The Book: Influenced by the exotic, lush landscapes of his childhood years in Hawaii, Hunt Slonem''s richly colored, impressionistic bird paintings are celebrated worldwide. We are expanding our targets to all venues, associations and groups that are bird-lovers. There are millions of them: in the US alone there are an estimated 51 million people (about 20 percent of the US population) who consider themselves birdwatchers; The USDA Forest Service''s National Survey found that bird viewing is "the most steadily growing [recreational] activity in the United States," growing 287% from 1982 to 2009. The 2011 FWS survey estimates that the annual economic value of U.S. bird watching is $15 billion for trip-related and $26 billion for equipment-related expenditures, generating a total of $41 billion and creating a total industry output (direct, indirect and induced) across the United States of $107 billion. This book it has a foreword by Jacqueline Bogard Weld, the widow of Lou Reed and the eponymous creator of the PEN/Jacqueline Bogard Weld Award for Biography and an introduction by noted art critic and author, Anthony Haden-Guest; each of whom have wide and extended reputations in the book world. The extension of the Bitty series with Birds and Butterflies, based on a more accessible format and pricing is one of theme, as well, allowing new and expanded audiences for the subjects of the books, beyond a mere art archive.

The addition of these books allows us to tap into strong and wide audiences in new nature categories. Both Birds and Butterflies serve as this artist''s visual metaphor for consciousness, spirit, and soul as well as a source of wonder and coloristic inspiration, so can work in a New Age section of a bookstore as well as art, and nature categories. The marketing distinction between the big books and the bitty books themselves is that they attract a new and wider set of buyers, based on their topics, presentation and price points. In particular, new readers to the series will appreciate the more affordable price which moves the books out of the singular category of "art" book into pop culture and specific nature subjects for aficionados of these nature subjects. We anticipate that all those buyers of his other books, large and small, will want to complete their collections with Bitty Birds and Bitty Butterflies, or start one with all three now. The $40 Bitty Bunnies book has just recently reprinted for the 6th time; so we anticipate that everyone who admires Slonem and loves nature and art will grab these books at the same pace they have Bitty Bunnies. Our experience in having both a bitty book and large format book in the same retail space shows that the Bitty Bunnies book, for example, has had no impact whatsoever on its $95 "big brother" books'' sales. Each of these "nature" books are singular in that they deal with one subject with an extended presentation, but the presentation is so exciting based on production values and representation that reader boredom is not an option.

In sum, these books will appeal to a broader audience who will find it to be a tool of inspiration on popular subjects as entertainment and gift for themselves or others, along with the books'' assets of fine art. Hunt Slonem: He is known as one of the great colorists of his time with a huge reputation nationally and worldwide, and he travels widely to exhibit his paintings in Museums and Galleries himself. Museums, both domestic and international, have collected his work, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Through these presentations he has the proven capacity to reach and sustain bookselling success worldwide, and will maintain as well his access to art markets . Any museum that is an art museum should be solicited for these books. Hunt Slonem is widely published in other categories, such as Interior Design, so booksellers know him for his breadth of interest and talents and he can be found in "home decorating" on many booksellers'' shelves. Note that although Slonem is widely published, G Editions is the only publisher of his nature works, which are his most long-standing, bestselling and beloved by the author himself.

He is moving increasingly into the Botanical Garden space, and planning to expand his profile for immersive Garden Experiences like the one in San Antonio this May. He has a large social media following, with over 150k followers on Instagram. He is also known and published as a "rescuer" of historic buildings--having restored three plantations in Louisiana; an armory in Scranton, PA, a former Gilded Era residence in Central New York State, and a castle in Massachusetts--so he is well-known to the general public where he has received notable press and access in those circles, and most importantly for us, numerous books published by other publishers on these topics, making him someone known to the book-buyers through long-term and varied exposure to his books. The contributors to these books (Preface/Forward writers) are also "names" in the literary world that will be known to booksellers.