PW: Stark Books Due From AMP

Andrews McMeel Publishing will debut a new imprint this spring, to be headed by its former v-p of sales and marketing, Allan Stark. Stark Books will focus on sports, popular culture and gift books in a mix of hardcover, trade paperback and blank books.

Stark is a former newspaper reporter and one-time editor at AMP's affiliated company Universal Press Syndicate. He told PW that company executives believe that his editorial and marketing background will result in a unique list as the company looks to diversify its publishing program. Stark's lead hardcover title for the spring (being copublished with Woodford Publishing) will be The Payne Stewart Story, for which a 25,000-copy first printing is planned. Other Stark books to be released in the spring are I Believe, You Go Girl and A Course of Their Own. Four blank books and two journals are also in the works. Stark will publish about 20 books in the fall and eventually expects to do approximately 50 titles annually.