The UK-based publisher Farshore has announced a huge win for the company, saying it has secured the publishing rights for books based on the wildly popular CoComelon children’s series by Moonbug.
The deal was brokered between Bethan Garton at The Point.1888 and Emma Cairns-Smith, the Global Acquisition Director at Farshore. The agreement includes rights for the UK and Eire, but also provides Farshore with joint rights to the Poland market in partnership with HarperCollins.
Farshore publishes child-friendly books for all ages and multiple genres, from picture books, fiction and non-fiction by household authors and illustrators, including Holly Jackson, Michael Morpurgo, Lemony Snicket, Julia Donaldson, Jim Smith, Laura Ellen Anderson, Steven Lenton, Sophy Henn and Michael Grant, to classic properties and the hottest popular culture brands, including Minecraft, Winnie-the-Pooh, Mr. Men Little Miss, Thomas & Friends, Disney Princess, My Little Pony and Tintin. HarperCollins UK is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 17 countries, and was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards 2018.
“Farshore’s purpose is to make every child a proud reader so I am absolutely thrilled that we are working with them on this epic brand,” said Katie Wilkinson, Senior Commercial Manager at ThePoint.1888. “CoComelon has joined the digital kid’s entertainment space and achieved growth like no one has seen before. Currently it is the most viewed You Tube channel in the world and the second most subscribed. This lends itself to publishing perfectly and I’m excited to see the first titles later this year and then the ever growing title list rollout in 2022 and beyond.”
CoComelon is an online, digital phenomenon, as it has become the number one children’s show globally on YouTube, with more than 100 billion annual views. It has also spent more consecutive days in Netflix’s Top 10 programs list for both adult and children’s fare, and has surpassed hit show Bridgerton to hold the title of most streamed Netflix in 2021.
Launching with two titles in October 2021, Farshore will publish CoComelon’s most watched and popular songs in a bright, bold, board-book format for pre-schoolers to sing along with, followed by further publishing in 2022. CoComelon Bath Song Board Book includes the main character JJ and his brother TomTom from the hugely popular and catchy Bath Song episode. Children can sing along to another much-loved classic with CoComelon Wheels on the Bus Board Book.
“We are delighted to be publishing CoComelon in this joint deal with HarperCollins Poland,” said Zoe Masters, Brands & Licensing Publisher at Farshore. “We are incredibly proud to bring Moonbug’s hugely successful entertaining educational content to life in our book publishing.
“At Farshore we are committed to ensuring a love of reading from an early age, and our CoComelon titles will provide fun and engaging books for children to share and enjoy time and time again. The books are launching in 2021 and we couldn’t be happier with the response from retail we have received so far.”