Lerner Secures 'USA Today' License

By Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 6/25/2008 8:10:00 AM

Lerner Publishing Group has signed a licensing deal with USA Today to create several series of educational books targeted toward upper elementary, middle and high school students. The first four titles—on Oprah Winfrey, Vera Wang, Bill Gates and Tiger Woods—will be introduced at ALA this weekend and released this fall under the USA Today Lifeline Biographies banner. Editorial content, which will include original material as well as photos, USA Today Snapshot graphics and other information from the newspaper’s archives, was reviewed by USA Today editors. The books will be published under Lerner’s Twenty-First Century Books division.

“[USA Today] is a good source of information for a wide variety of people, from very educated and informed readers who want something easy to digest, to readers who like to get most of their information from USA Today,” said Adam Lerner, president and publisher, Lerner Publishing Group. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being that for our school library audience, where we also reach a wide variety of readers.” He points out that the paper’s colorful visuals and easily digestible bits of information parallel Lerner’s style.

“This is an extension of our existing mission to get our content in front of kids in an educational setting,” said Christy Hartsell, USA Today’s director of brand licensing. “And, as a brand, we want to expose kids to USA Today early on.”

Lerner, which also has held licenses for A&E Biography and NASCAR, will continue the USA Today biography program with more titles in future seasons, including four in fall 2009. Meanwhile, the partners are developing other series for release through fall 2011, each tied to a feature or section of the paper. Distribution will focus on the school and public library market initially, but may expand to retail stores. Lerner is in talks with the paper about possible marketing alliances with its Circulation and Circulation in Education departments, as well as with other licensees, which include electronic game developers and HDS Retail for airport shops.

USA Today has several publishing partners on board for adult formats, with the initial wave of books coming on the market throughout spring 2008. Linda Morgenstern, executive v-p of licensing agency Nancy Bailey & Associates, has brokered all the deals to date, including the Lerner pact; going forward USA Today will handle its book publishing activities in-house. The first direct deal, just signed, is with Skyhorse Publishing for two sports encyclopedias (college football and golf), for publication in 2009.

« Back | Print