Random, Penguin Solidify Conservative Offerings
by Steven Zeitchik -- Publishers Weekly, 4/28/2003
After years of watching Regnery and a small handful of houses cash in on right-leaning and left-baiting titles, the country's two largest publishers have announced their first entrees into the conservative publishing market.
The bigger announcement came from Penguin, which said it will release 15 new conservative-leaning titles per year in a yet-to-be-named imprint under Adrian Zackheim. Zackheim has been concentrating on business titles at Portfolio, but he also has published Newt Gingrich's bestseller and other treatises from Republican celebrities. The company calls the titles "books of political opinion and dissent with a conservative perspective." At the moment, there are no plans to hire an editor for the line. Penguin CEO David Shanks will temporarily don a new hat to play "an active part in the acquisition and marketing" of the titles.
Zackheim told PW he had wanted to establish Portfolio's business list before going ahead with a new line, but that the idea has been percolating and gaining steam for a while. "It's a category neglected by mainstream houses," said Zackheim, "and it's so hot that David [Shanks] and Susan [Petersen Kennedy] didn't want to wait any longer." Zackheim said the company will "not be going after anyone's formula," and that books will include pop journalism, memoir and possibly some academic titles like those done by Spence Publishing.
At Random House, Crown's Steve Ross has announced a new conservative line, coincidentally also for 15 titles. The division will be combining its own program with the recently incorporated list of Prima Forum, calling the imprint Crown Forum. The house kicked off the announcement with news of a new Ann Coulter book, Treason, that it will bring out in June. Crown published her last book, Slander.
Crown moved the Prima Forum titles to its New York offices earlier this year, following its decision to stop publishing new Prima Lifestyle titles out of its West Coast office (News, Mar. 3). Crown said it will hire an editor to oversee all the Forum titles.
