BookMasters Building Strengths In Niches

Six months after launching BookMasters Distribution Services, the company has signed on 10 clients, said Rich Freese, the former PGW president who was recruited by BookMasters Inc.'s president, Dave Wurster, to start a distribution arm for the manufacturing and digital services company. Freese said BMDS will have approximately 70 titles to show buyers for the fall season and estimated that billings in 2010 could be about $10 million. In addition to Imagine Publishing, the new house started by former Sterling CEO Charles Nurnberg who signed on with BMDS in the fall, clients include Time Capsule Press, Odyssey Books and Early Light Books as well as its first British house, Ammonite Press, which publishes camera guides and pop culture titles.

BMDS's business plan has taken a slight twist since launch; the company is working to develop a core competency in the children's publishing market. “We're developing marketing and sales divisions specializing in specific market and product channels,” Freese said. Children's will be a prime area, but, Freese added, “We are open to anything that makes sense.” BMDS, for example, just signed an agreement to handle direct-to-customer fulfillment for Trudy Corp. for sales made through the Trudy site. The distributor is also planning to use the access its parent company has to some warehouse clubs and sporting goods outlets to build a division that can sell into those nontraditional accounts, Freese said. Already on the BMDS team are Amanda Dowdy, director of publisher services; Deb Keets, v-p of business development; and Raul Torrez, account services rep. In addition, Freese has contracted with Elaine Panagides to work with national accounts and to build BMDS's special markets team. While BMDS is headquartered in Ashland, Ohio, the company will have offices in San Francisco and New York.

As part of its effort to grow in the children's field, Freese was at this year's Bologna Book Fair. The company also had an expanded presence at the recent London Book Fair and will have four booths at BEA as part of BookMasters' overall exhibit of 16 booths. “We tripled our investment in London and BEA,” Freese said.

Although Freese thought the recession would make publishers hesitant to switch distributors since a change costs money, a “very productive” LBF has changed his mind. He expects to sign a few more deals at BEA, something that could put the launch of BMDS ahead of plan.