Licensing Hotline: The Novelist of Light

Thomas Kinkade, an artist billed as "The Painter of Light," is about to become a novelist. Three novels by Kinkade and co-writer Katherine Spencer are being published by Berkley, which purchased the rights for mid-six figures from book producer Parachute Properties and Media Arts Group, Kinkade's art publisher. The first novel, out this month, is titled Cape Light, named for the fictional town that will serve as the backdrop for all three books. "All his paintings are of beautiful, idyllic places, but there are no people in them," said Jane Stine, Parachute co-chair. "This was a marvelous opportunity to people his world. There are things books can do that paintings can't do."

Kinkade's artwork is sold in over 200 Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries and 5,000 specialty stores; Media Arts' revenues from wholesale art sales and licensing royalties totaled $130 million in fiscal 2001. Industry estimates place retail sales of licensed goods--which include home furnishings, gifts and even a licensed housing development--at over $400 million; the Thomas Kinkade Collectors' Society has more than 28,000 members. "We became interested in the incredible reach that he has," Stine said. "We feel [the novels] will appeal to both the mainstream and the Christian market."