Kane/Miller
| Kane/Miller | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Madeline Kane and Sandy Miller |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | La Jolla, California |
| Publication types | Books |
| Official website | kanemiller.com |
Kane/Miller Book Publishers, Inc. is a La Jolla, California-based specialty children's book publisher of international titles. The company was acquired by the in 2008.
History
Kane/Miller was founded in 1984 by siblings Madeline Kane and Sandy Miller. Miller had previously been involved with importing movies from outside the United States of America, and when he had his first child, he realized the cultural benefits of also bringing in books. The publisher found success in 1993 with Tarō Gomi's Everyone Poops, a Japanese language import which sold over one million copies. By 2000, the company closed its Brooklyn, New York offices to be based solely in La Jolla, California. Both Kane and Miller had retired by 2001, at which point the company had only three employees. Kira Lynn was named the new head of the company shortly thereafter, and title output subsequently increased from approximately three titles per season to anywhere from eight to eleven.
Acquisition
By December 1, 2008 Kane/Miller had been acquired by the Educational Development Corporation (EDC), the sole US trade publisher of the United Kingdom-based Usborne Books. According to Randall White, board chairman, CEO, and President of EDC, the integration of the two companies went smoothly. The move was well-received within the publishing industry, and EDC expressed hope that it will increase sales. However, due to the late-2000s recession, sales in the 2009 fiscal year were somewhat decreased.
Products
Kane/Miller titles are mainly international titles with multi-cultural themes, offering around 110 titles in 2005. The majority of the company's titles are fiction, geared mostly towards four to eight year-olds, although the company has also published some books for readers in the baby-prekindergarten and nine to twelve age ranges. As stated above, the publisher's greatest commercial success was Everyone Poops, followed by Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Australian author Mem Fox which began its publishing run in 1985, and as of 2005 was nearing one million copies sold. Another top-seller was 2004's Guji Guji by Taiwanese author Chih-Yuan Chen, which sold 65,000 copies between 2004 and 2005. Recently, Kane/Miller has begun seeking stories from American authors as well, in order to diversify their offerings.
The publisher is currently looking for submissions about social issues, manners, self-help, death, art, music, sports, and science.
References
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane/Miller
