Amazon
Publishing to Acquire Marshall Cavendish US Children’s Books
Titles
SEATTLE,
WA and TARRYTOWN, NY—Dec. 5, 2011—Amazon.com Inc. and Marshall
Cavendish today announced that Amazon has signed a deal to acquire over 450
titles of its US Children’s trade books business, Marshall Cavendish
Children’s Books.
The list from
Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books has been nominated for more than 150
industry awards and includes a diverse range of titles including
The
Night
Before
Christmas
illustrated by Gennady Spirin,
Three
Little
Tamales
by Eric A. Kimmel,
Chalk
by Bill Thomson and
Yellow
Star
by Jennifer Roy, as well as the National Book Award-nominated
My
Name is Not
Easy
by
Debby Dahl Edwardson. The acquisition creates the foundation for Amazon
Publishing to further expand into picture books, chapter books and Young Adult
novels.
"We’re
excited to acquire the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books titles and
expand our publishing business in this area," said Jeff Belle, Vice
President, Amazon Publishing. "We believe the children’s book market
segment presents a unique opportunity to innovate in both print and digital
formats. And since many of these titles are not readily available as eBooks, we
see a chance to connect a terrific group of authors and illustrators with more
readers. We also see the potential for similar deals across other categories in
the future."
"Under
the guidance of Margery Cuyler, the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books
team has done an incredible job of building a contemporary and beautifully
presented list of books," said Laurence Kirshbaum, Vice President and
Publisher, Amazon Publishing, East Coast Group. "We look forward to working
with these respected authors and illustrators. We will continue to publish these
books in their handsome print editions and we think customers will love reading
these books—most of them never available before digitally—with their
families, using the brilliant color touchscreen on the Kindle Fire."
Lee Fei
Chen, Group Publisher & Head of Publishing Group at Marshall Cavendish
Corporation said, "We would like to thank all the MCCB authors and
illustrators for their contributions over the years; many of them have worked
with us since the commencement of this business in 2003. The numerous awards
and recognition that the list has garnered is a standing testament to the
creativity and capabilities of the team." She further added, "Our sale
will allow Marshall Cavendish to continue to focus on our core K-12 textbook and
assessment books business in the United States, and growing our school education
publishing businesses
worldwide."
Until
the deal is closed, all orders from retailers and libraries should continue to
go to the existing MCCB sales teams. Amazon will publish the acquired title
sunder an imprint of Amazon’s New York publishing unit.
