- The following is content from the press release -
The market for picture books is expanding
We want to deliver a variety of picture books and provide time for dialogue between parents and children.
Nice to meet you. We are Maria Project K.K. (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Tomomi Okuno), a company that supports child-rearing through intellectual education.
According to the Publishing Science Institute, the picture book market grew approximately 1.2 times in 2021 compared to 10 years earlier. While the paper publishing market continues to experience negative growth, the picture book market is expanding. The picture book market has always had a high share of previously published books, but in recent years the percentage of new books has been increasing, and in addition to timeless long sellers, the picture book world is also becoming more diversified.
We developed the picture book reading application "KIKASETE" in 2019 and have had 24,000 downloads so far. Using a cell phone or tablet, users can read picture books regardless of their location, and we have published approximately 280 picture books of a wide variety, from old tales to original stories. After the picture book is read to the child on the app, it has a dialogue function that poses questions to elicit feelings and thoughts. Parents can communicate with their children through the picture books by touching their children's thoughts while doing household chores or their own things at their child's side who is playing the application. In a survey of parents, 95.8% of parents answered that they "felt their children's growth" after one month of continuous use. With this update, a total of 9 new picture books featuring garbage and world cuisine will be released.
We have created many picture books for children to enjoy and learn from, taking into account the voices of parents who want their children to acquire the ability to survive in the coming age. Through this new release, we hope to further expand the selection of picture books that children are exposed to, and to ensure time for communication between parents and children through the interactive function.
We understand that you are very busy, but we would be grateful if you could cover this issue and help us to reach more people with the help of the press.
