Faber Children’s celebrate a year of successes

The crowning of Faber as the Independent Publisher of the Year at the Nibbies was the icing on the cake for Faber Children’s after another year of exceptional results.

The list achieved an excellent financial performance, up 40% in value on last year. We also saw fabulous awards success across the board, including the two Blue Peter wins (Podkin One-Ear and Survivors), the BAMB win (Letters from the Lighthouse) – not to mention three Waterstones Children’s Book of the Months. Faber USA saw Children’s sales grow by an astonishing 390%

The team made some major acquisitions across all areas – including the signing of two new books from bestselling Blue Peter winner David Long for the non-fiction list – which is up 43% in revenue, and three new books from the Queen of Historical Fiction Emma Carroll for fiction, which is also up 40% in revenue. The picture book lists continues to grow successfully, up 44% on last year, with some stunning new signings – including Eoin McLoughlin and Polly Dunbar’s The Hug, and John Kelly’s Fixer The Robot, both of which were hot properties at Bologna Book Fair.

Rights enjoyed lots of success over the last year, tying up major deals for numerous titles across all age groups on the Children’s list including those for In Paris With You by Clémentine Beauvais, The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant, The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders and Survivors by David Long and Kerry Hyndman, to name a few.

At Bologna Book Fair, the team were thrilled by an unprecedented level of international interest in upcoming titles including Child I by Steve Tasane, and tied up five significant deals (France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey) immediately before and after the Fair. Picklewitch and Jack by Clare Barker, was another hit. With Natasha Farrant’s Children of Castle Rock, and Lou Kuenzler/Julia Woolf’s Not Yet Zebra both reprinting in their first month of publication, publishing to rave reviews, the year has got off to another flying start.