Quercus, a British publishing company, opened a New York office, to publish children’s and adult books for the North American market, in May of 2013. This list will start with about 10 books, focusing on chapter books and books for older readers. The list is expected to grow to 25-30 titles/year by 2016.
Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes, a middle-grade novel about an orphaned brother and sister on a road trip from Canada to New York
Frightfully Friendly Ghosties by Daren King, illustrated by David Roberts, the first in an an early chapter-book trilogy
Sammy Feral’s Diaries of Weird, by Eleanor Hawken, illustrated by John Kelly, the debut book of a middle-grade supernatural adventure series
Guinea Pigs Online by Jennifer Gray and Amanda Swift, illustrated by Sarah Horne, the first in a chapter-book series
The Snowmelt River by Frank P. Ryan, which opens The Three Powers, a YA adventure fantasy series.
Viz Media also launched a new children’s imprint, this one debuting at Comic Con. Perfect Square will focus on Manga and other children’s formats that focus on imaginative story telling. They plan to work up to 40 to 50 titles/year.
The star of the new list is Bravest Warriors which features a band of future warriors who use the power of their emotions to fight and defeat various alien threats. First created as a YouTube series in November 2012, the show has won awards and averaged more than a million views per episode.
Last but not least, Enslow is launching two new trade imprints. Speeding Star is geared to young, male readers, 9 to 14. These sports, disaster and somewhat yucky books aim to get boys to pick them up without being assigned reading. This imprint will release 18 – 24 books/year beginning with Hall of Fame Sports Greats which reaches into various sports for those it profiles.
The other upcoming Enslow trade imprint is Scarlet Voyage, a young adult trade imprint that I wrote up earlier when they put out a call for manuscripts.
Fingers crossed that these imprints will require more books for their readers!
–SueBE
One Writer's Journey 