, Parklane, based in Hauppauge, N.Y., is also building a third-party distribution business. Its first client is Rip Squeak Inc., a California children's publisher.
Parklane will publish about 60 books in 2004 and possibly work up to about 100 a year, Rodgers estimated. This fall's list will include three Felix books, two reprints and a new title, Felix and the Flying Suitcase Adventure. The children's book character had been published in the U.S. by Abbeville Press.
Parklane's list also features two books based on the character Moonbeam Bear, which will be sold exclusively at Barnes & Noble. "He's really our second lead and we thought, 'What a great way to get it out to the market,' " Rodgers said. The rest of the publisher's books will have general trade distribution.
Parklane and B&N are of like mind on at least one aspect of the business—the wisdom of pricing their books lower than those of their competitors. For example, said Rodgers, Parklane will put a $10.99 price tag on books that others would typically sell for $13.
Rodgers used to run S&S's remainder business. Other veterans working for Parklane include Tammy Johnston, former v-p of sales and marketing at Candlewick, who leads the sales and marketing team. Marc Cheshire, former president and publisher of North-South Books and now president of Cheshire Studios, is heading up the translation team.
