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The US children's market has seen huge growth this year with increasing focus on books by people of colour and by celebrities, Barbara Marcus, president and publisher of Random House Children's Books in the US, has said.
Marcus, who leads the largest children's publisher in the US, was speaking at the start of The Bookseller Children's Conference, beginning on Monday 28th September and running until 1st October.
She said the children's market had been “robust” in the US, with sales growing by 4% from 2015 to 2019, with a huge 15% leap in 2020 after Covid-19 hit. Books about empathy, titles featuring diverse characters and non-fiction to support education had all seen a boost, she said.
Children's editor of The Bookseller Charlotte Eyre asked Marcus how children's books might become further enmeshed with other forms of media. Marcus gave the example of Dan Brown's recent Wild Symphony, which came with a downloadable app for readers to listen to music he had composed, alongside the opportunities for content offered by streaming services such as Netflix.
She said: “Celebrity authors who have platforms are eager to have children's books which is something I think has happened before but now is really happening. I do think them being home with their children has impacted their output but we have seen great success with Sir Paul McCartney before Covid and now we are seeing it with all sorts of people such as Cat Deeley and Kristen Bell and other people like that who are perhaps more American in taste but we are seeing great sales of those books as well.”
Marcus also said PRH remained committed to publishing more books by people of colour and, in the US, was in the middle of investigating how much of its publishing reflected that.
She said: “We are publishing more books by people of colour, about people of colour and they are resonating because of the tragedy of what has happened in the US, and I assume in the UK. All parents and all retailers are interested in promoting and selling a variety of books and it is up to us, I believe, to really reflect that in our publishing. We at Penguin Random House in the US are in the midst of doing a study about how much of our publishing is by authors of colour and we will be exploring that.
“But even more so I think that our authors feel that we're incredibly committed to them and are supporting their efforts through all sorts of marketing and publicity and we are continuing to being committed to organisations that reach out to children who might not know of these books or see these books in other ways. It is really, really important to us.”
Asked about PRH's acquisition of Little Tiger, the first in a string of high-profile moves that saw HarperCollins buy Egmont and Walker Books snapped up by Trustbridge Global Media, Marcus said it was a “beautiful complement” to what the firm does in the US, with the former indie offering speed to market and worldwide expertise.
She said: “I think what appealed to both Monty Bhatia who owned Little Tiger and myself was that not only is he a worldwide publisher, he is that mix of creating books and selling them to other publishers. He also has his own list but he also had a growing publishing imprint in the US and that was Tiger Tales and we are growing that really exponentially as we use our sales force to sell his books, Tiger Tales Books, Little Tiger Books in the US. The other part of the interest on my behalf is because they... can really look at a topic, look at an opportunity and move in a very, very quick and intelligent and fun way which is often harder for a large company to do.”