Allen & Unwin to publish children’s books in UK

Allen & Unwin have announced changes to the way their children's books will be made available in the UK market.

Beginning 1 January, UK distribution of Allen & Unwin children's books will move from Frances Lincoln to Murdoch Books UK.

As well as distributing a selection of their titles into the UK, Allen & Unwin will continue to make rights sales to other publishers where appropriate, and in 2014 will begin publishing a small number of titles directly into the UK market.

Among other benefits, this direct publishing will give some of the company's key literary novels and picture books eligibility in UK Awards and, it is hoped, will boost their review coverage.

  

Angela Namoi, Allen & Unwin Rights Director, commented  'The UK market is a hugely significant English language market with which we have strong cultural links. Australian and British children are influenced by many of the same things and their experiences and interests overlap. So we want to take every opportunity to get our great Australian (and occasionally translated) books into the hands of British children. 

We look for the best opportunity for each of our books. Sometimes that's selling rights to another publisher. Sometimes it's distribution with the help of a skilled sales team and publicity support - and we're excited to be moving to work with the skilled sales team at Murdoch books who are now part of our greater company, while retaining Nicky Potter's publicity expertise. This move now adds a third opportunity - that of publishing into the UK market. It is exciting to have this option open to us and we will be doing our best to get some terrific Australian children's books into a broader market.'