Matt Reynolds, Managing Director of Little Brother Books, on licensing for annuals – and more!

Matt, you’re the Managing Director of Little Brother Books. Tell us about it! What kind of books do you publish?
We’re best known as the UK’s number-one annuals publisher. However, we also publish various other types of books including activity formats, gaming guides, picture books and, most recently, fun learning education books.

Quite a range! Annuals were a staple part of my age group’s childhood. It feels like they’ve become noticeably rarer, though. Why is that?
Well, the perception is that annuals are ‘rarer’ nowadays. In reality, though, annuals remain a very well supported category at retail each Christmas. Many major retailers – including most grocery, books and toy retailers – support them during the busy Christmas season. Annuals sell millions of copies each year, we alone sold over 1.2 million copies in 2022, so they still have huge appeal with consumers!

“We’ve built a trusted and knowledgeable reputation with many leading retailers.”

Interesting. And how have you carved your niche in the market, Matt?
We’ve carved our niche by making annuals our main focus as a company. That means we’ve built a trusted and knowledgeable reputation with many leading retailers to ensure they get annuals ‘right’ in their stores… So they maximise their sales and don’t have too much stock left over on Boxing Day!

In terms of content, what kind of thing do your licensed titles include?
Content in an annual varies from brand to brand… It depends on the age of the fans – and what they’re looking for. Annuals can appeal from pre-schoolers to young adults! There’re normally three main areas for content. First, character profiles and brand information. Second, short stories – where available. Third, activities and things to do. But as I said, it depends from brand to brand!

No, that’s fair enough. And I’m curious: where does that content come from? Is it done in house?
Yes, all our content is written and designed inhouse by our team of writers, illustrators and designers. We obviously use brand style guides, plus we get a really in depth knowledge of each brand before writing a page plan to make sure it is on trend for the brand it represents. We have many years’ experience of writing annuals, so this obviously helps!

That being the case, who else is on the team?
Everyone at Little Brother Books plays a part of the success of our company – from initial concepts to finished products in stores. Ideas and new brand suggestions come can come about from many different people in our company! It starts with which brands we want to partner. After that, our studio team develops the content and designs, then our sales team engages the retailers – and our supply team ensures our products reach our customers… Everyone has a part to play!

Sounds like a well-oiled machine. When you’re looking to create a brand partnership, what kind of licences interest you? What factors do you have to consider? Are there any things you’ve tried and found less workable?
Brands nowadays can come from so many different parts of popular culture, it use to simply be the biggest movies, cartoons and toys for kids. Now, with the digital world, it’s far bigger and kids are exposed to so much more influences!

We want to find brands that kids not only enjoy using in the moment, but are passionate about and want to immerse themselves in throughout their whole day. I always say… “If a kid wears a tee shirt of a brand to show how much they love it, these are the brands we want, as kids want to show their passion for them!”. Brands now include movies/TV, toys, digital gaming, music celebrities, sporting stars and teams and online influencers.

And after eight years in the business, is what you do more of an art or more of a science?
A ‘science’, as you need to think carefully and make sure you understand so many different elements to try and give you the best chance of success! The ‘art’ comes down to the luck you need to hope the brands you’ve selected remain a big hit with fans when your products are released! We can often agree a brand 12-18 months before products are released and this makes it a risk on their ongoing popularity.

Oh, gosh – yes, I can imagine. And as best as I can make out, you publish a dozen titles at a time… Are you looking to expand your range? If not, why not?
Yes, we publish around 12 annuals a year as this is the optimum size range for many of our major retailers. We often use dedicated displays in their stores, so our displays fit 12 titles – that’s the footprint the retailers are looking for. Therefore – unfortunately – we often have to replace titles and brands in our range each year rather than add to them!

Makes sense, thank you, Matt. Tell me, how did you come to be in licensing?
I worked for Kellogg’s for the first 10 years of my career and this taught me a lot about leading brands. I then worked for Pedigree Books and learnt a lot about the publishing industry as well as licensing. I used all of this experience to start my own company in 2016. I had the sole objective of becoming the number one annual publisher – which I’m proud to say I did by 2018.

Brilliant! And I reached out to you when I did because we are – of course –gearing up towards Christmas… After Christmas, though, what’s next for you?
In regards to annuals, we’re already in discussions for new brands for 2024. However, we also publish other formats and ranges throughout the year, so we have to focus on these ranges in the other months.

“We cannot be complacent, so we need to ensure we cement ourselves as the ‘go-to partner’…”

Gosh, you never stop! Let’s wrap this up with one last question, Matt: what’s the one thing I should’ve asked you today that I didn’t?
What’s your five-year goal?

Lovely! I like that. Consider it asked; what’s the answer?
Continuing to be the number one annual publisher! We cannot be complacent, so we need to ensure we cement ourselves as the ‘go-to partner’ with ALL major licensors and retailers for annuals. We also plan to become number one ‘Character Licensed’ Education Publisher with our partnership with Purple Mash…

Purple Mash?
Purple Mash is the leading online education platform, subscribed to by 6,500 schools in the UK. This is the first time they’ve published their 100% school’s curriculum content in physical books.

Terrific!
Finally, watch this space for more exciting ranges! When we bring out a new range, we want to bring something different to the market that retailers and their customers will love.

Well, keep us posted on that, Matt; I’d love to hear more.