Despite the economy, the Cadence Group in Cohoes, N.Y., which offers distribution as well as a la carte marketing, sales, and packaging services to small and start-up publishers, has doubled its business since last summer. It’s given the group a strong start as it marks its fifth year in business. “Our goal is to offer clients the guidance and services that will maximize their potential and minimize their costs,” says Amy Collins, who founded Cadence in 2006 and co-owns it with Bethany Brown.
Collins attributes the company’s growth to both her and Brown’s attention to marketplace trends. “Right from the beginning,” says Collins, “we immediately tried to keep our eyes open for what’s next.” Like many distributors that has recently meant developing an aggressive e-book marketing program. “We try to get our clients higher browesability,” says Collins, who with Brown also makes sure that Cadence’s customers e-books are well designed and get into the hands of e-book reviewers. Initially, the e-book program was geared to fiction lists. But now, says Brown, it’s branching out into business and other nonfiction categories. In addition, Brown and Collins help their clients with e-book and p-book and other publishing questions during Free Advice Friday sessions.
With the addition of the Primary Research Group in New York City this month, Whitehurst & Clark Book Fulfillment in Flemington, N.J., has 75 active clients. “It’s one of those targets I always had on my wall,” says Whitehurst president Brad Searles, who joined the company 25 years ago in 1986. That’s a lot of clients, he acknowledges, noting that Whitehurst, which has a 100,000 sq. ft. facility, serves both publishers and associations and handles close to 800 orders a day. Many Whitehurst clients have been with the company for ten or more years, and one, Neal-Schuman Publishers in New York City, has been with it for more than three decades.
