Awesome Reads signs Selberg to lead children’s list

IP and production company Awesome Media & Entertainment (AM&E) has hired Ingrid Selberg to lead its new publishing arm.

In her role as director of publishing at Awesome Reads, Selberg will oversee the release of three or four books a year, focusing on high-concept, commercial stories.

“Ingrid is going to grow this imprint and make it into something special,” said Jeff Norton, AM&E founder. “Middle-grade and YA are the key areas and we want to be very focused on what we publish, so no more than one book per quarter. We are going to be absolutely relentless in supporting our titles, week in and week out.”

Norton launched the imprint after receiving funding from Kew Media Group earlier this year. He said he wants to create stories in book and TV form simultaneously. “The idea is to have an elegant symmetry between the two,” he said. “Readers might come to the story from books or maybe from TV. I’m aware we are constantly fighting for attention, so hopefully we will always bring kids to reading. That’s the virtual circle I want to create.”

The imprint will launch with Norton’s Alienated: Grounded at Groom Lake, a comedy adventure about the only human at a school for aliens in Area 51, on 1st November. Awesome Reads is actively in discussion with other writers, Norton said. Selberg was m.d. of Simon & Schuster Children’s from 2003–2015.