If you’ve done any holiday shopping this year, you certainly have noted the prominent and often vast displays of adult coloring books in stores of all types. Nearly every publisher seems to offer at least one adult coloring book, with more to come.
Less than a month ago (November 19), we noted the rise of licensing in the adult coloring book world, focusing on the entertainment/character properties that were coming to market in abundance, with some quickly reaching the bestseller lists. Many more deals have been announced since then.
Another property type seeing significant activity in this sector, of course, is artists and art-related brands:
- Crayola’s Pattern Play features art with mostly nostalgic and pop-culture themes from more than 50 artists. Crayola partnered with Brit + Co. and the graphic design marketplace 99designs to crowdsource the imagery, receiving 1,400 submissions. The book is available exclusively at Target, in-store and online, displayed along with other Crayola coloring products.
- The Van Gogh Museum came out with Colour Your Own Van Gogh earlier this year, through its own publishing arm. (The museum is represented for licensing by Moxie & Co. in the U.S.)
- Debra Valencia, assisted by The Brand Liaison, signed Fox Chapel imprint Design Originals last month for three adult coloring titles.
- Ged Backland and his webcomic Aunty Acid, represented for licensing by Jewel Branding, signed Blue Star Coloring for Kiss My Sass: An Aunty Acid Adult Coloring Book. The illustrations were done in collaboration with artist Katie Packer, who has created other coloring books for Blue Star.
- U.K. art agent MGL Licensing has helped a number of its clients enter the sector, including Dan Fenelon, Jody Bergsma, Sharon Turner, and Valentina Harper. Valentina, for example, does coloring books for Studio Oh! and coloring calendars for Te Neues.
This list offers just a sampling of the profusion of titles, either on the market or on the way, based on established art licensing programs. It should be noted, however, that every coloring book by its nature involves an artist, most often an independent illustrator specializing in book publishing. Some of these also make their artwork available to licensees. Joanna Basford, for example, is represented by ITB for licensing. She is the British illustrator who has been the top-selling artist in the category to date with The Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest, and Lost Ocean; all have not only outsold other coloring books, but have topped the bestseller lists measuring book sales overall.
As of this writing, adult coloring books across both non-licensed and licensed (art and entertainment) titles hold nine of the top 20 slots on the Amazon bestseller list, as well as two of the top 10 books overall and 10 of the top 20 trade paperbacks on the Publishers Weekly lists.
For those interested in more information on adult coloring books, the December 8 edition of Inside Licensing, published by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association (LIMA) has an interesting article on the category and the role of licensing in it, available to subscribers and LIMA members. Publishers Weekly has covered the category a number of times this year as well, including in May, July, and November; these articles are also for subscribers only.
Meanwhile, the top 10 licensing trends of 2015 will be the topic of the December issue of Raugust Communications’ free e-newsletter, which will go out tomorrow, December 15. Subscribe here, where you can also sign up to receive spotlights on current licensing trends every Monday and Thursday from RaugustReports, if you have not already done so. On Thursday, December 17, RaugustReports will feature observations about licensed products at retail during this holiday season. You can bet coloring books will be one of the trends noted.
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