Publishing industry veterans Buz Teacher, Janet Bukovinsky Teacher, and John Whalen have teamed up to launch Burgess Lea Press, a cookbooks and food-related publisher that will explore an “innovative philanthropic model.”
The New Hope, Pa.-based press, which will release five titles this year, will donate 100% of its after-tax profits to culinary education, hunger relief, farmland preservation and other food-related issues.
“A career in book publishing has been a gift to me, and I’m grateful,” said Teacher, who cofounded Running Press in 1972 with his brother Larry, who passed away last spring. After leaving Running Press, which was acquired by Perseus Books Group in 2002, Teacher wanted to start a new venture, and ultimately landed on cookbooks because his wife and business partner, Bukovinsky Teacher, has had a long career in food journalism. She started the cookbook program at Running Press, where she edited the James Beard award-winning cookbook ¡Ceviche!.
Teacher is CEO of the new press, Bukovinsky Teacher will act as publisher, and Cider Mill Press publisher John Whalen is Burgess Lea’s president.
“We wanted to do this together,” said Teacher. “Our motivation was making wonderful books and supporting groups that work for better food for all. It’s a similar model to Newman’s Own. We can’t legally be a 501 (c)3 but we use our after-tax profits to support worthwhile organizations.”
Through Burgess Lea's model, proceeds flow to organizations jointly selected by the author and publisher. Charitable groups chosen thus far include Edible Schoolyard Project and Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture.
The press, named after an 18th-century Quaker farm in Bucks County, Pa., will also operate with an unconventional author compensation model—contributors will have the choice of a standard royalty arrangement, or a 50/50 partnership in the press. “We’ve made our authors into our partners, offering them a socially responsible way to share in the creation of an artful, high-quality cookbook while donating our share of the profits to beneficiaries that we all find meaningful,” explained Bukovinsky Teacher.
The new venture will kick off with Front of the House: Restaurant Manners, Misbehaviors & Secrets by Jeff Benjamin with Greg Jones, on March 31. Agricola Cookbook, by Josh Thomsen with Kate Winslow and Steven Tomlinson, and Mi Comida Latina, by Marcella Kriebel, both go on sale in April. And in October, the publisher will release Field & Feast: Sublime Food from a Brave New Farm by Dean Carlson with Ian Knauer and Andrew Wood, and Heartland: Farm-Forward Food from the Great Midwest by Lenny Russo. The publisher will be distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Teacher said that, where appropriate, Burgess Lea will release titles as an e-book. "But we don’t think there is much of [an e-book] market for our type of book,” he added. “Consumers will really want to hold these books.”
Going forward, Burgess Lea plans to release six titles annually, taking on projects that, according to Teacher, “focus on seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients.”
