Sourcebooks has announced that it has entered into a joint venture partnership with Jeffrey Mason, the creator of the Hear Your Story series of guided storytelling journals, to launch the Hear Your Story imprint, the Chicagoland publisher’s 18th imprint to date. The agreement includes world translation and audio rights as well as print.
Mason launched the Hear Your Story series in 2018 in response to his father’s struggles with Alzheimer’s. His initial self-published books, Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story and Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story, have since been expanded into a series of more than 25 titles translated into three languages. Hear Your Story volumes have sold more than two million copies worldwide, per Sourcebooks, both Mom and Dad have ranked among Amazon’s 100 bestselling books since April.
"I am so honored to join Sourcebooks in launching the Hear Your Story imprint," said Mason, in a release. "What started as a personal goal to preserve my family's memories has grown beyond my wildest expectations. Seeing how our guided journals have helped countless families strengthen connections and discover new understandings with each other has been profoundly humbling."
Sourcebooks senior editor for nonfiction Ariel Curry will oversee the imprint, which will debut with a collection of four guided journals: Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story; Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story; Grandmother, I Want to Hear Your Story; and Grandfather, I Want to Hear Your Story. The four volumes will be available at Barnes & Noble by Black Friday (November 29). The second phase of the rollout of the imprint will begin in 2025, with revised editions tailored to Mother’s Day scheduled for release on March 25. Revised editions tailored to Father’s Day are scheduled for release on April 29. Each journal in the series will offer more than 200 curated prompts designed to inspire family members to reminisce and share their favorite memories and life lessons with one another.
Sourcebooks noted that the company, founded in 1987 by Dominique Raccah, now stands at “a pivotal moment in the expansion of its nonfiction programs” with the launch of the Hear Your Story imprint following its 2023 acquisition of Callisto Publishing. Sourcebooks’s strategy of beefing up its nonfiction offerings is proving successful: sales of adult nonfiction books have increased almost 20% since last year.
