Pokémon Annual coming from Egmont

Egmont is set to publish the Pokémon Annual 2018 in October.

John Packard, publishing director for brands and licensing and Egmont Publishing, signed a deal for UK and Eire rights with Amy Levenson, publishing manager at the Pokémon Company International. It will be published on 5th October in hardback for £7.99.

The new annual will include the "Alola to New Adventure" story, puzzles and challenges as well as statistics and facts “to help children decide which Pokémon will help them win their next battle”. It also includes an updated Pokédex which allows readers “to discover the latest Pokémon and the Ultra Beasts found in the Alolan region”.

Packard said: “We are very excited to be adding Pokémon to our slate of annuals for this year. As the number one annuals publisher we are careful to only select the very best titles in the market to add to our offering. Pokémon is a proven evergreen with fantastic potential and an extensive fanbase thanks to the enormous strength of the brand.”

Last year’s annual published by Devon-based Little Brother Books sold 95,277 units according to Nielsen BookScan amassing £377,783.

Various publishers have cashed in on the surge in popularity for Pokémon, resurrected over the last few years. According to Nielsen BookScan data, Pokémon was the brand to have shown the biggest growth year last year, in terms of its annuals (published by Scholastic and Orchard Books), with sales of affiliated annuals up 820% from a volume of 2,736 in 2015.

Orchard Books, part of the Hachette Children’s Group, announced a deal of additional formats with The Pokémon Company in March. These included a range of sticker activity books, novelty, fiction and early reader titles, with four fiction books which launched in June.