We’ve updated our website to a new, modern, easy-to-follow design. We’ll still have the great feature coverage we’ve always had on licensingbook.com, but now we’ll have a streaming list of deals in the middle column—much easier for you to see what’s going on in the business on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we’ll have longer, more in-depth feature stories for our main column, and our Twitter streaming to the upper-right hand side of the page.

If you don’t get The Licensing Book, subscribing is now easier than ever. Just click the link at the top right of the page to send us an email. You can follow the other link to see our latest issue online—in this case our Fall 2011 issue, covering Rock & Roll licensing and Brand Licensing Europe.

We’d love to hear from you about the redesign, so drop us a line at bjoiner@licensingbook.com, and happy reading!

—Bryan Joiner
Editor in Chief, The Licensing Book, LicensingBook.com

Feature: Our annual look at London’s licensing show, with 40 pages covering the biggest companies and properties, and what they’re planning on the world stage.

Feature: Power Rangers Samurai is exploding across the globe, and Saban Brands is expanding at superhero speed. We talk to Kirk Bloomgarden about the fearsome fivesome, as well as Paul Frank’s expansion into China.

Tribute to Rock & Roll: Music touches people in a way nothing else can, and music licensors try to capture that feeling with products that stir the imagination. We’ve got them covered with articles on Fender, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Vandor, Rolling Stone, and The Wildflower Group.

Five Questions with Mind Candy: Darran Garnham, head of global licensing, talks about the growth of Moshi Monsters.

Silver Screen Giants: Sony’s Smurfs and Spider-Man are giants on store shelves and silver screens. We look at Sony’s licensing program for its upcoming blockbusters and children’s films.

Geronimo! Atlantyca Speeds Ahead: Atlantyca Entertainment talks about plans for its properties, including Geronimo Stilton.

ITV Boosts Brands with Licensing: ITV Studios lays out its merchandising deals for Alan Titchmarsh and more.

Pocoyo, Grab Your Passport: Zinkia is shopping Pocoyo to Russia and Turkey.

We’ll keep licensing updates coming over the next few days, but they may be a bit slower than normal because we’re looking longingly out the window at the pretty clouds. The view here is toward the Hudson River, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, to California, the Pacific Ocean, and beyond.

For your records, our new mailing address is:

The Licensing Book
307 Seventh Avenue, Room 1601
NY, NY 10001

We at The Licensing Book are in a very good mood today! Why, you ask?

1. Our biggest issue of the year is all done, and will be ready in time for you amazing people to get your hands on it at Licensing Show in Vegas next week!

2. The entire Licensing Book team is going to see Conan O’Brien tonight at Radio City Music Hall.

3. I finally remembered to charge my iPod.

4. A second trailer for the super-amazing Scott Pilgrim v.s. the World has debuted, reconfirming the belief of the TLB staff that this movie is going to be freakin’ awesome! (The film will be in theaters August 13). Watch the new trailer here:

We just finished sending the April/May issue to the printer. It should be in your hands, faithful fans, in about two weeks, and up online sooner than that! Be sure to check it out for our Tribute to TV, Pet Licensing, and other great stories. Also check out our swanky new layout and design elements courtesy of the brilliant guidance of Toy Book Editor in Chief Jackie Breyer!

We’re now thinking about the Licensing Show issue—we’ll be in Vegas before you know it. Please send all awesome Licensing Show-related news, press releases, and artwork to Bryan Joiner at bjoiner@licensingbook.com or Jennifer Sinclair at jsinclair@licensingbook.com, or both of us, by May 3. We can’t wait to read them!

See you in Vegas, baby!

We’re plugging along on our March/April issue, which includes a pet licensing feature, our annual Tribute to Television section, a celebration of Dora the Explorer’s 10th anniversary, a spotlight on an exciting new import, a story about the new DreamWorks movie that brought Vikings into Times Square, and lots more!

If you have any news about any of the things we’re covering, or anything you think we should be covering, let us know! We’ve got lots of ways to get the news out now…facebook, twitter, the blog, the print issues, the online issues (carrier pigeon, smoke signals, Morse code, etc.). But we still need you! So speak up, out there in licensing land!

Hello? Anybody home?

So we’re going to start calling for submissions now, even if we have a whole ‘nuther issue between now and then. Please send new deal/product announcements with hi-res (300 dpi) images to bjoiner@gmail.com by May 3rd. Embargoed material may be sent; our issue will be released at the show, and no information therein will be released beforehand in print or online.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

• A feature on Nickelodeon at 30

• The hottest toys at Toy Fair

• The biggest news from around the industry

• A look at YMI Jeanswear

• Other features including People on the Move, Of Counsel with James Kipling, and a how-to-choose-a-property guide from brand development advisor David Niggli

We hope you like it. Check it out!