Thienemann launches new imprint

For many years, the German publishing house Thienemann has been publishing childrens' and young adult books. Thienemann is especially known for the notably successful series 'Cheeky girls - cheeky books': about 8 million copies have been sold in Germany up to now.

This achievement shows that young female readers are not only real bookworms, but curious and open to several topics. The diversity of their interests will now merge in a new particular world - Planet Girl - which addresses girls from five years and onwards as well as young women.

"The strategy for Thienemann Verlag is to consequently promote new generations of famous authors," says Klaus Willberg, responsible publisher at Thienemann. "The new imprint Planet Girl makes it possible to focus on this strategy, because more than hundred backlist titles especially written for girls move from the imprint Thienemann to the imprint Planet Girl. That means that from the very beginning, there is space for new authors and books, both at the imprint Thienemann Verlag and Planet Girl which is the prerequisite for growth."

What is your vision for Planet Girl?

"For the imprint Planet Girl I have a very simple vision: When a mother asks for a book with stories she can read to her five-year-old girl, when the thirteen-year-old young woman wants to know if there is a new title in a special series, and when the mother of a ten-year-old girl asks for a nice book as gift for the upcoming birthday of her daughter's friend, the bookseller will always answer: 'If you are looking for books for girls please look at Planet Girl — there you will find everything.' Then our strategy has been successful."

What kind of books will you publish, more specific?

"All the backlist titles which will become part of Planet Girl and all the new titles published at Planet Girl will have the one and only cling: they are written especially for girls or young women. Apart from this cling there will be no limitations. In the first program you will find an anthology for little strong girls at the age of five, the start of a new series with the topic friendship for girls at the age of ten, the new titles of 'Cheeky girls - cheeky books' for girls aged 11 or older, two first titles of a new fantasy series Supergirls for girls aged 13 or older, a very cheeky gift book, Marsmädchen sind anders, for 6 to 100-year-old girls — and perhaps also for men."

Planet Girl will make its first appearance in the market at the Frankfurter Buchmesse in October, and from January 2010, the new imprint will offer books which will meet young womens' specific requirements regarding literature.