Amazon has just announced two new youth imprints that seek to take advantage of one of the hottest segments in the publishing world. Two Lions will focus on picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade fiction, and Skyscape will be devoted to titles for young adults, which will have established and new authors contribute content.
One of the elements should immediately gain some traction with this new endeavor stems from the purchase of Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books in 2011. Margery Cuyler who was a high profile player there will be in charge of the Two Lions division.
In the next four months there will be a number of launch titles being issued. According to Publishers Weekly, Two Lions is slatted to release Gandhi: A March to the Sea by Alice B. McGinty, a biography written in free-verse; and Poco Loco, a debut picture book about a mouse inventor by J.R. Krause. Titles under the Skyscape umbrella include You Know What You Have to Do by Bonnie Shimko, about a 15-year-old girl who hears voices in her head telling her to kill people; and Reason to Breathe, the first book in the Breathing Series trilogy by Rebecca Donovan, an initially self-published title that has already earned a dedicated readership.
These new imprints will play into the new Kindle Freetime Unlimited program that allows parents to subscribe to the new Amazon service, and get as many kids books they want a month. It is very likely that a number of these titles will appear between Freetime and Amazon Prime.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
