Tag Archives: Sweet Cherry

B.O.T. and the Beasties agrees publishing deal as the show’s audience grows

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Award-winning merchandise, licensing and brand agency Brands with Influence has announced the signing of two new licensing partners for CBeebies show B.O.T. and the Beasties, made by Ragdoll Productions.

Leicester-based Sweet Cherry Publishing, recent winners of Small Press of the Year 2021 at the British Book Awards, is to produce a series of new book formats for the show, with the first release planned for 2022. These will include story books, picture books and creative play books utilising sounds from the episodes.

In parallel, Immediate Media has signed to run regular B.O.T. and the Beasties content in their CBeebies magazine.

“We are delighted to be welcoming two excellent new partners to the B.O.T. family,” says Martin Lowde, MD at Brands with Influence. “The series is proving really popular with the young audiences and with its colourful and eclectic range of characters there is lots of scope for a fabulous new range of books and magazines.”

Sanjee de Silva, Publisher at Sweet Cherry, explained why they were so keen to sign with B.O.T. “This brand is exactly what we have been looking for here at Sweet Cherry. It has longevity, a range of great characters and portrays the fun and educational values that we are proud to align ourselves with. Sweet Cherry’s creative teams have designed a really innovative and exciting new range for the series.”

Brands with Influence will be at BLE next month sharing more details about the B.O.T. and the Beasties licensing programme.

Numberblocks publisher Sweet Cherry makes British Book Awards 2021 shortlist

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The independent children’s book publisher, Sweet Cherry – the publishing partner for Numberblocks, Alphablocks, and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, has been named a Regional and Country Winner for the Small Press of the Year in the Midlands.

Having made the cut, the book publisher is now in the running to be crowned Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards 2021.

Hosted by The Bookseller, the judging panel for the awards praised the Leicester-based publishing house’s efforts in 2020, championing it for doubling its export sales in 2020 and highlighting the firm’s diversity with “half of its management from BAME backgrounds.”

Sweet Cherry hit record-breaking sales in 2020 despite being based in Leicester, one of the longest-suffering UK cities during the pandemic. Staff have been working home since March 2020 and the company has been able to publish its new children’s books as planned. 

Lara Clift, publisher and sales director at Sweet Cherry, said: “We are over the moon to have won the regional finalist award in the Midlands. The team has worked so hard during the pandemic and we could not be any happier.” 

The full shortlist for the awards will be announced on Friday 19th March 2021.