Sourcebooks, which nine months ago launched an interactive children’s book iPad app and companion Web site, Put Me in the Story, will partner with Macmillan to add author-illustrator Nancy Tillman's bestselling picture book On the Night You Were Born to its digital platform, which will allow parents to create a personalized edition of the book for their children. On the Night You Were Born, which is a celebration of the birth of babies in the animal kingdom, has sold more than a million copies in print format since it was first published by Feiwel and Friends in 2006 as the imprint's debut release. The book was initially self-published in 2005 by Tillman, and sold 35,000 copies, primarily to the gift market. She has since published five more picture books; Macmillan reports five million copies total in print. All of Tillman’s books are already available as e-books.
A customized POD edition of On the Night You Were Born will be available in October, and will retail for $32.99. The iPad app will be available in November and will retail for $4.99.
This is the first time Sourcebooks has partnered with another publishing house to add an author's work to the Put Me in the Story platform. Previously, Sourcebooks has partnered with major licensed brands – Sesame Street Workshop, Berenstain Bears, and Anne Geddes – in adding content to the Put Me in the Story app and Web site. To date, personalized editions of books by 10 children's authors, including Marianne Richmond and 2013 Children's Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt, are available through Put Me in the Story.
