Usborne Publishing

Usborne Publishing
StatusActive
Founded5 December 1973; 51 years ago (1973-12-05)
FounderPeter Usborne
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Headquarters locationLondon
DistributionHarperCollins (UK trade, US trade, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India)
Penguin Random House (South Africa)
Educational Development Corporation (USA direct sales)[1][2]
Fiction genresChildren's literature
No. of employees210 (2014) [3]
Official websiteusborne.com

Usborne Publishing, often called Usborne Books, is a British publisher of children's books. Founded by Peter Usborne in 1973,[4] Usborne Publishing uses an in-house team of writers, editors, and designers. One of its sales channels is Usborne Books at Home, a multi-level marketing operation founded in 1981.[5][6] In the United States, Usborne books are sold and distributed to the retail trade through HarperCollins.[7] Direct customer sales are made through PaperPie, the home business division of Educational Development Corporation.[8]

Quicklinks were first introduced in 2000 as a way to incorporate the internet into modern reading habits. Peter Usborne has been quoted in the trade magazine The Bookseller as saying: "I initially thought that the internet would kill non-fiction, because teachers would tell children to use the internet to help with homework. But if you key in 'castles' [on a search engine], you get 900,000 possible websites. The internet is an inadequate resource for children."[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "UK Trade order forms from Usborne Publishing". Usborne Children’s Books. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. ^ "International trade enquiries". Usborne Children’s Books. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Work is child's play for book publisher Peter Usborne". Financial Times. 14 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Who we are". usborne.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  5. ^ Mary M. Byers (1 April 2009). Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family under One Roof. Baker Books. pp. 124–. ISBN 978-1-4412-0382-3. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  6. ^ Sandra Hewett (1 June 2011). A Woman's Guide To Working For Herself: Inspiration, Information and Advice from Women Who Run Their Own Business, for Women Who Aspire to Do So. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 160–. ISBN 978-1-84803-466-2. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  7. ^ Comerford, Ruth (14 November 2022). "Usborne joins forces with HarperCollins in US distribution deal". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Usborne Books & More Rebrands to PaperPie". www.directsellingnews.com. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  9. ^ "The Usborne Identity – an interview with Peter Usborne". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2008.