Veteran literary agent and publisher Lori Perkins is teaming with former Alyson Books publisher Donald Weise to launch Riverdale Avenue Books, a multi-imprint e-book and audiobook publisher set to launch December 17 with two nonfiction titles.
The new house will begin with five imprints focused on separate genres. The imprints are Riverdale Ave Books/Magnus Books, a joint venture specializing in LGBT titles created by Weise that will release 24 titles a year; RAB Pop, focused on pop culture, will release a title a month; RAB HSF will publish horror, science fiction and fantasy; RAB Truth is an erotic memoir line; and RAB Desire will publish erotica and romance.
Perkins, a literary agent as well as former editorial director of Ravenous Books, said the company will have a foreign rights department and a Los Angeles based film agent and will work with Audio Realms to produce simultaneous audio books on most of its titles.
The new e-book publishing venture will launch with The Secret Life of E.L. James: An Authorized Biography by Marc Shapiro, published via its Riverdale Pop line; and Deeply Superficial: Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward and Me by Michael Menzies published by RAB/Magnus Books.
Perkins said Magnus Books will also publish an unauthorized biography of Gore Vidal focused on his love life and a gay version of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Perkins also said the pop culture line has already sold foreign rights to the E.L. James biography and that the line will publish celebrity biographies of actress Katie Holmes and pop superstar Justin Bieber. Perkins is also the editor of Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, an anthology of essays that examine E.L. James’ erotic bestseller.
The new e-book publisher’s offices are at 5676 Riverdale Avenue in New York City in the former offices of science-fiction e-book publisher Baen Books. RAB will also be active in creating events around its list and hosts Between the Covers, a free monthly reading series in the East Village held at the Happy Endings Lounge at 302 Broome Street. The series is held the first Friday of every month.
Perkins said, “RAB will give readers the same immediate gratification that they have come to expect from all forms of media and entertainment. Each imprint represents a genre that we believe is consumable, and will keep our readers coming back for more. Simply put, we will give readers the books they crave.”
