Blackstone Bounds onto Bookstore Shelves

Blackstone Audiobooks, the Ashland, Ore., publisher of unabridged audio programs formerly sold only in the library market, has announced the launch of a new retail line.

This month, Blackstone unveiled new cardboard retail packaging featuring more consumer-friendly graphics and blurbs. The first 24 titles to hit retail shelves are a mix of "the best of our backlist and new releases," according to Blackstone publicity director Paul Coughlin. Initial offerings include Cold Sassy Tree and Stranger in a Strange Land, as well as Bin Laden and Catch Me if You Can, a tie-in to the Steven Spielberg film due out this December. Among the future Blackstone retail releases in the works are Positively 4th Street and When Character Was King. Coughlin said that plans are to make available to the trade the "cream of the crop" of the company's 175-title annual output, approximately 60 titles (front- and backlist) per year.

Retail titles are currently available directly through Blackstone, as well as through Ingram. According to Coughlin, Blackstone is pursuing arrangements with other distributors and hopes to hire retail sales reps as the new line "ramps up." "We're really a hybrid as a publisher, having started in the mail-order business before moving into libraries and wholesale," Coughlin said. "That variety of experience and the existing relationships we have make us confident that we can work successfully with booksellers and other retail accounts."