Baker & Taylor has announced the first four publishers to sign up with Global Publishers Services (GPS), a new business unit created in August that offers worldwide sales and marketing services to independent publishers.

Beginning January 2, GPS will begin distributing titles from Sourcebooks, Glitterati Inc., Sellers Publishing, and Arcadia Publishing/The History Press. GPS offers sales and marketing services to all major overseas markets for both print and digital books and is headed by Chitra Bopardikar.

Building on B&T’s global logistical and IT infrastructure, GPS will allow publishers to reach multiple sales channels, including traditional retail, online retailers, schools, libraries and consumers through e‐commerce platforms, and promises to deliver rapid speed to market.

“As we considered potential partners for upgrading our global sales and distribution capabilities, it was clear that the combination of Baker & Taylor’s world-class supply chain solutions and the expertise of the GPS international sales force would allow us to rapidly expand our global reach and better connect our authors with readers from all over the world,” said Dominique Raccah, CEO and Publisher of Sourcebooks.

Bopardikar expects to add more clients soon, but emphasized that she views GPS as offering a boutique service that will tailor its services to its publishers.