iPad eBook Producer Skyreader Media Teams With A-List Children's Author Leslie McGuirk on Pip the Penguin
TORONTO, May 8, 2012—Her books have been featured on The Martha Stewart show, Town & Country Magazine and People.com. Now best-selling children's author Leslie McGuirk is teaming up with Skyreader Media Inc. to bring Pip the Penguin to the iPad featuring Skyreader's new draw-along interactivity built on the company's proprietary eBook authoring platform. Pip the Penguin has so far sold 600,000 copies in hard cover worldwide, and has been translated into Japanese, Swedish and French.
Like the iPad, eBook market share is exploding and represents a highly lucrative business opportunity for McGuirk and Toronto, Ontario-based Skyreader Media. Skyreader's development team is based in Ottawa.
On April 24, 2012 Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple sold 27.2 million iPads in the first half of 2012 -- more than any PC maker's total sales during the period. Meanwhile, the most recent sales figures from The Association of American Publishers (AAP) state that the child / young adult eBook category saw an incredible 475 per cent increase, up from just $3.9 million to $22.6 million, in the space of 12 months.
"It is vital for an artist and writer to be inspired, and I love how Skyreader Media has turned a linear book into an immersive exploration for young readers," said McGuirk. "The new draw-along technology that allows a child to use the iPad's touch screen to draw characters and objects that pop to life with sound and movement transforms Pip the Penguin into a multimedia experience I couldn't have imagined even a few years ago."
"Pip the Penguin is a new chapter for Skyreader Media. We are attracting top authors like Leslie due to our unique ability to create true interactive experiences for creative authors to engage readers without boundaries. This is a game-changing approach to storytelling," said Kevin Gillis, the company's President and Chief Creative Officer.



