Why do we publish books?

April 16th, 2012
What is it that makes us want to pick up a book and read it? The front cover? The fact that everyone is talking about it? The subject matter?



For me, like most people, it is all of the above. But, how does this differ for children? Do the same things apply either because the parent is choosing the book for the child or because media savvy children are keen to follow the trends in books as much as in clothes, music and films?

As a publisher should we be following the trends to get a piece of this market share? Marketing departments, who often dominate the book selections today, would be nodding their heads in agreement. Yes, follow the trends. But as a small independent publisher surely we should be going back to our original reason for setting up a publishing company. Many independent publishers and authors will tell you it is not a lucrative business, unless of course you find the next Harry Potter. So, why do it?

10 years ago, when we set up New Frontier, we gave ourselves a motto to keep us focused and drive our publishing list. We were keen to create children’s books to educate, uplift and inspire. Whenever we select our books we go back to this. Yes, of course we take marketability of a book into consideration, but predominantly the books we publish need to fit our ethos. This keeps our books and us on track. We believe in every one of our books and their ability to inspire, educate and uplift.

Our picture book list continues to gain strength, it clearly fits our ethos and we have gained valuable support and inspiration from our readers and teacher librarians, the unsung heroes.

This year we are excited about our new junior fiction series. The stories are fast paced and are aimed at readers who are just starting to become independent readers. It is exciting to venture into this territory. We have for some time advocated shared reading between parent and child and now we are encouraging children to begin their independent reading journey.

Fun is the main element of these books. We have included coloured illustrations as an extra enticement for children. With so much time spent in front of the screen we know children now expect to see colour in their books.

In June we will be releasing the first book in the Little Rockets series, the advances have just arrived still smelling of fresh ink. As a publisher it is a little bit magical to see the first books in a carefully crafted series appear on my desk. We hope children will find the books magical as well. Will they adore the cover? The subject matter?

We certainly hope so. If we encourage a few children to pick up a new book and begin reading independently then we have done our job well.

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