Amazon Expands Children’s eBook Collection with Acquisition of 450 Titles from Marshall Cavendish

With the Kindle Fire, Amazon has already taken the first step into the family and children’s book industry. The tablet is suitable for displaying attractive images due to its color display, and it also allows for the integration of interactive elements in eBooks, which will be particularly useful for children’s books. Barnes & Noble recognized this many months ago with the Nook Color. For this purpose, Amazon also introduced the Kindle8 format to exploit the capabilities of the Kindle Fire (though unfortunately, this also maintains the closed nature of the Kindle system).

As is well known, Amazon doesn’t do things by halves and doesn’t wait for publishers to adapt to the new Kindle format and format the eBooks accordingly. This is why the eBook giant has acquired the rights to a total of 450 children’s books from Marshall Cavendish. These include titles like “The Night Before Christmas” illustrated by Gennady Spirin, “Three Little Tamales” by Eric A. Kimmel, “Chalk” by Bill Thomson, and “Yellow Star” by Jennifer Roy, as well as the National Book Foundation Finalist “My Name is Not Easy” by Debby Dahl Edwardson.

“We are thrilled to acquire the Marshall Cavendish children’s book titles and expand our publishing business in this direction,” says Jeff Belle, Vice President of Amazon Publishing. “We believe the children’s book market segment presents a unique opportunity both in print and digital formats. And as many of these titles are not yet available as eBooks, we see an opportunity to connect this great group of authors and illustrators with even more readers. We also see the potential for similar steps in other book categories in the future.”

“Under the leadership of Margery Cuyler, the Marshall Cavendish children’s book team has done an incredible job of assembling a contemporary and wonderful book list,” says Laurence Kirshbaum of Amazon Publishing, East Coast Group. “We are excited to work with these esteemed authors and illustrators. We will continue to publish the books in their beautiful print versions, and we also think customers will love reading these books – most of which have never been digitized – with their families on the Kindle Fire’s brilliant color touchscreen.”

With this move, Amazon once again shows that it spares no expense or effort to further strengthen its position in the eBook market. In recent months, Amazon had already clearly signaled the direction it was heading with its own print label. This acquisition of book titles now emphatically underscores that.

This, of course, raises the question of where the authors stand. Has contact been made with all the affected writers and illustrators, and has their approval been obtained? I can imagine that not everyone would be happy to perhaps be assimilated by Amazon’s book empire. And if Jeff Belle’s statement can be believed, this is just the beginning of the shopping spree.