Free Spirit Publishing

What Free Spirit Publishing does

Free Spirit Publishing is an educational publishing imprint that produces books and resources focused on two primary content verticals: early childhood learning (toddler through pre-kindergarten) and child and teen social-emotional well-being (SEL), including behavior and self-regulation, bullying prevention, life skills, social skills, emotions, and tough topics. The imprint was founded in 1983 and operates as a sub-brand under Teacher Created Materials, a privately held educational publisher headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, while Free Spirit's origins and operations are associated with Minneapolis. The parent company reports more than 22,000 titles published across all imprints and over 200 employees working across the corporate entity.

The product catalog centers on illustrated print books for the youngest learners and SEL-focused titles for older children and teens, with digital formats also available. Underlying distribution and commerce technology includes the teachercreatedmaterials.com e-commerce storefront with account registration, cart functionality, and purchase order submission for schools and districts. Supporting infrastructure includes a dedicated publishing blog (Free Spirit Publishing Blog), a TCM Blog, free webinars, Professional Learning Communities guides, Leader's Guides, and ASCA Standards-aligned resources. No API, software platform, or proprietary technology stack beyond the e-commerce site is disclosed.

Free Spirit Publishing generates revenue through one-time purchases of physical and digital books. Two go-to-market motions are in use: direct-to-consumer sales via the e-commerce platform (targeting individual educators, parents, and institutions) and channel partnerships through educational distributors and international channels serving the 89+ countries in its distribution footprint. Pricing is not publicly tiered; individual book prices are listed on the storefront but no subscription, licensing, or recurring revenue model is disclosed. The primary customer segments are early childhood educators and caregivers, child and teen well-being professionals (educators and counselors addressing SEL), and institutional buyers including schools and districts making purchase-order-based purchases.

Name

Free Spirit Publishing

Legal name

Free Spirit Publishing

Website

https://freespirit.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Free Spirit Publishing, founded in 1983 and based in Minneapolis, is an educational publishing imprint under Teacher Created Materials that produces books on early childhood learning and child/teen social-emotional well-being, sold directly via e-commerce and through educational distributors to educators, parents, and schools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Early Learning & Preschool Trade (Ages 0–5) (EDAGAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Children’s Activity & Workbook Publishing (MPAJAFAG), Children’s Nonfiction Publishing (MPAJAFAE)

Keywords

• Educational publishing
• Social emotional learning
• Early childhood books
• Classroom resources
• Children's books

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Free Spirit Publishing generates revenue through the sale of physical and digital books targeting early childhood learning and child/teen well-being. Products are sold as one-time purchases through the e-commerce platform and through educational distribution channels.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Free Spirit Publishing is an educational publishing imprint under Teacher Created Materials that produces and sells books and learning resources focused on early childhood education (toddler through pre-kindergarten) and child/teen social-emotional well-being, covering topics such as behavior and self-regulation, bullying prevention, life skills, social skills, emotions, and tough topics. Products are sold as one-time purchases to educators, parents, and institutions through the parent company's e-commerce platform, school purchase orders, and international distribution channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Free Spirit Publishing Imprint
• Early Childhood Education Books
• Social-Emotional Learning Books
• At-Home Learning Resources

Quantifiable outcome

• Distributed in over 89 countries worldwide

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Brookes Publishing: A publisher specializing in early childhood education, special education, and developmental resources for educators and clinicians. Comparable to Free Spirit's early-childhood and inclusive-learning focus, particularly for the preschool and intervention segments.
• Highlights for Children: A long-running children's content brand offering books, magazines, and learning products for young readers. Highly comparable to Free Spirit's early-childhood and child-well-being positioning, including its DTC and educator-channel distribution.
• Capstone Publishing: A children's book publisher producing educational and library-bound titles for K-5 readers, including nonfiction and SEL-adjacent series. Comparable to Free Spirit because of overlapping readers, school/library distribution, and nonfiction-focused catalog.
• Albert Whitman & Company: An independent children's book publisher producing picture books and middle-grade titles with strong social-emotional themes and special-needs characters. Comparable to Free Spirit because both operate as focused children's trade publishers with SEL-adjacent content and sell into schools and libraries.
• Candlewick Press: An independent children's book publisher known for high-quality picture books and middle-grade titles with strong educational and emotional themes. Comparable to Free Spirit as an independent children's trade publisher selling into schools, libraries, and the trade channel.
• Magination Press: The American Psychological Association's children's book imprint, publishing titles on emotions, behavior, mental health, bullying, and tough topics for kids and teens. The closest direct peer to Free Spirit's SEL and well-being catalog because both target the same educator/parent buyer with research-backed SEL content.
• Boys Town Press: A publisher specializing in behavior, social skills, and SEL resources for educators, counselors, and youth workers. Directly comparable to Free Spirit's bullying prevention, life skills, and behavior/self-regulation segments.

Broad incumbents

• Penguin Random House Children's Books: A major trade children's book publisher with extensive picture-book, middle-grade, and YA catalogs that compete for shelf space, educator attention, and library/school budgets. Comparable to Free Spirit as a broad incumbent in children's publishing with SEL-relevant titles.
• Scholastic: The largest U.S. publisher and distributor of children's books, textbooks, and educational resources through the school channel. Highly comparable to Free Spirit because both serve schools, educators, and parents with curriculum-aligned reading and SEL materials through institutional purchase orders and consumer channels.

Emerging players

• National Center for Youth Issues (NCYI): A publisher of SEL and character-education materials targeted at school counselors and educators. Directly comparable to Free Spirit's tough-topics and life-skills titles, with a more counseling-focused niche.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FreeSpiritBooks
• Facebookfacebook.com/freespiritpublishing
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tcmpub
• Instagraminstagram.com/tcmpub

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Free Spirit Publishing