De Eenhoorn Publishers
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Masterproef voor het behalen van de Master na Master Meertalige Bedrijfscommunicatie Academiejaar 2009-2010 De Eenhoorn Publishers: Qualitative Products in a World of Mass Consumption by Sarah Van Landschoot Promotor: dr. Ellen Van Praet Stagebegeleider: Mevr. Nele Declercq Afdeling Pers & Promotie Tabel met beschrijving van de stage bij Uitgeverij De Eenhoorn bedrijf stagebegeleider afdeling taken talen tijdens stageperio de stage de Uitgeverij De Eenhoorn Nele Declercq Pers & Promotie Persberichten opstellen, versturen en Nederlands 26 april Vlasstraat 17 opvolgen Engels tot en met 8719 Wielsbeke Nieuwsbrief opstellen Frans 30 juni 056/60.54.60 Folders voor een specifieke doelgroep (vb. kinderdagverblijven) opstellen en opmaak begeleiden Website De Eenhoorn: diverse taken, o.a. inhoud updaten en aanvullen, vergelijkend onderzoek met websites van andere uitgeverijen en verbeteringen voorstellen Jeugdboeken vertalen naar het Engels Auteurs en illustratoren interviewen, biografieën opstellen Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank the entire staff of De Eenhoorn for their warm welcome, their sincere interest and their guidance. Special thanks goes to Nele Declercq and Sarah Claeys for giving me the chance to do an internship in the publishing house. They guided me through my different assignments and they answered my questions profoundly. They offered me an interesting and informative internship. I am also grateful to Luc De Bie and Tom De Bruyer who were very supportive and have made this year an incredible experience. They encouraged me to never give up. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Ellen Van Praet who gave me some guidelines to write this master’s paper. I would also like to express my gratitude to my friends and my family. They supported me, helped me out and made me laugh time and again. Of course, I do not want to forget my fellow students who made this an unforgettable year. Contents De Eenhoorn Publishers ............................................................................................................................. 2 1. History ......................................................................................................................................... 2 2. Mission statement ....................................................................................................................... 3 3. The organization .......................................................................................................................... 3 4. Product range .............................................................................................................................. 4 4.1. Children’s books ...................................................................................................................... 4 4.2. Magazines ................................................................................................................................ 5 5. Foreign rights ............................................................................................................................... 6 6. The market .................................................................................................................................. 7 6.1. Direct competitors for children’s books .................................................................................. 7 6.2. Direct competitors for children’s magazines .......................................................................... 8 6.3. Indirect competitors for children’s books and magazines ...................................................... 9 7. Marketing mix ............................................................................................................................. 9 7.1. General public ....................................................................................................................... 10 7.2. Bookshops and libraries ........................................................................................................ 11 7.3. Schools ................................................................................................................................... 11 7.4. Foreign publishers ................................................................................................................. 12 8. SWOT analysis ........................................................................................................................... 12 9. Perspectives on the future ........................................................................................................ 13 Theoretical framework: children as consumers .................................................................................... 15 1. No homogenous group .............................................................................................................. 15 2. Edutainment .............................................................................................................................. 16 3. A cross-medial approach ........................................................................................................... 18 My internship at De Eenhoorn .............................................................................................................. 19 1. Qualitative products .................................................................................................................. 19 1.1. Books ..................................................................................................................................... 19 1.2. Magazines .............................................................................................................................. 23 2. Authors and illustrators ............................................................................................................. 28 2.1. Press file ................................................................................................................................ 28 2.2. Biographies ............................................................................................................................ 28 2.3. Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 28 2.4. Activities ................................................................................................................................ 29 3. The website ............................................................................................................................... 29 3.1. Comparison to other publishing company’s websites .......................................................... 29 3.2. Updating the website ............................................................................................................ 34 4. Brochures .................................................................................................................................. 35 5. Press .......................................................................................................................................... 36 6. De Eenhoorn blows out 20 candles ........................................................................................... 37 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 39 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 40 Illustrations ............................................................................................................................................ 43 Preface When I saw the offer for an internship at publishing house De Eenhoorn, I immediately knew I would like it there. I was already acquainted with the translation of picture books through the lessons Language and Literature (Prof. Dr. Slembrouck) and English Linguistics III: Translation (Prof. Dr. Maryns). I especially liked the way the visual aspects were entwined with the verbal elements in children’s books. In addition, this internship was a perfect combination of my passion for languages and my curiosity for the world of enterprises. 1 De Eenhoorn Publishers 1. History Bart Desmyter and Geert De Kockere founded publishing house De Eenhoorn in 1990. At first, De Eenhoorn only published the two-weekly paper Kits for children aged 10 and over. A few months later they also created a magazine on health. Because of the success of these two magazines, the publishing house introduced more magazines for different age groups. At the moment it produces seven different magazines for children between 3 and 14 years old. From 1991 onwards, De Eenhoorn started printing children’s books. The first books were all written by Geert De Kockere. His first two books, Puntje Puntje Puntje (Dot Dot Dot) (1991) and Eefje Donkerblauw (Elly Dark Blue) (1993), became very popular. Puntje Puntje Puntje was awarded the Jacob Van Maerlant prize and the Boekenpauw, the Flemish prize for the best illustrated children’s book. Eefje Donkerblauw is still one of De Eenhoorn’s bestsellers. However, these qualitative children’s books did not appeal to enough customers for the company to be profitable. To reach a broader audience, De Eenhoorn developed a two-sided strategy in 1994: on the one hand, they continued publishing qualitative picture books with literary texts, on the other hand, they introduced