Chronicle Books will introduce a new group of in-house trade reps at BookExpo America, just in time to market the lists of two new publishing houses that Chronicle will distribute beginning in the fall--Handprint Books and Ragged Bears. According to Chronicle national trade sales manager Anna Erickson, "Establishing an in-house rep group is something Chronicle has been contemplating for some time, but which was put on hold while we waited for the outcome of the Chronicle Publishing sale. We have reached a size [300 new titles per year] where we want to do more than just sell; we want to market and merchandise our books so we are selling a full-service package."
The new trade reps will likely be introduced at a BEA lunch to launch Chronicle's lead fall title, The Beatles Anthology (Hot Deals, Feb. 14). The company will work with its current commission reps through the spring while it hires 8-10 house reps. The new sales group will report to Mary Kelly, director of trade sales, and to Erickson. Chronicle already works with house reps for Northern and Southern California and has three in-house sales staff working with chain and warehouse accounts as well as with Internet booksellers. The company expects to have a sales staff of 16 by BEA.
Chronicle's two new distribution clients are both children's publishers; in each case, fall 2000 will be the house's first list. Handprint, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the new venture for Christopher Franceschelli, formerly president and publisher of Dutton Children's Books; his first list contains seven titles. The U.K.'s Ragged Bears has until now been exclusively a distributor of children's books; the fall list of 12 books and three merchandise items is its first venture into publishing.
