THE WATTPAD COMMUNITY SPENT A COMBINED 282 YEARS READING "CHASING RED"

Sourcebooks, a leading independent book publisher, has acquired the worldwide English rights to Wattpad’s most-read story of 2016, Chasing Red. With over 126 million reads, the Wattpad community spent over 148 million minutes, the equivalent of 282 years, reading the story by Wattpad Star Isabelle Ronin. Revised and with new original content from the author, Sourcebooks will publish Chasing Red in two volumes, releasing in September and November, 2017.

Based on proprietary data and insights, Wattpad identified Chasing Red as an up-and-coming story in early 2015. Once Isabelle finished serializing the story in early 2016, the story’s popularity skyrocketed further. That week, Isabelle saw an influx of new readers—more than double the number of readers from the week prior. Since then, Chasing Red has ignited a voracious fan base that includes thousands of reviews, multiple trailers, a petition for a major motion picture, fan art, and around a million new reads each week on Wattpad.

“The numbers alone for Chasing Red are extraordinary. This story has touched millions of readers and is attracting new reads every week,” Sourcebooks CEO Dominique Raccah says. “Once you start reading, it’s easy to see why. Readers get sucked into this world and these characters. It’s addictive. We are excited to bring this wonderful author and reader experience to published form this fall.”

Thousands of Wattpad stories have been adapted as novels around the world, while others have become blockbuster movies and television shows. “We’re excited to build on past successes with Sourcebooks and are confident Chasing Red will be as successful in bookstores as it’s been on Wattpad,” said Ashleigh Gardner, head of partnerships for Wattpad Studios. “Not only is Chasing Red a massive hit within the Wattpad community, the high levels of engagement around the story have prompted several international publishers, including Hachette Livre, HarperCollins Germany, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, and Mondadori, to acquire rights to the story.”

With Chasing Red, readers fall in love with Red and Caleb, frequently commenting on how “real” they feel. The story follows cynical straight-A college student Veronica “Red” Strafford, who gets kicked out of her apartment. When notorious basketball player Caleb Lockhart offers her a place to stay, their close quarters create a problem when he pursues her, and she is far from ready to open up about her painful past.

Isabelle Ronin is a 30 year-old writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As part of the Wattpad Stars program, Isabelle has also been tapped by brands like E! Network to craft custom content that drives huge engagement among young people.

​Wattpad and Sourcebooks first partnered in 2013 to publish Wattpad writers through the Sourcebooks Fire YA imprint as well as to market Sourcebook authors to the global Wattpad community. Since then, Sourcebooks has successfully published My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak and The Cellar and The Cabin by Natasha Preston, both of which spent a combined thirty-seven weeks on the New York Times young adult paperback bestseller list. This year, Sourcebooks will publish more stories from popular Wattpad storytellers, including A. V. Geiger’s Follow Me Back, Juliet Lyons’s Dating the Undead, and Alyson McLayne’s Highland Promise.

Sourcebooks has acquired from March 4th all publishing rights for Little Pickle Press, best known for creating books that relate meaningful, complex concepts to children, including the bestselling and award-winning picture book Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by author JoAnn Deak, Ph.D. and illustrator Sarah Ackerley, which has sold more than 250,000 copies, and a multi-award-winning series that includes What Does It Mean To Be An Entrepreneur?® and What Does It Mean To Be Kind?®

Since founding March 4th (formerly, Little Pickle Press) in 2009, Rana DiOrio has sought to create products that inspire character development—traits such as kindness, honesty, bravery, and patience—in young people, and to do so in a socially and environmentally friendly manner. In addition to Deak, Little Pickle is the publisher of a number of bestselling authors, including Shawn Achor, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, and Coleen Murtagh Paratore. Many of the company’s titles are multiple award winners, and in 2014 Foreword Reviews named Little Pickle Press Independent Publisher of the Year. In 2015, Little Pickle expanded into the middle grade and young adult markets.

“We are thrilled to partner with Sourcebooks! Dominique and her team embody so many qualities we admire—professionalism, entrepreneurialism, and kindness,” said DiOrio. “We couldn’t have wished for a better partner in furthering our mission to inspire character development in young people, and we are excited by the tremendous potential made available by our shared vision for the future.”

Kelly Barrales-Saylor, who joined Sourcebooks as editorial director for children’s nonfiction in June 2016, has been working to quickly build its children’s nonfiction program, which has already seen great success with titles like This Book Is Gay, Dear Nobody, and the New York Times bestselling Poetry Speaks to Children series.

“I could not think of a more natural fit than adding Little Pickle Press to our growing children’s business,” said Barrales-Saylor. “Rana’s mission to create books for a better world perfectly syncs with the Sourcebooks vision that books change lives. Little Pickle provides us with the opportunity to partner with a remarkably talented entrepreneur, as well as significantly expand our offering of books that inspire, encourage, and teach young readers.”

Little Pickle Press will live as an imprint under Sourcebooks’ Jabberwocky brand, the company’s children’s imprint. The acquisition includes about twenty-five frontlist and backlist titles, which will be available through Sourcebooks beginning February 1. March 4th will work with Sourcebooks to seek out and generate new projects for the Jabberwocky and Little Pickle Press imprints, with new titles to come as soon as spring 2018. DiOrio will continue to run March 4th, Inc., with a focus on creating and acquiring content and developing video, film, and merchandise strategies in support of Sourcebooks and other partners.

​“There are opportunities for creating momentum and real change in this industry by having publishers band together to better support booksellers and authors,” added Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks. “I’ve greatly admired Rana’s work for years. She has created something really extraordinary, and I am tremendously excited to join efforts with March 4th and the very talented Little Pickle Press authors.”