The 'Other' Interlink Launches Two Imprints

Interlink Publishing Group is alive, well and expanding, said publicity director Moira Megargee. The highly publicized financial problems of the magazine and book distributor Source Interlink has caused confusion among some accounts of the Northampton, Mass.-based publisher, but while Source Interlink is reorganizing, Interlink Publishing—with no ties at all to the wholesaler—is adding two new imprints: Cadogan Guides USA and Clockroot Books. “We feel that expansion into areas that complement our publishing program is the way to build on our past success and fulfill our mission,” said Interlink founder and publisher Michel Moushabeck, by way of explaining the decision to add Cadogan. The series appeals to travelers who want more detailed information on culture and history than many guidebooks offer.

Under Interlink's arrangement with New Holland Publishers in the U.K., Globe Pequot Press will no longer distribute Cadogan in the U.S. Starting this spring, Interlink began relaunching the series as a separate imprint. In addition to updating the information in each guide, Interlink is redesigning the covers and adding more color photography and new full-color maps. It will publish nine updated and redesigned guides this year and between five and eight Cadogan books a season going forward. According to Megargee, the press will maintain 80 of the strongest Cadogan backlist core country and regional titles, and it will continue to add new destinations.

The press's other new imprint, Clockroot, is intended to complement its long-established fiction line, which includes books like Rafik Schami's recently released The Dark Side of Love, translated by Anthea Bell, which was named a PW favorite summer read. Interlink editorial director Pamela Thompson, author of Every Past Thing (Unbridled), said that she and the imprint's other director, Hilary Plum, wanted to make a place for fresh fiction from around the world. Interlink will publish approximately six books a year under Clockroot, starting this fall with two short novels by the late Greek writer Margarita Karapanou, Kassandra and the Wolf and Rien Ne Va Plus. Also on the initial list are the first collection of stories by Greek author Ersi Sotiropoulos to appear in English, Landscape with Dog, and a novel by Pakistani writer Uzma Aslam Khan, The Geometry of God.

With the addition of the new imprints, Moushabeck anticipates that Interlink's sales will continue to be dominated by travel, which accounts for 35% of revenue, followed closely by current affairs/history/politics with 30%. Cookbooks make up 20%, with the remaining 15% translated fiction.