Weatherhill Selling Assets

by Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 8/30/2004

Shambhala Publications in Boston, Mass., has agreed in principle to purchase the publishing assets of Weatherhill, the publishing and distribution company that specialized in books on art, the martial arts and culture. The Trumble, Conn.–based Weatherhill has a backlist of 150 titles and is perhaps best known for the classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki.

According to Shambhala president Peter Turner, the press will retain the Weatherhill name as a division of Shambhala. "The aim," he told PW, "is to revitalize the publishing program. There are some wonderful things on the backlist. Martial arts is an area we'd love to expand, as well as art books that will sell." Shambhala will publish half the number of titles that Weatherhill did, about eight books a year. Turner anticipates finalizing the agreement in mid-September.

The purchase is just one more piece in a liquidation process begun earlier this summer, when Weatherhill's parent company, Tankosha Publishing Co. Ltd., in Kyoto, Japan, decided to get out of the fulfillment business. As a result, Weatherhill closed its New Haven, Conn., warehouse in late July and stopped filling new orders for all 30 clients, including those affiliated with Continental Sales, its biggest fulfillment client. Its fulfillment clients have all left, though Weatherhill is accepting returns through the end of August.

COO Martin Berke cited a combination of factors for the decision to close. Among them are returns as high as 50% and increased rent. Berke estimates that the liquidation will generate well over $1 million to pay creditors in a process that will be concluded at the end of October.