Chronicle Books Enters Mass Customisation Market With Acquisition of DOGS 24/7 and CATS 24/7
2004-10-09 - San Francisco, CA, USA: Chronicle Books has acquired exclusive
publishing rights to DOGS 24/7 and CATS 24/7, two titles created by Rick
Smolan and David Elliot Cohen, the New York Times #1 best-selling authors of
the Day in the Life and America 24/7 book series. Smolan and Cohen are known
for large-scale photo projects that combine compelling storytelling with
state-of-the-art technology. More than five million copies of their books have
been published over the past two decades.
Now, in partnership with Chronicle Books, Smolan and Cohen are turning
their attention to America's love affair with its 68 million dogs and
73 million cats.
- More than 60% of Americans live with a pet.
- America's cat and dog lovers spend more than $38 billion annually
on their animals.
- More than half of American pet lovers would choose their pet as their
sole companion if stranded on a desert island.
From today through October 31, 2004, Smolan and Cohen invite these
millions of pet lovers to send digital photos of their beloved cats and dogs
to http://www.cats24-7.com and http://www.dogs24-7.com. The best of these
submissions - along with compelling photos taken by top photojournalists
across America - will be included in DOGS 24/7 and CATS 24/7, scheduled for
publication in June 2005.
Anyone Can Put Their Own Pet On The Cover
Thanks to the project's Custom Cover innovation, even people who don't get
their pet's picture in the book can still put it on the book. When DOGS 24/7
and CATS 24/7 are published in June 2005, everyone who submitted a digital
photo will receive an email showing their photo mocked-up on the cover. For
$7.95 (+ $2.95 S/H), "proud parents" will be able to click a link and
instantly order customised jackets for their own copies of DOGS 24/7 and CATS
24/7 (US Retail, $24.95). Even those who didn't participate will be able to
upload a digital photo to http://www.america24-7.com/customcover at any time
and order a Custom Cover featuring their pet.
Smolan and Cohen proved the success of the Custom Cover concept when
AMERICA 24/7 was published in the fall of 2003. To date, more than 40,000
people who purchased the New York Times best-seller (21% of all buyers) have
uploaded digital photos of their children, parents, partners, and pets and in
return received high-quality custom-made dust jackets featuring their photos
on the cover. Even U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey could not resist. When she featured Smolan
and Cohen's AMERICA 24/7 on her annual "Favorite Thing" program, she proudly
held up her own customised copy of AMERICA 24/7 featuring her beloved dogs,
Sophie and Solomon, on the cover.
"We at Chronicle Books believe that the personalisation of books pioneered
by Smolan and Cohen is an important part of the future of book publishing,"
said Nion McEvoy, Chairman and CEO of Chronicle Books. "We see DOGS 24/7 and
CATS 24/7 as strategic additions to the Chronicle line of best-selling books
and are pleased to be offering America's pet owners a way to show off both
their pets and their photography skills at the same time."
24/7 Media and Chronicle Books turned to Webshots to power the online
photo submission process for DOGS 24/7 and CATS 24/7. As the world's largest
photo-sharing site, Webshots has the technology and expertise to fulfill a
project of this magnitude. The streamlined photo uploading, sharing, and
printing capabilities at Webshots will allow America's pet owners to easily
and conveniently submit favorite pictures of their furry friends. For the past
nine years, Webshots (http://www.webshots.com/ ) has provided the Web's
photo-sharing public with a variety of ways to enjoy photos on their computer
desktops, TVs, and mobile phones. Webshots now has more than 32 million members and a collection of
over 100 million photos. Additional support for the project is provided by Adobe, eBay, Google, and Acronym Media.
|
