Spring Reshuffle: Distribution Update

by Judith Rosen, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 5/18/2007

It happens every Spring: publishers change their distribution arrangements.

The former PGW, now owned by Perseus and in the midst of trying to reclaim its name, is among those vying for new clients. In addition to Key Porter, which announced earlier this week that it would expand its U.S. presence through a deal with PGW, other new clients include JGR Productions, the newly formed publishing company of sommelier Andrea Robinson (who hosts Pairings with Andrea on the Fine Living TV Network); Computer Step, a Warwickshire, U.K.-based computer book publisher; Whereabouts Press, a travel publisher based in Berkeley, Calif.; and Aslan Publishing in Fairfield, Conn., which has signed for distribution into the international market for, among other titles, Robert Kiyosaki's If You Want to Be Rich and Happy Don't Go to School.

Not to be outdone, National Book Network is adding five more clients in time for BEA: Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, Calif., which publishes the bible of car values and was formerly with PGW; Salina Bookshelf Inc., a Flagstaff-Ariz.-based dual language (English and Navajo) publisher of textbooks, children's picture books and reference titles; Hannover House Publisher, a full-service media and entertainment company in Fayetteville, Ark., which publishes fine literature and nonfiction; Tatra Press in Suffern, N.Y., which was previously with Midpoint and publishes literary fiction and general trade titles; and Miles Kelly, a children's publisher based in the village of Great Bardfield in Essex, U.K.

Distributed Art Publishers' roster of clients also continues to grow with the addition of Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, the prestigious art book press in Cologne, for which D.A.P. will be the exclusive North American distributor; J&L Books, which publishes photography and graphics-based gift books; Radius Books, headed by Darius Himes of Photo-Eye in Santa Fe, N.Mex.; and Hayward Gallery in London.