Introducing New Frontier
Established in Australia in 2002, New Frontier Publishing specialises in children’s books for the trade and the educational market. In 2017 the publisher opened a UK office and in 2018 it will launch a new baby and early years imprint. Co-founder and publisher Sophia Whitfield spoke to Think Australian.
What makes your press unique?
Our focus has been on publishing quality picture books. We hope that our books continue to inspire, educate and entertain children.
How many books do you publish each year—and what kinds of books?
Next year we will be publishing 60 books in both Australia/New Zealand and the UK. Our current list features picture books, junior fiction and nonfiction. In July 2018 we will launch Star Bright, our new baby, pre-school and early years imprint. This will include board books from our core picture book list as well as new learning books, activity and novelty books and licensed content for the early years.
After evaluating our list we made a strategic decision to create books for zero- to six-year-olds. We will launch the list in 2018 with 20 new books.
Have you sold international rights to your books?
Our books continue to be successful internationally. China and the US have emerged as good markets for our books in the last few years.
Which titles have been most successful overseas?
Picture books by Peter Carnavas have sold well internationally, both across Europe and in the US.
Which title or author on your list do you believe deserves bigger recognition overseas?
All our authors deserve more recognition overseas. We have particularly strong new junior fiction, which I hope will be more recognised internationally in 2018. Series include ‘Keeper of the Crystals’ by Jess Black, ‘Sage Cookson’ by Sally Murphy and ‘Jake in Space’ by Candice Lemon-Scott.
Have you acquired the rights to publish any international titles in Australia? What are some of the standouts?
We published if, a picture book by David J Smith, illustrated by Steve Adams. It is a nonfiction picture book, an intriguing guide to better understanding really big ideas and numbers children come across on a regular basis. David found clever devices to scale down everything from timelines (the history of Earth compressed into one year), to quantities (all the wealth in the world divided into one hundred coins), to size differences (the planets shown as different types of balls). The book was interesting and fun and children loved it.
What will you publish next (that may appeal to international publishers)?
We are excited about our new Star Bright imprint and hope this will appeal to international publishers. With the launch of the new imprint, we now publish across all areas for children.
Category: Think Junior profile
