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Amazon made a dramatic push into the children’s literature market today, acquiring 450 titles from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books. The press release hinted at upcoming expansion into “into picture books, chapter books and Young Adult novels.”

The list of acquired titles included Three Little Tamales by Eric A. Kimmel, “Chalk” by Bill Thomson and My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson.

Amazon Publishing, East Coast Group publisher Laurence Kirshbaum had this statement: “Under the guidance of Margery Cuyler, the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books team has done an incredible job of building a contemporary and beautifully presented list of books … We look forward to working with these respected authors and illustrators. We will continue to publish these books in their handsome print editions and we think customers will love reading these books — most of them never available before digitally — with their families, using the brilliant color touchscreen on the Kindle Fire.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here is the faculty, so far:

MARGERY CUYLER, Publisher, Marshall Cavendish

PBs, Rhyming books, Board Books, Easy Reader/​Chapter Books, Middle Grade, YA, Non Fiction, Graphic Novels, Historical fiction, Fantasy, Edgy. She likes a novel that “immediately represents modern conflict” and one that doesn’t “hold the story hostage to the message.”

At a conference specifically geared to the Jewish market, Ms. Cuyler mentioned that there’s a big need for “good Jewish mysteries and time travel” as well as a need for “contemporary Jewish stories.”

Eileen Robinson – Publisher of MOVE BOOKS: www.move-books.com , which focuses on Middle Grade books for boys.

Eileen is also the owner of F1rst Page and does Editorial Consultanting – F1rst Pages http://f1rstpages.com  As an editorial consultant, Eileen works with both published and unpublished authors to help them strengthen their writing.

Eileen is also a former executive editor at Scholastic.

At the New Jersey 2012 SCBWI Conference Eileen will conduct a 4 hour Intensive on Friday June 8th, where she will work hands-on with writers who want to improve their manuscripts.  Keep in mind that space is limited.

Scott Treimel, agent and owner of S©ott Treimel NY, which opened in 1995.

Scott has worked for a literary agency, a literary scout, two book publishers, a newspaper syndicate, a book club, and a movie studio, either buying, selling, packaging, editing or creating intellectual property—all for children. If you haven’t met Scott, he is a wealth of information and a very accomplished agent in the children’s book industry.

Stephen Fraser, Literary agent at Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency.

Stephen Fraser joined the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency as an agent in January 2005. He worked most recently at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where he edited such creative talents as Mary Engelbreit, Gregory Maguire, Michael Hague, Ann Rinaldi, Kathryn Lasky, Brent Hartinger, Stephen Mitchell, and Dan Gutman. He began his career at Highlights for Children and later worked at Scholastic and Simon & Schuster. A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, he has a Master’s degree in Children’s Literature from Simmons College in Boston. He represents both children’s and adult books in a wide range of genres.

What He’s Looking For: Currently, looking for children’s books for every age – picture books, middle-grade, and young adult – and adult fiction and non-fiction in a wide range of genres.

KRISTA MARINO is an Executive Editor at Delacorte Press (Random House Children’s Books) where she acquires and edits Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction. She is always looking for strong new voices, innovative concepts, and great stories for her list. She doesn’t do cute- she’s more on the da

On Sunday, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books publisher Margery Cuyler and actress Robin Holly will judge children’s books produced by contestants on Donald Trump‘s reality television show, The Celebrity Apprentice.

Here’s more from the release: “In the episode, the star-studded cast featuring celebrities such as Gary Busey and La Toya Jackson will split into two teams and engage themselves in one of the most prominent niches in the book publishing industry – children’s literature. Both teams will author an original children’s picture book to help raise money for charity.”

In the past, Celebrity Apprentice contestants worked at Redbook magazine and Zappos.com comics, but this is the first time the show has featured children’s books. Will you watch it?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

MARSHALL CAVENDISH CHILDREN’S BOOK PUBLISHER FEATURED ON NBC’S THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE

Tarrytown, NY (March 8, 2011) – Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books, an imprint of Marshall Cavendish Corporation, announced today that Margery Cuyler, Publisher of the imprint, will be featured on an episode of NBC’s alternative series, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” airing March 13th (9/10 PM ET/PT).

In the episode, the star-studded cast featuring celebrities such as Gary Busey and La Toya Jackson will split into two teams and engage themselves in one of the most prominent niches in the book publishing industry – children’s literature. Both teams will author an original children’s picture book to help raise money for charity. Their works will be evaluated by actress Robin Holly and by Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books publisher Margery Cuyler.

The winning celebrity team will present their charity with a check. Last season, “The Celebrity Apprentice” raised over $1.25 million dollars for charity.

“The Celebrity Apprentice” is produced by Mark Burnett Productions in association with Trump Productions LLC. Mark Burnett, Donald Trump, Eden Gaha and Page Feldman are executive producers. Nancy Gunn is the co-executive producer.

Marshall Cavendish Corp. is a leading North American publisher of encyclopedias, nonfiction series, young adult and children’s books.  And we love Margery here in New Jersey.  We’ll definitely be watching.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy