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Cabot stays at Macmillan

30.03.07 Caroline Horn

Macmillan Children's Books has signed up The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot for three new series--including her first for under-10s--in a deal that will keep the author at the UK publishing house until at least 2011.

Last month, Cabot moved from HarperCollins to Scholastic in the US, but Macmillan said her UK publishing home had not been under negotiation. "The author and her agent, Laura Langlie Literary Agency, were very happy with how we have built her brand in the UK," said publishing director Sarah Davies.

Cabot will write two teen trilogies, Airhead and Abandon, to launch in 2008 and 2009 respectively, as well as her first series for younger readers aged eight and over--Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, due in 2008.

"One of Cabot's strengths is that she can write at any level, and young children aged five and up already know her from the Princess Diaries film," said Viviane Basset, head of marketing and publicity for Macmillan Children's Books.

Meanwhile, Macmillan has unveiled plans to launch Cabot's How to Be Popular (6th April) with a £20,000 interactive advertising slot on Nickelodeon. The ad will invite teenage viewers to press the red button on their remote control, and supply their name and address in return for a free iPod "sock" or make-up bag--which will be sent out with a sample chapter from the new title.

"Interactive TV offers exactly what we and the end-viewers would hope for: easy, quick and fun interaction coupled with instant and gratifying reward," said Basset. The ad will run eight times a day for two weeks from 6th April, and is expected to reach 215,000 girls aged over 10. It will also be flagged up to the 33,000 members of the online Princess Club.

HarperCollins Caroline Horn meg cabot Rights deal Macmillan children's Scholastic The Princess Diaries

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