Octopus Books USA Launches

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 3/4/2008 1:02:00 PM

Octopus Books, the Hachette-owned European publisher of illustrated books which had previously sold co-editions of its titles to North American publishers, has formed its own North American group. Octopus Books USA will begin publishing in North America in January 2009. 

Octopus had been working with Sterling Publishing to sell and distribute a significant number of its books here, but it will stop selling new co-editions to the U.S. and Canada and now be able to publish worldwide. Titles previously distributed by Sterling will transfer to Octopus Books USA starting in January 2009.

Jonathan Stolper, current v-p of client services at Hachette Book Group USA and former v-p of sales and marketing at Abrams, will become v-p associate publisher of Octopus Books USA. He will report to Andrew Welham, deputy CEO of Octopus in London, and will be based at Hachette Book Group USA offices in New York. HBG will handle all sales and distribution for the list in the USA with Canadian Manda handling sales in Canada.

Stolper said combining Octopus Publishing Group’s list with Hachette Book Group USA’s operation will help the company “reach untapped channels of distribution and... market and publicize the Octopus imprints in new and different ways.” Alison Goff, CEO of Octopus Publishing Group, said “This exciting move will allow Octopus to become a truly global publisher and gives us an even stronger presence in the world’s largest book market. We will benefit from locally based U.S. input into our publishing plans and we’re very much looking forward to working with our colleagues at our sister company Hachette Book Group USA.”