The anticipated melding of adult coloring books and licensing is starting to happen in a big way. In last week’s Nielsen Bookscan bestseller list, three of the top five and 12 of the top 25 titles were adult coloring books. Game of Thrones and Outlander—both published by Bantam that week—ranked as number 3 and number […]
Archive | Publishing
Plotting a Course for Licensing
Maps are growing as a design theme for licensed apparel, gifts, and home décor, particularly in the U.K. market: Rocket Licensing is expanding the A-Z brand, founded in 1936. New launches for 2016 include a capsule collection from men’s fashion brand Ben Sherman highlighting 1960s-era maps of Carnaby Street, Portobello Road, and other locations where […]
Through the Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, and a number of British marketers are capitalizing on the event. About 10 of The British Library’s 35 licensees are creating Alice product under British Library branding; the institution has the original book in its holdings. The most successful licensee to date is Moleskin, […]
Seriously Comical
A large percentage of the top-performing entertainment/character properties in recent years come from the comic universe, most prominently from the two industry titans, Disney-owned Marvel and Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics. Other comic book publishers also are involved in outbound licensing. Their activity, which has long been a fact of life but seems to be on […]
Seeing the Writing on the Wall Coverings
A growing number of authors with adult fan bases (or the authors’ estates) are overseeing merchandise initiatives. The efforts are focused largely on their own names and likenesses, rather than on their book titles, plots, or characters. Each initiative takes a slightly different form. Some, for example, are novelty-based. George R. R. Martin, author of […]
Color My World
The coloring book industry, generally a low-margin business that is not at the forefront of trends, has been part of two notable and high-profile developments of late. First, within the last year, augmented reality and user-generated content have come to the business in a big way, with strong ties to licensing. Crayola’s Color Alive includes […]
Girls Gravitate Toward Licensed Literature
Mattel and one of its key publishing licensees, Random House, announced last week that they would launch a middle-grade chapter book series called Malibu Mysteries, starring Barbie. This is just the latest example of the strong role licensing plays when it comes to fiction series for girls, especially those of elementary and middle school age. […]
Fake Languages, Real Licensed Content
By Karen Raugust on March 19, 2015 in Character/Entertainment, Content, Education, Licensing, Publishing
A handful of entertainment properties, especially in the sci fi and fantasy genres, feature well-developed languages used by characters from alien planets or fictional cultures. These languages sometimes make their way into content-based licensed products such as books and language-learning courses. A recent example occurred when HBO partnered with Living Languages last summer for Living […]