Would you like a book with that?

Is McDonald’s set to become the world’s biggest children’s book publisher?

In another bid to convince parents that Macca’s is nutritious and delicious, they have self-published a series of picture books for children that will temporarily  take the place of toys in happy meals.

There’s The Goat Who Ate Everything, which follows the trials and tribulation of a goat who can’t keep his diet in check, and Deana’s Big Dream, the story of a teeny-tiny dinosaur who finally grows tall when she starts eating well.

So far, so good – just the marketing department doing its thing. The bit that should make your heart sink is the following:

Starting November 1, the infamously recession-resistant chain will show the beleaguered book biz how it’s done by distributing an estimated 20 million kids’ books in a mere two weeks. For comparison’s sake, all of 2012’s top ten children’s fiction bestsellers didn’t top 13 million.

So, all you need is a burger and a distribution system, and the books sell themselves! Silly publishers, we were doing it all wrong.

Editors thought in the future they’d all either be working for Amazon or not working at all … who knows, maybe we’ll wind up under the golden arches.