New Directions for InnovativeKids

Steadily increasing sales and ambitious plans for the future have prompted the six-year-old children's book publisher innovativeKids to form its own in-house sales organization.

Tammy Johnston, formerly with Candlewick Press, has been named v-p of sales, and two national account managers have been appointed to cover the West Coast and Midwest. The creation of its own sales unit led innovativeKids to switch its distribution from Chronicle Books, which had handled both sales and fulfillment, to the Time Warner Book Group, which will do only warehousing and fulfillment. The switch to TWBG will occur March 1.

Shari Kaufman, president and publisher, said the appointment of Johnston will free her up to focus on the company's editorial operations. To date, all of innovativeKids products, which includes the Soft Shapes and Now I'm Reading series, have been developed internally, but Kaufman said the company could soon start taking submissions from outside authors. "Bologna could be our first shopping trip," Kaufman said.

She told PW that she "wants to double the size of what we do," which can't be accomplished solely by in-house means. The company is also broadening its distribution channels, adding toy stores and educational institutions to bookstores.