Blue Mountain Arts Forms Separate Book Division

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 8/5/2008 8:26:00 AM

Blue Mountain Arts, publisher of cards, books, calendars and gift items, has formed a dedicated book division that will focus solely on publishing, marketing and selling a line of books and calendars. Frank Masek, who has more than 15 years of publishing experience, most recently at Abrams, will head up sales for the division, while Patti Wayant, who has been editorial manager at Blue Mountain for nearly 25 years, will run editorial and art. 

Masek said that in the past Blue Mountain published books sporadically. But successes over the years—most notably To My Daughter With Love, an inspirational tome by Susan Polis Schutz that sold more than 1.5 million copies—spurred the company to build an official, separate publishing program. “It’s time to start building upon that tradition and go forward with a publishing program that publishes books in a consistent manner,” said Masek. Blue Mountain Books will release six to eight titles in spring 2009, 10 to 15 titles in fall 2009, and 24 to 36 titles in 2010.

Blue Mountain has its own warehouse and distribution, but, said Masek, “We’re looking forward to bringing on some commissioned rep groups and increase independent store distribution, in addition to bringing on a new Canadian wholesale distributor.” In 2009, Blue Mountain will try to expand internationally and will attend the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The books will continue along the lines of the books Blue Mountain has previously published: family, relationships, personal growth, books for teens/tweens and poetry gift books.