Bucking a fast-changing publishing landscape and an unreliable economy, Skyhorse Publishing is expanding its reach. Last year the Manhattan-based house showed up at BEA with one imprint; this year, it brings five: Skyhorse, Arcade, Sports Publishing, Allworth Press, and Sky Pony Press, this last a totally new enterprise dedicated to children's books.
The company's optimism has a solid basis: Skyhorse netted $11 million in sales last year and was named by PW in March as America's fastest-growing small publisher. "We've had growth in all segments of the business, even with the decreased size of Borders," says associate publisher Bill Wolfsthal, who has been with the company since its founding in 2006, after a stint as executive director of special markets at Harry Abrams. "We've done well with the bookstore chains. Barnes & Noble is a huge supporter of our program. We've seen growth from Amazon every year we've been in business."
Skyhorse's mission from the start was to publish books for niche markets that could be easily defined, and to keep titles in print for a long time; the house list is up to 600 titles, and almost all are still available, Wolfsthal says. Its first two books were The Gigantic Book of Fishing Stories, and Abby Lee's Diary of a Sex Fiend. "The fishing book was for fishermen. Sex Fiend, which started as a blog about a woman's sex life, is for men and women interested in the sex lives of others. All of our bestsellers follow this pattern. Mini Farming is for people who want to raise their own food. Shooter's Bible is for people who buy and collect guns. The Baseball Maniac's Almanac is for baseball fans."
Wolfstahl says Skyhorse is happy with the kind of midlist books that other publishers aren't interested in anymore, books that sell 10,000 or 15,000 copies a year. "Not enough for Simon & Schuster," he says.
The company anticipates continued robust growth with the new imprints. Arcade, which was purchased out of bankruptcy last summer, brought with it the rights to 600 titles. The Arcade spring list has 40 books, either new or revised backlist; the fall/winter catalogue will have 70 new titles. Lead titles at BEA include Five Works by Octavio Paz, Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Tannenbaume by John Jacobsen, and Perfume by Jean-Claude Ellena. A recent arrangement with Jeanette Seaver, who founded Arcade with her late husband, Dick, brings her in as consulting editor.
Sports Publishing was also bought out of bankruptcy, and included the rights to 700 titles, all regional sports books. The spring list has 40 new or updated and revised titles, including books on the Green Bay Packers, the New York Yankees, and the Oklahoma Sooners. Allworth, which specializes in business books for artists of all kinds, was a money-making company when owner Tad Crawford agreed to a sale. Crawford will join Skyhorse as publisher of the Allworth imprint and oversee an expanded number of titles, 40 or 50, up from 20. Featured on the fall list are Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits and How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer.
Sky Pony Press is starting with 15 new titles, as well as books previously published by Skyhorse and Arcade. Featured on the fall list are The Little Pea, about a tiny garden pea on a mission to embrace the diversity of the world, and a princess fantasy called The Balloon Tree. Also on the fall list is a reissue of Newbery Medal–winning author Maia Wojciechowska's A Kingdom in a Horse, which has been out of print.
Founded by Tony Lyons from the Lyons Press family, Skyhorse took its name from one of the first editors, Brando Skyhorse. "We couldn't use Tony's name, since it was already in use, and Wolfstahl is almost unpronounceable to everyone," Wolfsthal says. "Brando's name was great. It reflected our optimism and the fact that we do sports books, horse books, aviation books." Brando Skyhorse, who is no longer with the company, recently won the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Prize for a distinguished first book of fiction with The Madonnas of Echo Park, a collection of interlinked stories about the lives of Mexican-Americans in a neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The company's sales to the book trade are handled by W.W. Norton. "We couldn't have grown the way we have without their advice, support, and hard work," Wolfsthal says. To pick up the catalogues from Skyhorse and its imprints, pay a visit to the Norton booth (3424, 3425, 3524).
