Perseus Books Group

"Avalon Publishing" redirects here. For the imprint acquired by Amazon, see Avalon Books.

Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in year 1996 by investor Frank Pearl.^[1] Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997.^[2]

Perseus Books Group

Parent company	Perseus LLC - Lagardère SCA
Founded	1996; 29 years ago (1996)
Founder	Frank Pearl
Country of origin	United States
Headquarters location	New York City, New York, U.S.
Key people	David Steinberger (President and CEO)
Imprints	12
Official website	www.perseusbooks.com

In 2005, Perseus acquired Client Distribution Services, the former distribution arm of Random House.^[3][4][5] It was named Publisher of the Year in 2007 by Publishers Weekly magazine for its role in taking on publishers formerly distributed by the Publishers Group West and acquiring Avalon Publishing Group.^[1] In January 2007, the Perseus Books Group purchased Avalon Publishing Group, the parent company of Carroll & Graf and Thunder's Mouth Press;^[6] the purchaser folded both imprints and stopped publishing books under those names in May 2007.^[7]

In 2014, following the bankruptcy auction of Good Books assets, Skyhorse Publishing sold the Mayo Clinic line to Perseus. It was then incorporated and released through Perseus' Da Capo Lifelong imprint.^[8]

After the death of Frank Pearl, Perseus was sold to Centre Lane Partners in 2015, a private equity firm.^[9] In April 2016, its name and publishing business was acquired by Hachette Book Group and its distribution business by Ingram Content Group.^[10]

In December 2018, Hachette Books became an imprint of the Perseus Books division. Concurrently, Da Capo Press and Da Capo's Lifelong became part of Hachette.^[11]

Imprints

The Perseus Books Group currently has the following imprints:^[12]

• Avalon Travel
  • Moon Publications
  • Rick Steves (formerly John Muir Publications)^[13]
• Basic Books
  • Basic Civitas
  • Seal Press^[14][15]
• DaCapo
• Hachette Books
• Running Press
• PublicAffairs
  • Nation Books

Former imprints

Before Avalon Publishing Group was integrated into the Perseus Books Group, it published on 14 imprint presses.^[16] In 2007, some of these imprints were integrated into the Perseus Books Group, while others folded or were sold to other companies. Perseus also sold one of their imprints in the restructuring process.

Avalon Publishing Group

• Axoplasm
• Black Square Editions
• Blue Moon Books
• Carroll & Graf Publishers — acquired in 1998,^[17] folded in 2007^[7]
• Four Walls Eight Windows — absorbed into Thunder's Mouth Press in 2004
• Marlowe & Company — absorbed into the DaCapo imprint^[7]
• No Exit Press
• Seal Press
• Shoemaker & Hoard Publishers — sold to Counterpoint LLC^[18]
• Thunder's Mouth Press — folded in 2007^[7]

Perseus Books Group

• Counterpoint Press — sold to Counterpoint LLC^[7]
• Vanguard Press started in 2007, closed in 2012^[19]
• Weinstein Books - closed in 2017^[20]
• Westview - sold to Taylor & Francis and absorbed into Routledge^[21]

Distribution

Perseus previously owned separate book distribution companies.^[12]

• Publishers Group West (PGW), founded in 1976, based in Berkeley, California.
• Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, founded in 1985, based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Perseus Distribution, founded in 1999, based in New York City.
• Legato Publishers Group, founded in 2013, based in Chicago.

References

1. Millot, Jim (December 3, 2007). "Publisher of the Year". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
2. "Perseus Books Buys Addison-Wesley Unit". The New York Times. December 22, 1997. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
3. Milliot |, Jim. "Executive Group to Acquire Random's Distribution Division". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
4. "Sale in Publishing Services". The New York Times. April 4, 2005. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
5. "CDS CEO Leaves After Perseus Acquires Company, Merges Units | Authorlink". Retrieved January 31, 2023.
6. Milliot, Jim (November 1, 2007). "Perseus to Buy Avalon; Eyes PGW Pubs". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
7. Milliot, Jim (May 10, 2007). "Perseus Folds Two Imprints, Sells Another". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on February 17, 2010.
8. Milliot, Jim. "Skyhorse Gets Good Books, Sells Mayo Titles to Perseus". Publishersweekly.com. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
9. Milliot, Jim (February 3, 2015). "New Investor for Perseus Books Group". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
10. Natasha Onwuemezi, "Perseus sale to Hachette Book Group completed", The Bookseller, 1 April 2016
11. "Hachette Book Group Reorganizes Lines, Announces About 25 Layoffs As DiPreta Departs". Publishers Lunch. November 13, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
12. "About Us". Perseus Books Group. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
13. "Avalon Publishing Acquires John Muir Publications". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
14. "Seal Press Moves Under Da Capo's Purview". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
15. "About Seal Press". Seal Press. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
16. "Publishers Look-up Service". Association of American Publishers. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
17. Farmanfarmaian, Roxane (December 7, 1998). "Avalon to Acquire Carroll & Graf". Publishers Weekly. 245 (49): 11.
18. Kinsella, Bridget. "Winton, Shoemaker & Co. Buys Counterpoint". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
19. "Perseus Phasing Out Vanguard, Making Shifts at Running Press". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
20. "Hachette Book Group Terminates Weinstein Imprint". Publishers Lunch. October 12, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
21. "Westview Press - Routledge". Routledge.com. Retrieved September 21, 2018.

External links

• Perseus Books Group