Hearst Magazines has reached an agreement with Sterling Publishing that grants Sterling the rights to become the publisher of Hearst Books. Under the long-term licensing agreement, Sterling will work with Hearst to create and publish books with Hearst Magazines' trademarks and will assume the worldwide publishing rights to existing Hearst Books titles.
Under the direction of Jacqueline Deval, Hearst Books published 33 titles in 2001 and had record revenues. Despite Hearst's strong year, Deval said that Sterling was in a better position to accelerate the growth of the line. "They really understand the illustrated book business," Deval said, noting that in addition to reaching the trade market, Sterling's penetration into special sales areas should bring incremental revenue. Two former Hearst Books editors, Elizabeth Rice and Maryanne Bannon, are moving to Sterling to work on the line, and Deval will remain at Hearst where she will work with Sterling on the Hearst titles in addition to directing custom book projects. Rice and Bannon will report to Steve Magnuson, v-p of editorial at Sterling.
Sterling has already taken over distribution of Hearst's existing books which had been distributed by Client Distribution Services. Thirty-five Hearst titles are set to be released this year with 40 planned for 2003.
Among the magazines owned by Hearst are Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Town & Country. Books that did well last year include The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, Country Living's Country Chic and Redbook's Married Lust.
