Chronicle and Paul Frank Get into Monkey Business

By John A. Sellers, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 5/15/2008

This month, Chronicle Books and Paul Frank Industries are launching a Paul Frank publishing program, consisting of books, journals and other products created by the California-based design house. This collaboration marks the first move into publishing for Paul Frank, best known for its adult and children’s clothing, accessories, home furnishings and other items. The character-based children’s line, Julius! by Paul Frank, will debut with a picture book, Only in Dreams: A Bedtime Story, as well as a set of alphabet flash cards, two journals featuring Paul Frank characters and a stationery set with envelopes and stickers. A separate gift line for adults is planned for this fall.

According to senior editor Andrea Menotti, Chronicle had set its sights on Paul Frank for some time and had first approached the company several years back. “We knew it was a good fit,” she says. “The sensibility of their brand and their attention to art and design we felt were similar to our own attention to those things.”

The design house, being new to the publishing game, did “interview and kick the tires with several publishers,” before signing with Chronicle in 2006, according to Ryan Heuser, president and co-founder of Paul Frank Industries. “Chronicle had a very good understanding of our brand,” he says. “There was a comfort level of execution there. What we are in the fashion world, Chronicle is in the publishing world.”

Only in Dreams follows Julius, the wide-mouthed monkey visible on most Paul Frank products, over the course of one night as he floats in and out of various scenarios while dreaming: playing pirate, or “paddling down a strawberry-milk river.”

“The introductory book just kind of sets the stage,” says Heuser. “I think the less that we share details about Julius, the more it allows our fans and readership to draw their own [ideas].”

An interior spread from Only in Dreams.

As with its clothing and other products, Only in Dreams was the result of collaboration among Paul Frank’s in-house pool of talent. However, Parker Jacobs—who Heuser says took the lead on the project—is credited with writing and illustrating the book on its title page. Heuser says this adds a “personal element” to the book. “If we were to take that out, it becomes just a corporation selling a book.”

According to Menotti, working with Paul Frank was a departure from the usual publisher/licensor relationship. “They are fashion designers and artists,” she says. “It was like working with a standard author and illustrator rather than a licensor.” Heuser notes that “you can have guys who make great t-shirts, but that doesn’t mean that they can necessarily concept and storyboard and illustrate a story,” but he believes his artists rose to the task.

Paul Frank’s president does concede that when it comes to the business of publishing, they defer to Chronicle. “They know their customer and their customers’ needs,” he says. “We may send some storyboards and rough illustrations, and they may say, ‘This particular color or object is trending right now. Can you do something with it?’ We’re not in the publishing world—they’re the experts.”

Because of its gift division, Chronicle already has a strong presence in nontraditional retail outlets, and Menotti has been encouraged by the response the Paul Frank line has already received. “[Only in Dreams] was taken by all these museum stores,” she says. “Normally licensed publishing doesn’t go into those types of stores. I’ve seen Uglydolls in MoMA, but to see this follow suit is really nice.” Menotti cites opportunities for cross-merchandising as well, such as with the second picture book in the line, Wild West Bananza, which has a Western setting that echoes elements of Paul Frank’s clothing for children. The publishing program will also be carried in Paul Frank stores internationally, as well as in bookstores, and other retail outlets such as Target.

Wild West Bananza, along with a matching game (a card game along the lines of Memory) and a growth chart, will be on Chronicle’s fall list. The publisher has previously used the growth chart concept for The World of Eric Carle, but the matching game is a first for them. “Based on the fact that people will respond to the art even if they’re not familiar with Julius, we feel there’s a lot of opportunity to bring Julius into new formats,” says Menotti. The publisher plans to launch two new formats featuring Julius next year, with three picture books and nine ancillary products due out by the end of spring 2009.

To promote the launch of the publishing program, Chronicle and Paul Frank will host celebrity readings of Only in Dreams, the first of which will take place on Sunday, May 25 at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Manhattan, with rocker Andrew W.K. reading from the book. For each book sold at the event, the companies will donate a copy of the book and make a matching financial contribution to First Book. Other events are currently in the planning stages.

For Heuser’s part, he’s eager to see the collaboration continue. “It could bring a lot of awareness and interest to the brand by way of parents who may or may not be familiar with it,” he says. “This is one of the more fun, and challenging, things we’re doing.”

Only in Dreams: A Bedtime Story by Parker Jacobs. Chronicle, $12.95 ISBN 978-0-8118-6024-6