Guinness World Records, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, has signed three licensing deals for children's books. The company, which maintains a database of 45,000 records and enjoys bestseller status every year with its annual hardcover, is looking to sell product beyond the holiday season. "We want to create a year-round presence for Guinness World Records," said Laura Barrett, U.S. marketing manager. "We created a licensing line to provide Guinness World Records content for different purchase occasions and different price points."
New licensing partners include Scholastic, for readers and scrapbooks on subjects such as flight, oceans and wildlife; Time Inc. Home Entertainment, for a starter pack containing a stopwatch that shows kids how to break a record and submit the information to Guinness, and a title for girls; and Penguin Putnam, for a series of quiz pads in addition to last year's Mad Libs title. The books mainly target the hardcover's core market of boys 7-14, and will roll out throughout 2005.
