The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

Winstone: picture books need marketing spend

07.03.08 Benedicte Page

Former Waterstone's children's books chief Wayne Winstone this week declared his frustration with publishers' lack of marketing spend on picture books, and called on the industry to up its ­support for the genre.

Winstone, who has taken a new role as business development director at schools book fair company Troubadour, was speaking ahead of a Children's Book Circle event billed as "Death of the Picture Book . . . My Arse!", held on World Book Day (6th March).

Calling picture books "a key stepping stone for children learning to read", Winstone rebutted gloom about the "vibrant" genre, saying that it had consistently occupied either second or third place among children's genres at Waterstone's, alongside fiction for eight to 12-year-olds and writing for teenagers. He said that publishers were missing out on the backlist potential of their new launches, pointing to the long-running success of Aliens Love Underpants! by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (Simon & ­Schuster).

"Publishers have to rethink the way they launch picture books, with more marketing spend," he said. "The benefits can be substantial because a good picture book will backlist for years. We are not looking at a three-month sale, and a repeat sale becomes more and more profitable."

Winstone also called on publishers to offer more support for retailers with point of sale, added value items like wallcharts, mobiles and DVDs, support for PR, and the development of clubs and readings.

He added that the National Year of Reading offered special opportunities: "The October theme is Reading Aloud, and picture books are the perfect vehicle".

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