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Publishers should be the "drivers‚" of multimedia brand development, undertaking financial and creative partnerships to create a rounded proposition, delegates at The Bookseller Children's Conference heard on Tuesday (25th September).
Eric Huang, director of new business and IP acquisitions at Penguin Children's Books, outlined three new cross-platform picture book properties Penguin Children's is currently developing. All three -Whale Trail, Edmund and Cecilie and Ollie's Edible Adventures -will be launched digitally first.
Huang said the publisher has been holding meetings with potential multimedia partners -such as TV and film companies and merchandisers -as the stories are being created. The companies' input can potentially influence the direction of the brand. He said that in the case of Ollie's Edible Adventures, about a boy who becomes what he eats, a toy company had raised the issue that to really be successful in the boys' toy market there might have to be vehicles involved in the story. Huang said: "I'm not saying that we are going to say yes to everything -if it's an editorial decision not to have vehicles and that means we don't have toys, so be it. It is still primarily about the story."
He added: "The way we tell stories preceded all the sister companies -ITV, film, the internet. We are the master storytellers. It is the role of the children's publishers to tell story through these formats and digital formats. Publishers should be the driver in creating tools for kids to take the story away from the page, and they should also create the raw materials for kids to tell their stories back to us."
In an earlier panel discussion on the future of picture books, Little Tiger Press managing director Jill Coleman had argued that publishers lacked the skills to develop multi-platform products by themselves. Walker Books picture book publisher Deirdre McDermott countered that the necessary expertise would come from authors and illustrators who are already working with the new technology.
Coleman said it was "essential" for publishers to own the intellectual property they are working on. She said she was still watching the digital market, and added: "To make the product better, it needs to be cheaper so publishers can play more [at developing products]. I think a lot of the barriers are coming down, but I do think we need to work with other people. I just don't think we have the skills ourselves, and we'll be swamped if we try."
McDermott responded: "Illustrators come from other mediums -they already understand the platforms out there. I don't think it's about paying people lots of money for digital knowledge, I think it will come from the authors and illustrators." Illustrator Chris Riddell, who was also on the picture book panel, said: "There is a whole generation of illustrators coming through the ranks with new skills, as animators as well as illustrators . . . as an illustrator, I feel it's the beginning of a new golden age."