Missed It: Macmillan Folds First Second Into Children’s Publishing Group

I totally missed this week's announcement that Macmillan was starting a Macmillan Children's Publishing Group to consolidate their multiple children's book companies under more streamlined management. First Second was included on the list of companies found here:

macchildrensline.doc

On the one hand, these companies loosely holding multiple publishers and imprints under a big, general umbrella is a practice that has come under a lot of fire has book publishing has been revealed as vulnerable and strained in the weakened economy. Macmillan is not alone in making such a move, or at least considering same. As First Second's Mark Siegel is apparently going to continue to report to Simon Boughton at Roaring Brook Press, also moving under the new structure, it doesn't seem as if there will be immediate changes as to how the graphic novels publisher functions.

On the other hand, First Second being so casually designated a Children's Publisher might alarm some people who saw it as an imprint with books for kids, for all-ages, and for adults. A line of thinking popular right now may start to look more relevant with this news: an idea whereby traditional book publishing is in the immediate future going to be less interested in arts comics than they are a new kind of kids book and will apply pressure to see that the latter starts to happen rather than the former. Although I'd love to hear from a First Second person if this is a totally unfair example, I feel compelled to note that the only new graphic novel ostensibly for adults (as opposed to kids or all-ages) in the recent First Second catalog is The Photographer, from Didier Lefevre and Emmanuel Guibert.
 
posted 7:50 am PST | Permalink
 

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