Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books

What Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books does

Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books (legally Caboodle Books Ltd) is a privately-held UK educational services company that operates as a booking intermediary between schools and creative professionals. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Silsden, West Yorkshire, the company arranges in-school visits from authors, poets, illustrators, and storytellers for primary and secondary schools across the UK and internationally. Its claimed customer base includes more than 5,000 UK schools and over 800 international schools across 65 countries.

The company's service portfolio spans six core products: UK Author Visits, Overseas School Visits, AIM High Days (creative writing, maths, and science enrichment workshops), Poetry Slams (inter-school competitions with regional and grand finals), Virtual Visits (live online author sessions for UK and international schools), and Caboodle Classroom (an on-demand virtual library of pre-recorded author videos). The underlying technology stack is lightweight: a Squarespace-hosted website with email- and phone-based booking workflows, supported by Stripe as the third-party payment processor, and book supply coordinated as an add-on bookshop service on sale-or-return terms. A loyalty scheme rewards repeat school bookings and social media engagement.

Revenue is generated on a transaction-fee basis — authors charge a day rate plus travel (with some all-inclusive UK pricing) and the company retains a margin on arrangements, supplemented by book sale commissions. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market is sales-led, run by a small dedicated Bookings Team (Yvonne for UK, Robin for overseas), with demand generation through SEO, email newsletters, and organic social across Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky. The company is independently owned with no disclosed institutional investors, funding rounds, or parent entity.

Name

Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books

Legal name

Caboodle Books Ltd

Website

https://authorsabroad.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books (Caboodle Books Ltd) is a UK booking agency connecting 5,000+ UK schools and 800+ international schools across 65 countries with authors, poets, illustrators, and storytellers for in-person visits, workshops, and digital learning resources.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Author Visit Services

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313), Book Publishers (513130), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Author Service Marketplaces & Aggregators (Vetting, Bundled Services) (MPAJAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Self-Publishing Platforms (KDP-style Marketplaces & Portals) (MPAJAJAA), Author Website, Storefront & Direct-to-Reader Commerce (D2C Sales) (MPAJAJAE), Self-Publishing & Author Platforms (BPAMAJAF)

Keywords

• School author visits
• Educational enrichment services
• Author booking agency
• Creative writing workshops
• Virtual author visits

Headquarters

HQ city

Steeton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Author Visit Arrangement Services: Fees collected for arranging author, poet, illustrator, and storyteller school visits. Authors typically charge a day rate plus travel costs. Some authors offer all-inclusive pricing for UK visits covering travel and accommodation.
2. Book Sales and Supply: Coordinate book supply for many authors including sale or return basis. Schools can order books through the website to support cashless schools. Also supply class sets and bulk orders.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Authors Abroad is a UK-based educational services company that arranges and coordinates author, poet, illustrator, and storyteller visits to schools, both in-person across the UK and internationally and virtually online. It complements these visits with enrichment days (AIM High Days), poetry competitions (Poetry Slams), an on-demand video library (Caboodle Classroom), and a school bookshop service for coordinating book supply and signing events.

Product overview

Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books is a UK-based educational services company that operates as a booking agency and platform connecting schools with creative professionals (authors, poets, illustrators, and storytellers) for educational visits and enrichment programs. The core offering comprises in-person UK and international school visits, supplemented by virtual author meetings and an on-demand video library. The portfolio includes six integrated services: UK Author Visits serving over 5000 schools, Overseas School Visits spanning 65 countries, AIM High Days (creative writing, maths and science workshops), Poetry Slams, Virtual Visits, and Caboodle Classroom (video library). Book ordering and signing coordination is provided as an add-on service. The company acts as the intermediary, handling bookings, DBS checks, and logistics for schools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• UK Author Visits
• Overseas School Visits
• AIM High Days
• Poetry Slams
• Virtual Visits
• Caboodle Classroom Video Library
• Bookshop
• Author, Poet, Illustrator & Storyteller Booking Services

Named customers19 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Authors Aloud UK: UK-based agency that arranges author and illustrator visits to schools, libraries and festivals. Directly comparable in offering (school author bookings), customer base (UK schools), and delivery model (in-person visits plus virtual options).
• Booking Authors: UK agency connecting schools, libraries and festivals with authors and storytellers for talks and workshops. Same core marketplace/aggregator proposition, same UK education customer segment, similar service breadth.
• Speaking Volumes: UK literary agency specializing in author talks, workshops and school visits. Overlaps directly with Authors Abroad on school-based author engagements and represents a comparable roster-based agency model.

Broad incumbents

• Scholastic UK: Global children's book publisher with significant UK school-channel presence (book fairs, school book clubs, literacy programs). Comparable on the book supply and school engagement axis, but with a much broader portfolio of publishing and retail offerings beyond author visits.
• Penguin Random House Children's UK: Major UK children's publisher (Puffin, etc.) running author events and school outreach programs for its roster of children's authors. Comparable on children's author engagement and book supply, but as a publisher rather than an independent booking marketplace.

Emerging players

• BookTrust: UK children's reading charity running school engagement programs, author events and book gifting. Comparable mission (inspire children to read) and overlapping school audience, but operating as a charity/nonprofit rather than a commercial booking agency.
• National Literary Trust: UK literacy charity running school-based programs including author visits and reading initiatives. Comparable in audience (UK schools) and activity (author-into-school programming), but a charity competitor/funding partner rather than a like-for-like commercial marketplace.
• Just Imagine Story Centre: UK provider of school author visits, writing workshops and literacy training for teachers. Overlaps directly on author visits and school workshops but with a stronger training/curriculum-support angle than Authors Abroad.
• CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education): UK literacy education charity working with primary schools on reading, writing and author engagement, including power of reading programs that feature visiting authors. Comparable school literacy audience and author engagement activity.

Regional players

• Kids' Bookings: Online marketplace for booking children's authors, illustrators and performers for school and library events. Comparable marketplace/aggregator model, but with broader entertainment performer categories and a different geographic focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AuthorsAbroad_
• Facebookfacebook.com/AuthorsAbroadUK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/authors-abroad
• Instagraminstagram.com/authorsabroad

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Authors Abroad & Caboodle Books