EGMONT TO LAUNCH IN USA
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Egmont UK announced today that it will launch a USA publishing company in January 2008. Douglas Pocock, currently Group Sales Director of Egmont UK, will take up the post of Executive Vice President of Egmont US Inc.
Egmont USA (egmont-us.com) will employ a publishing team based in New York. Its launch list of quality young adult and children’s fiction and picture books will be published in Autumn 2009. Egmont USA’s focus will be on delivering a list shaped for the USA from both established and new authors. Egmont's list will be sold across all key market sectors with a focus on trade, school and library markets.
Douglas Pocock, who will report to Rob McMenemy, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Egmont UK, comments,
"The formation of Egmont USA offers us a terrific opportunity for genuine collaboration between our UK and American offices, enabling us to create real competitive advantage in terms of joint acquisition, world rights and building authors as brands. The launch of Egmont in the USA is the culmination of two years’ planning and it is enormously exciting to finally reach this point."
Rob McMenemy comments,
"Douglas has been at the centre of our US development from the very beginning and his drive, experience and tenacity has played a major role in shaping the plans for the new company. Douglas is a first class business manager and will bring considerable experience of Egmont’s culture and style to the new company."
Pocock joined Egmont in 1994 and has been Group Sales Director since January 2005. He has already started the process of recruiting editorial, design, sales and marketing, and finance staff, and plans to announce the first members of the Egmont USA team later this month, along with details about sales and distribution.
Emphasizing Egmont’s track record of nurturing and developing its authors, he goes on to say,
"Our goal is to be a leading contender in the USA children’s market within five years whilst retaining our points of difference, notably our author care. That’s something in the UK that has attracted many leading authors and illustrators to Egmont’s list and the reason they continue to stay with us. The size of our US team and list will mean that each book is given the care and attention it deserves and every opportunity for success."
Notes to Editors
- Egmont Books is one of the largest children's book publishers in the UK. Its diverse catalogue caters for children of all ages, featuring popular licensed characters such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine, an impressive picture book list with stars such as Helen Oxenbury , as well as an award-winning fiction list with authors such as Jenny Nimmo, Jamila Gavin, William Nicholson and Andy Stanton. Egmont is also the UK publisher of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, which has sold over 2 million copies in the UK alone.
- Books and magazines form the core part of the business in the UK. Every year, Egmont UK sells approximately 16 million books and 11.5 million magazines.
- Egmont UK is part of the Egmont Group, one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups, with activities including film, TV production and interactive games. Egmont has activities in 23 countries, and 3,800 employees reaching revenues of EUR 1.24 billions in 2006.
- Douglas Pocock and Rob McMenemy are available for interview. Please contact Hannah Blake or Liz Sich at Colman Getty.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Egmont Contact Doug Pocock Regina Griffin |
UK Contact Liz Sich and Hannah Blake at Colman Getty |
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