Consumers

Children's books

Children's books are sorely lacking in diversity as more often than not the main character is white. This presents a gap in the market as many families of other ethnicities will be looking for a character that their child could relate to. However the majority of the population in the western world is white so they present the biggest market.

Childrens books are more often than not bought by grandparents or family friends as the parents often find other things to spend their money on for their kids and the kids themselves are rarely in a position to choose the book they want. Therefore the best selling books would appeal to the likes of grandparents and should emaphasize their values and beliefs rather than that of a younger or mor liberal generation.

In the lead up to the film adaption of where the wild things are Guardian Columnist Sam Leith written an article on how he believed that childrens books should be scary despite it not appealing to protective parents or fragile children. He says that a book which never leaves a child's comfort zone will never trigger their imagination and help them develop, pointing out that in 30 years people will remember the dementors in the harry potter series rather than the more wholesome moments in the stories.

“The real art of picture books is taking a sophisticated idea and distilling it down to its purest form.” - Peter Brown.

Peter Brown is a best selling children's author with many accolades to his name. To make sure that he knows what his audience responds to, Brown does a lot of school visits, “and that’s the best thing I do to reach my audience. Outside of regular book tours, I go to spend entire days at an elementary school to talk in detail about my process, so at the end of the day’s there’s 400 kids out there, and it’s invaluable to see their reactions. I get to observe my readers up close and personal. I get to see what lines make them laugh and where I’m losing their attention. So when I write my next book, I’ve learned my lesson and try to incorporate that.”


Info taken from http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/05/peter-brown-knows-what-his-audience-needs/

Types of Publishing

Children's Book Publishing

Children's book publishing is a lively and growing sector of consumer book publishing. It has grown exponentially year upon year since 2009 and continues to expand. Companies such as HarperCollins Children’s Books are respected worldwide for their tradition of publishing innovative. entertaining and award winning books that excite and capture the imagination of young readers.

The division is recognised for nurturing new talent as well as publishing a highly regarded list of established best-selling authors. Its publishing includes timeless classics like The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hobbit, as well as perennial family favourites like The Gruffallo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 




Many of the most successful authors, such as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dhal have a distinctive writing style which grabs the attention of the children and this style is carried over into the visuals. The Images reflect the tone of the story and often an author will use the same illustrator over and over again as they are good at conveying the feel the author was going for. This is paricularly true if they have a successful partnership such as Roald Dhal and Quentin Blake.

Freelancers

Lee Mason

Lee Mason is a freelance graphic designer and graduate of the Norwich University College of the Arts. Through this, he works with iconic brands, corporate leaders and start-up enterprises – producing a high standard of graphic design that is driven by creative thinking.

"A growing number of clients prefer using a freelance graphic designer to using a design agency – and this due to a few main benefits. The biggest being that the work delivered by a skilled freelance designer can be exactly the same as you’d get from a top agency – but at a fraction of the price. You also get to work much more closely with your designer, instead of relaying everything through an account handler." - Lee Mason on Freelancing.

As Lee has no agent he is able to choose his projects carefully, selecting jobs that give him an opportunity to do work he enjoys as well as work which connects with the intended audience and pleases the client. Apart from this he also engages in a lot of work which improves the likelihood of success.


 "I always follow a strategic approach; identify your brand’s strengths and weaknesses, get to know your company culture, research your audience, your competition, and the current market." - Lee Mason on his Experience

To furthur increase Lee's appeal to clients, his website includes a clear outline of the services he provides, glowing testimonials from former clients and a number of ways in which potential clients can contact him.

Info and images taken from http://www.leemasondesign.com/