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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Deseret Book expanding in traditional and nontraditional fields
Publishers Weekly pg 25 3Jan00 B3
By Roxane Farmanfarmaian
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Deseret Book's merger last year with former rival
Bookcraft finally caught the attention of Publisher's Weekly, the
largest trade magazine for the book publishing industry in the U.S. PW,
as it is known, says that Deseret Book is trying to meet the challenge
of a growing U.S. market for "wisdom-based literature," and has expanded
following the merger, instead of contracting like happens in most
mergers.
Following the merger, Deseret Book announced a reorganization of its
imprints, the Deseret Book imprint (i.e. name on the spine of the book)
will publish LDS doctrine, history and biography. Bookcraft will publish
the company's inspirational, self-help, family, children's and fiction
titles. As before, the 18-year-old Shadow Mountain imprint will be aimed
at the national market, producing crossover titles, "values-based"
literature in such genres as fiction, fantasy, history/biography,
cooking and children's that address the rising demand for spiritual and
inspirational products. The company's new imprint, Eagle Gate, will
carry library editions, collections, niche market publications, art
books and gift items like bookmarks and pictures.
What was not clear last summer is that Deseret Book's output will
actually increase this year over the combined output from both companies
last year. The group of imprints will total some 300 new titles this
year, including its audio and electronic products. The combined backlist
of the two companies was about 1,600 titles before the merger.
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