Harcourt to Distribute Full Cast Audio

by Shannon Maughan, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 1/17/2007

Harcourt Children's Books will become the distributor for Full Cast Audio's line of children's audiobooks beginning April 1.

The new arrangement marks an expansion of Harcourt's relationship with Full Cast's president and founder, Bruce Coville, a children's author with several books on the Harcourt list. Coville first established himself as an audiobook producer in the mid 1990s while developing full-cast unabridged recordings of such fantasy works as Redwall by Brian Jacques and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman under the Words Take Wing imprint of audio publisher Listening Library. Following Listening Library's acquisition by Random House in 1999, Coville launched Syracuse, N.Y.-based Full Cast Audio to continue recording theatrically-inspired family listening titles.

For the past several years, Full Cast Audio has handled its own distribution and focused on the school and library market. Among the 40-plus titles on its backlist are The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger and The Moffats by Eleanor Estes. Forthcoming releases include The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. Working with Harcourt will substantially broaden Full Cast's reach, affording the audio house new penetration into the book trade and other sales channels.