Canongate Books has paired with Simon Tofield, the creative talent behind Simon's Cat, for world rights in two new books, as yet untitled, which will appear in hardback in October 2011 and October 2012.

The original book in the series, which grew out of the interest in Simon Tofield's YouTube animations (80 million hits and counting), has sold more than 125,000 copies in the U.K. and hit the Sunday Times' Top 10. It has also been a huge international hit, with Canongate selling rights in 25 territories to date and total book sales topping 400,000 copies. The second book "Simon's Cat: Beyond The Fence" was published Oct. 7. Beyond the Fence will be launched with an animation and a number of merchandising deals, including Simon's Cat diaries, calendars and character mugs. Canongate is also making the book available for the first time on PlayStation Portable through the PlayStation Digital comics service.