Penguin Launches Cartoon Network Book Imprint

Posted on September 22, 2014

Penguin Books has a long and profitable relationship with the Cartoon Network. Penguin licenses the rights for quite a few children's shows that run on the Cartoon Network and has published books based on shows. Now they are teaming up for a new book imprint to be called Cartoon Network Books.

According to Publisher's Weekly, the new imprint will launch in the summer of 2015 and will be part of Penguin Books for Young Readers. The imprint will publish books based on existing television shows such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, and The Amazing World of Gumball. Next year, it will publish books based on the shows Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa. A still from the animated Uncle Grandpa series is pictured below.

The new imprint will also serve as a platform for new content. The creative division at Cartoon Network comes up with a lot of ideas for entertainment, and they don't always work best on television. Some of those ideas will be launched as books instead. Pete Yoder, v-p of consumer products for North America at Cartoon Network Enterprises said in a statement that books are a good way to tell the backstory of popular television characters. He seems confident that viewers have a voracious appetite for more stories about characters from their favorite shows.

Both companies are anticipating that the cross-marketing opportunities will sell a lot more books and other products. The launch will have a big promotional rollout with coordinated campaigns and launches of new titles.

Francesco Sedita, who already holds the titles of president and publisher of Grosset & Dunlap, Price Stern Sloan, and Frederick Warne & Co., is getting even more responsibility on his plate. He now oversees the new imprint as its publisher. No other staff or editorial changes have been announced yet.