Kumon Publishing Marks Impressive Milestones
This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on March 29, 2007 Sign up now!
by Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 3/29/2007
2006 was a banner year for Kumon Publishing North America. Last year it reached a new sales peak, selling more than one million copies of its releases, which include pre-k and kindergarten workbooks, as well as craft books and flashcard sets. It placed copies of seven workbook titles in Target stores nationwide, broadening the line's distribution channels, which also include Barnes & Noble, Borders, Indigo/Chapters in Canada and independent bookstores and educational stores. And the company plans to expand its publishing program in the year ahead.
The Teaneck, N.J.-based company is a subsidiary of Kumon Publishing Corporation, an educational publisher founded in Japan in 1988. Launched in 2004, Kumon Publishing creates workbooks based on the Kumon Method, a step-by-step incremental approach to learning math and reading designed by Toru Kumon, a Japanese high-school teacher who established the Kumon Institute of Education in 1958. The Kumon Method is currently used to teach math and reading skills to four million students enrolled in Kumon Learning Centers in 44 countries.
Brian Klingborg, senior v-p of Kumon Publishing, explains that the parent company initially published its workbooks exclusively in Japanese. When the publisher decided to produce English-language editions, it opted to launch its own company in the U.S. rather than embark on a co-publishing venture with an American house.
Klingborg cites the books' educational philosophy and production quality as keys to their success. "In keeping with the Kumon Method, the books concentrate on math, early reading and writing and basic motor control skills," he says. "Rather than being geared to a child's specific age or grade, the workbooks encourage parents to determine an appropriate starting point for their child. The books take baby steps, introducing each new concept in a logical progression so as to reinforce a child's sense of accomplishment. The workbooks aim to keep children from becoming stressed out or anxious about their performance."
The company has also had success by building customer loyalty. "Parents saw the positive results of the workbooks and returned to buy additional titles," says Klingborg. Another reason has been the forging of new partnerships with stores. "Because of our branding we are very careful about where we place our books, but we opened up our markets in 2006," he says. The publisher has created cardboard floor and counter displays for its books, as well as a more permanent iron rack. According to editor Eno Sarris, these displays "have led to a more rapid turnover, as our books always do well with face-out display. Our cover illustrator, Kimihisa Motonubo, is very famous in Japan and has a distinctive style that helps draw people to the books."
Clearly, plenty of retailers and customers have been drawn to these books. The line has had solid sales at Barnes & Noble stores, where the workbooks are often displayed face-out. Hanna Otero, editorial director of Flash Kids Publishing, a division of Barnes & Noble Publishing, has acted as a consultant on the workbooks and believes that "the key to Kumon's success is its unique approach to presenting new concepts. Its back-to-basics method makes Kumon books very different from anything else out there."
Mike Rehns, president of Marlon Creations, a wholesaler to toy and educational outlets servicing some 3,000 retail accounts, reports that his company has also had significant success with Kumon products. To date they have placed more than 350 Kumon spinner racks in stores and, in Rehns's experience, retailers using the racks sell approximately three times the number of books as stores that place Kumon titles on shelves.
Kumon will expand its product line this year, publishing grade-school workbooks that tie into first, second and third grade curricula. "This is a departure for us, since currently our workbooks are purely supplementary," Klingborg says. "This line will remain true to our editorial method but will incorporate strands of curricula that most schools use." The house also plans to publish translations of illustrated storybooks imported from Japan, as well as learning aids such as jigsaw puzzles and blocks produced by its parent company. And, building on its core publishing program, the company will also increase the number of new supplementary workbooks it issues, eventually growing its overall annual title output to 25 to 30 books.
