Trafalgar Square in North Pomfret, Vt., which specializes in distributing British houses, recently signed its first contract with a children's publishing house, which also happens to be one of the largest children's publishers in the U.K., Egmont Books UK. Its list ranges from licensed characters such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine to picture books by Helen Oxenbury and Jacqui Hawkins to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. "This is the last piece of the diversification puzzle. Children's is a good growth area," managing director Paul Feldstein told PW. With the addition of Egmont in the fall, Trafalgar plans to dedicate 20 pages of its catalogue to children's books.
While children's may be the last area that Trafalgar has grown, five years ago it began broadening its list beyond the dozen equestrian titles it publishes annually and its traditional distribution mainstays: hobbies and crafts. Although both knitting and mosaics titles remain strong, Feldstein said, "we've had a couple of photography books of images from British Vogue that have done incredibly well. These are books that in the past Bulfinch would have published." The newest British Vogue title is due out in April, People in Vogue: A Century of Portraits (Little, Brown UK) by Robin Derrick and Robin Muir. Other key areas include mystery—led by authors such as Michael Jecks, who writes medieval murder mysteries; Quintin Jardine's books with private investigator Osbert "Oz" Blackstone; and Phil Rickman's series featuring single mom and Anglican priest Merrily Watkins—and science fiction. Hesperus's line of classics in translation has also been strong. For Trafalgar, the mix in genres has contributed to strong sales. The company was up 10% for 2003, despite the poor exchange rate between dollars and pounds.
