Next month Ruckus Media will expand their children’s ebook platform with a revamped Ruckus 2.0 app/store release and in advance, the company has announced a number of “ebook partnerships for digital distribution” with other publishers. Their new relationships include deals with Little, Brown Children’s, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Thomas Nelson and Charlesbridge Publishing, covering “about three dozen new titles” at launch with more titles to be added on a monthly basis thereafter.
Licensed titles include THE POLAR EXPRESS, TOOT AND PUDDLE, many CURIOUS GEORGE titles, some Margaret Wise Brown titles, and HEAVEN IS FOR REAL FOR KIDS
Release
That announcement is very much on point for an announcement delayed by the storm: our partners at Digital Book World report that many attendees have asked for information about the return of the associated Publishers Launch Children’s Conference, the day before the “main” DBW conference opens.
Set for Wednesday, January 15, our full-day event dedicated to the digital transition in children’s publishing kicks off “Digital Book World Week” (and this year there is no conflict with the ALA schedule). Detailed program information is here–and this year’s program includes expanded marketing case studies at particular (separate) examples in picture books, middle grade and YA. Scholastic will share information on how kids, parents, and teachers are using their new Storia platform, and Bowker and Bookigee will return with a fresh data snapshot of the children’s market overall.
The changing role of the publisher is also front and center, with a look at children’s publishers as producers, and rethinking the process of creating, controlling, and licensing IP.
The low early price is still available for PLC Children’s @ DBW until November 16, and as always, the Publishers Lunch reader code PUBLUNCH saves you another 5 percent off the listed price.
For those who want to go deeper, there’s a package that includes entrance to a second day of dedicated children’s programming once Digital Book World itself opens on Wednesday. (That package price is also discounted until mid-November.) Or, for the best value, DBW’s new “total access” pass gives you free rein over all the week’s programming–PLC Kids, the DBW workshops, their separate awards luncheon–for one value price.
Register here