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Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Reports Exclusive Partnership with EverloopMar 28, 2011 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing announced a new exclusive partnership with Everloop, a social media company offering a unified, online community platform for tweens (young people between the ages of 8 and 13). Through this exclusive partnership, Simon & Schuster will launch an online interactive book club for this age group, connecting Everloop members to children's books and their authors. The Everloop experience provides tweens with access to all the core features they would find on social networks designed for adults, including the ability to create and stylize their own custom profiles; communicate with friends using features like IM/chat, email, texting and VoIP or join an unlimited number of fan pages centered around science, music, art, games and more. With four layers of protection including user authentication, real-time moderation, a parental dashboard and a reputation engine, Everloop offers privacy protection and parental oversight. As a premiere partner within the Everloop network, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing will host an interactive book club experience called "In the Book Loop" where members will have access to two free middle-grade books each month via a web view e-reader. The book club is launching with Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell and SPHDZ Book number 1! by Jon Scieszka. Future books that will be featured include novels by bestselling authors Brandon Mull, Tony DiTerlizzi, Jo Nesbo, and Andrew Clements. The book club will also connect members with authors via virtual chat sessions and provide access to other book-related media, virtual goods, programs and more. By combining social media features with content experiences like S&S In the Book Loop, Everloop has created a community environment where children can socialize with their friends around the things that they love like immersive narratives, story-telling and reading. Under the partnership, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing will provide book-and-author based content and serve as a resource for the Everloop members, parents, and educators enjoying the benefits of the Everloop social media experience. "With such a large population of children online and engaged with social media, we felt it was only natural to co-develop with Everloop an immersive online reading experience for tweens," said Lucille Rettino, Director of Marketing for Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division. "As we have seen with our Pulse It Board for teens, which was a model for 'S&S In the Book Loop,' social media is a perfect technology to connect children to their reading passions in a way that is entertaining and meaningful, and so we are excited to create an online community where tweens can read and talk about books." "At Everloop, we are specifically focused on elevating the bar within the kids media space by connecting kids, parents, and educators to higher value content and experiences," said Hilary DeCesare, CEO for Everloop. "Right now, most of a child's time online is frivolous and tends to do nothing more than improve eye-hand coordination via playing games. We think that by joining forces with market leaders like Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division we can begin to positively influence children by connecting them to intellectually based content, applications, services, or experiences. If one child connects to a book or an author and is influenced into a lifelong learning pursuit or passion, then collectively we will have completed our mission of empowering this very important generation." Having launched in February of this year, Everloop recently announced a strategic partnership with i-Safe.org, the most recognized digital literacy publisher in the United States. Together Everloop and iSafe.org will be building the largest K-8 school learning social network in the country. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has had previous success with its Pulse It Board, providing a free reading experience designed specifically for the teen demographic. By partnering with Everloop, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing now has a safe, COPPA-compliant, age-appropriate connection to tween readers that mimics the best of their specific teen online experience. More Information: www.simonandschuster.com www.everloop.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |