If you walked into publishing right now and stopped one of us to ask, “What’s the healthiest, happiest part of the business to get into?” — the answer you well might get is “children’s books!”
The exclamation point would be there, yes. They’re a generally exuberant lot these days, the children’s books folks.
And why not? Thanks to Charlotte Eyre’s report Children’s market 10% up on 2013, we know why many of them are smiling. And it’s not surprising that The Bookseller Children’s Conference on 25th September looks headed for a sellout.
Fair warning: Children’s Conference bookings close at 5 p.m. London time on Friday (19th September) for #kidsconf14, as we’re hashtagging it. Time is short if you still need to secure your seat at the Southbank Centre for the confab on the 25th.
In her report, Eyre — The Bookseller’s children’s editor — writes:
The UK children’s publishing market is up by 10% this year, making it the fastest-growing book sector…Nielsen BookScan data shows that consumers spent £187.9m on children’s books in the first eight months of 2014 (1st January–31st August 2014), up 10% on the same period in 2013.
If the market stays more than 10% ahead of last year’s figures, it is projected to be worth £337m in 2014—the best year the children’s sector will have had since BookScan records began in 1998.
Most kids’ categories are showing growth. Sales of children’s fiction, YA titles and picture books are all up, with only a slight dip (-2%) in sales of pre-school books.
And in our #PorterMeets interview with Eyre online, of course the first thing I had to ask, on behalf of all envious members of the adult trade end of the business, was: what’s the children’s sector’s secret?
@Porter_Anderson @thebookseller Good question! Minecraft from @EgmontUK is huge. There has also been 12% growth in picture books
— Charlotte Eyre (@CharlotteLEyre) September 15, 2014
Read the Full Story at The FutureBook
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By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: #PorterMeets Charlotte Eyre: A chuffed market’s Children’s Conference
Read the full post at: FutureBook.net
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