Wise Wolf Books is the new publishing imprint under the ever-growing Wolfpack Publishing umbrella, focusing on Teen and Young Adult audiences. Its Las Vegas–based parent company, WolfPack, was established in 2013 to bring both established and new authors to the market. Wise Wolf Books aims to publish YA books from writers of all genders, ethnicities, races, and abilities that young readers will love while also staying true to its unique business model. Now, more than ever, young readers want to simultaneously be transported from their lives and recognize themselves in the characters they read about.
PW spoke with the president and publisher at Wise Wolf Books to learn more about what makes the imprint stand out from the rest, and the upcoming titles readers can look forward to.
Wise Wolf carries a unique and targeted marketing program that transforms its books into bestsellers. “We are as much an internet marketing company as we are a publishing company,” says Mike Bray, president and CEO. “We have a marketing team that runs ads on Amazon and Facebook and cultivates various email lists of up to 45,000 readers. We’ve been focused on marketing to consumers since day one, whereas many other traditional publishers are trying to learn the business-to-consumer model now.”
The rise in opportunities created by online bookstores and their limitless, virtual bookshelves have not only fueled the growth of e-books but have also eroded much of the preexisting differences between frontlist and backlist books. This creates ample streams of connectivity for the Wise Wolf books business model to take advantage of.
Series are also an important part of the Wise Wolf/Wolfpack Publishing business model. When any author or agent approaches the publisher, the first thing it assesses is how many titles the author is bringing to the table. “We invest in an author, not just a single book,” Bray says.
The projects and authors Wise Wolf has selected so far all fit into its vision of transporting readers from their everyday lives. The projects are all vetted by the Wise Wolf team and move forward only when it sees real potential in the work and the author, both
in their current projects and in their future careers. Wise Wolf Books invests in authors, not just their current work, opening doors
for literary creative opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.
Beyond its proven marketing strategies, what makes Wise Wolf unique is its team. Publisher Rachel Del Grosso describes the company as “small but mighty,” and says that she is “consistently amazed with how well they work together. From the moment a manuscript is submitted for consideration to the days and months after its release, every single person on the team has touched it. We’ve all read it and loved it, and we’ve all had a hand in the editing, cover design, formatting, and marketing. Every book to be released under the Wise Wolf imprint is truly a team effort.”
The press distributes its paperbacks through Ingram and Amazon’s POD services, which has been a cost-effective solution, allowing the company to price titles competitively and still provide a better return to the author than would be had with a traditional publishing agreement.
Just three months into its inaugural year, Wise Wolf Books has successfully signed five author agreements and 16 new projects to its growing list. In addition to the imprint’s first release, Calculated by Nova McBee (February 2021), a YA action-adventure novel, it will soon publish the second in the Calculated series: Simulated (May 2021), as well as Runaway Train by Lee Matthew Goldberg (April 2021) and Off Trail by Rick Polito (June 2021).
Also scheduled for release in mid-to-late 2021 is a three-book coming-of-age series by Cara Thurlbourn and a four-book contemporary romance series by Chelsea Bobulski.
