RBmedia will publish their business audiobooks under the new brand, Ascent Audio. The line is the successor to their Gildan Media brand (which they acquired in 2017). All of their business titles produced in partnership with other publishers will be issued under the Ascent Audio name, with the recently acquired McGraw Hill Professional business titles publishing under a joint McGraw Hill-Ascent brand.
New Imprints
Partnerships: Welbeck Expands into Australia with Booktopia
Welbeck Publishing Group has created a standalone subsidiary to publish titles directly into the Australia/New Zealand market, in partnership with online retailer Booktopia, which has a 25 percent stake in the new Sydney-based business in exchange for a $3 million (AU) investment. Booktopia will distribute Welbeck’s 4,500 title backlist in ANZ and will form an ANZ publishing program that aims to publish 50 titles per year in fiction, narrative nonfiction, children’s, and illustrated/gift books. Welbeck’s Mark Smith will relocate to Australia for a few months in early 2022 to help set up the business and recruit staff. Marcus Leaver will […]
Imprints
Author Rebekah Borucki and author, book coach and former editor Kristen McGuiness have announced their new company Row House Books. Launching in January 2022, they plan six titles in the first year, 12 in year two, and 20 in year three, distributed by Simon & Schuster. They promise a “not only equitable but reparative processes around who gets published and how” with “a mission to support diverse communities” that includes the same terms for all of their authors: A $40,000 advance against a 40 percent profit share. Their financing has come “solely through small-money donations and investments from their online […]
Imprints
Gallery Books Group is launching 13A, a new imprint “dedicated to publishing renowned, relevant, Black voices in culture and politics.” Named for the amendment that abolished slavery, the imprint will launches in July with a revised edition of Patti LaBelle’s cookbook, LABELLE CUISINE, with original titles to follow in 2022. Charles M. Suitt will serve as publisher. Suitt was a co-founder Karen Hunter Publishing, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Initiatives
Wattpad has paired with AST in Russia for a co-branded AST Wattpad line publishing some of the site’s top Russian-language stories. AST will also publish Wattpad Books titles in Russian, and will translate some popular Wattpad stories into Russian.
Imprints: Quarto and Bonnier UK’s New Lines
As previewed previously, Quarto will launch a new children’s imprint, Happy Yak, led by associate publisher Rhiannon Findlay. First titles will debut this summer, and the list will include board books, picture books, and more for children up to seven. The Bonnier Books UK music imprint led by Pete Selby will be called Nine Eight Books and launches in November with THE A-Z OF QUEEN by music journalist and author Mark Blake. Selby says in the announcement, “Our aim is to publish books which will not only appeal to music afficionado’s [sic] and fans but also curious readers who simply love […]