"Hybrid Publishing for the Emberleys' Itsy Bitsy Spider Means Readers Can Give a Book When They Get a Book"

    PORTSMOUTH, NH, November 27, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Book publisher Deidre Randall and Rebecca Emberley renowned children's author and illustrator, announce the formation of their new publishing imprint, two little birds (tlb). The imprint's first book is The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Rebecca and Ed Emberley, her father and winner of the Caldecott Medal for Drummer Hoff. Together the Emberleys have created the highly praised picture books Ten Little Beasties, Chicken Little, The Red Hen and The Ant and the Grasshopper. Both live in New England--Ed in Massachusetts and Rebecca in Maine.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider will feature a sturdy heavy page stock making this title perfect for young children who will also enjoy the song that can be purchased and downloaded, as well an an interactive e-version created by app developers Night & Day Studios. The Emberleys' vision of what children seek in their literature breathes new life and brilliant color into this classic toddler favorite. This is not your grandmother's spider!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider will be published in April 2013, but it is currently being presold through a Kickstarter campaign, which ends on January 1, 2013. As Emberley explains, "One of TLB's core concepts is to get books into children's hands. We have partnered with a non-profit literacy program; Bess the Book Bus, to meet our goal of giving books to children in need. For those who want to 'buy a book and give a book' they can select that option for investing in the project. We are so pleased to be sharing books this way."

Says Randall, "I have seen many groups raise funds for their book projects through pre-sales, but it's almost unheard of in the trade world. The Kickstarter program offers several options for investing in our first TLB title; pre-ordering a copy of the printed book, gifting a copy to a child in need, receiving signed art prints of the scenes from the book, or even having Rebecca create a new character which would appear in an upcoming title!"

TLB is a hybrid trade imprint for children's titles. Big ideas and eye-catching artwork are the hallmarks of TLB books. The imprint was founded to offer trade-quality children's authors and illustrators more freedom in their publishing process. The model allows for the author and publisher to partner more equally in both the risks and the rewards of publishing.

The new imprint is the brainchild of Randall, CEO of both Peter E. Randall Publisher and Blueline Publicity, and Emberley, who is also the Brand manager of EMBR Group. Deidre and Rebecca met at the Seacoast Songwriters Festival in Portsmouth, NH in April 2012, where Deidre, and Adrian Emberley (Rebecca's daughter), were each performing. That meeting led Deidre to hire Rebecca to illustrate a children's book written by one of her authors. The women began to talk about the changing face of publishing; highlighted by such events as the demise of Borders, the merger of Penguin and Random House and the rise of the e-reader and e-books.

Randall had been in the publishing world since 1998 and worked with trade distributors to market and sell the books her company published. As a subsidy publisher, she knew how to produce award-winning titles that would sell to their markets, such as a 2011 children's title called The Witches, which won first place for the New England Book Festival and sold out its first print run in a matter of months. She also owned Blueline Publicity, a marketing firm known for full service, book-related publicity for independent authors.

Emberley, who has been creating acclaimed children's books for over 35 years has had over 40 titles published by major trade publishers such as Scholastic, Hachette and Macmillan and had enjoyed great success with her own books, as well as those she co-authored with her super talented father, Ed Emberley. She liked Randall's marketing finesse and matching view of what children respond to when meeting new books. They both see a similar future for both subsidy and trade publishing, which is more collaborative. This meeting of minds led these two creative women to partner in the new imprint, two little birds, to provide big ideas and beautiful art for little people. For more information visit the Kickstarter site: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1862368462/two-little-birds-and-an-itsy-bitsy-spider, http://www.perpublisher.com, or http://www.rebeccaemberley.com

Contact Deidre Randall, 603-205-0552, [email protected] for more information or to request images.

# # #