We're devoting this edition of The Bird to The Kids. Children's publishing has always been a hallmark of Penguin. We have the publishing brands — Puffin, DK, Ladybird — and the author brands — Roald Dahl, Eric Carle, Beatrix Potter — and the market positions. In the UK our adult market share lags well behind Hachette and Random House but we are the number one publisher of children's books (now that JK has taken a well deserved rest).
The paradox of the children's market is that, while media surveys tell us that young people are too busy playing computer games and ripping off music to bother with books, sales in the category continue to grow. Our biggest retail customers around the world tell us that they're planning to invest more in children's product, children's marketing, and children's floor space. So either guilty parents are buying millions of books that their children then ignore, or something's going on that the media studies aren't telling us.
The Bird asked our top children's publishers to shed some light on the big trends in the market. They also tell us what makes Penguin's approach to children's publishing so successful and distinctive. There have, as you may know, been some important changes in recent months. Don Weisberg took over as President of the Penguin Young Readers Group in May of last year and, with the support of a fantastic team, has given fresh energy and focus to our children's publishing in New York. This week we launched with great hoopla a brand new story about Winnie the Pooh, penned by David Benedictus, a typically creative example of how we're seizing new opportunities.
In London, we have reunited all of our children's publishing under the leadership of Stephanie Barton and Francesca Dow. So Puffin, Ladybird, Frederick Warne and BBC Children's Books are now a single children's powerhouse with more channel authority than was possible before. The integration of the UK children's organisation will also strengthen communications between London and New York because the two teams will have a common structure and a common focus.
Together they'll be tackling the big issues of the day:
What's the opportunity in the e-book market? Not much at the moment because devices are so expensive and don't offer colour but potentially enormous as the next generation of e-readers enters the market with full colour and much greater functionality.
How do we build on our growth in the Young Adult market? We don't need JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer to tell us that bestselling YA can become true global phenomena. Nick Hornby, Mike Lupica and Greg Mortensen have led the way for us, and have sold in big numbers, but we're still looking for the worldwide blockbuster.
How do we transfer the skills we have accumulated in London, Melbourne and New York to the less developed children's markets in, among other territories, China, India and South Africa? We need to pool our expertise in special sales, design, online marketing, pricing, licensing...
The list is almost endless — as are the opportunities. So I hope you'll take the time to take a close look at this issue, and give some thought to the adult readers of tomorrow. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
John