S&S and First Book Partnership Marks a First
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By Sally Lodge -- Publishers Weekly, 1/29/2009
For the first time in its 17-year-history, First Book, a nonprofit organization dedicated to placing books in the hands of children from low-income families, has partnered with a publisher to release a branded paperback edition of a title simultaneously with its trade hardcover publication. Heather Henson’s That Book Woman, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist David Small, was released by Atheneum last October, the same month that First Book’s paperback became available through the organization’s online store, First Book Marketplace. Since 1992, First Book has distributed 65 million books and has set a 10 million-book distribution goal for 2009 alone.
Though the Washington, D.C.-based First Book has licensed rights to print its own paperback edition of other trade books, in the past that paperback was released years after the original hardcover publication. First Book’s edition of That Book Woman features the same paper quality and trim size as the Atheneum hardcover and is priced at $2.25. The organization printed 10,000 paperback copies and will reprint as necessary.
According to those on both sides of the deal, this was the ideal title to launch this new simultaneous-release venture. Based on the story of the Pack Horse Librarians, who delivered books to rural Kentucky residents during the 1930s, That Book Woman introduces a woman who rides on horseback through rain and snow to bring books to two siblings in the Appalachian Mountains—one a voracious reader and one who resists learning to read.
“The story makes its point without ever becoming cloying,” says Caitlyn Dlouhy, editorial director of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, who edited the book. “Though the brother initially doesn’t see the point of learning to read, the book woman makes him realize the importance of words through her sacrifices and her dedication to getting these books to them.”
“This is a wonderful book that speaks profoundly and directly to the mission of First Book,” says Kyle Zimmer, the organization’s cofounder and president. “This is the story about the power of books in the lives of kids. I think sometimes as a country we focus on this as an urban issue, but the need to get books into the hands of low-income children transcends geography, transcends race. The power of books brings kids out of whatever isolation poverty has put them in, whether they’re in rural Appalachia, the devastated Gulf region or Manhattan. This is the surest road out of it.”
First Book makes books available to programs serving low-income children through several channels, including book grants, whereby programs receive publishers’ original editions of books purchased at a discount by First Book; and a book bank, which distributes books donated by publishers. The organization expanded its reach significantly with First Book Marketplace, launched in early 2008 after operating for two years as a pilot program. Through this online store, groups such as Title 1 schools, Head Start programs, soup kitchens and after-school programs can buy books at deeply discounted prices.
Zimmer says she expects that First Book will make future simultaneous-release agreements with trade publishers, emphasizing the growing need for her organization’s services. “Even before this recession, 28 million children in U.S. families were termed poor or near-poor, which constitutes 40% of the children in this country,” she notes. “Eighty percent of the groups we deal with have no other access to books, so we are in no way undercutting retail sales. For publishers, this is an added incremental market. We’re thrilled that Simon & Schuster stepped up to the table and that the children we serve don’t have to wait to read That Book Woman.”
