Terry Wybel, president of Continental Sales, Inc., is the first to acknowledge that his group is not your father’s sales group.CSI offers clients a national sales force made up of regional commission rep groups, including his own Wybel Marketing Group Inc., which services the Midwest, and each rep group member has a separate rosters of clients and a seat on the board: Faherty & Associates (West Coast), Melman-Moster Associates (New York, New England and the Mid-Atlantic), and Southern Territory Associates (Southeast and Southwest). Wybel created Continental a decade ago after 20 years as a commission rep. “In that period 75% of the independents went out of business,” says Wybel. “You didn’t have to be Warren Buffet to see that you were vulnerable as a regional rep.”
Ten-year-old CSI also stands out because it offers publishers a choice of backend operations through one of two distributors: Innovative Logistics or National Book Network. Wybel has worked with both since their founding in 2007 and 1986, respectively. “Innovative has benefitted tremendously since we teamed with CSI,” says president Bob Hughes. We have grown from 20 publishers to 51. Most of our publishers are from overseas and don’t have a North American presence. CSI and Innovative act as their representative.”
Continental is one of the few rep groups to see significant double-digit increases despite the current turmoil in the print book space. “We’re up dramatically across the board with Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and Amazon,” says Wybel. “Given what the book trade has been experiencing over the last 18 months, we find it amazing.” In part it’s the result of the art and architecture publishers that the company has signed since working with Innovative Logistics, which originally served as the distribution center for Watson-Guptill. Among them are Steidl, previously distributed by D.A.P., and h.f.ullmann, originally with Langenscheidt. Through NBN CSI represents presses like Verlagshaus Braun and New in Chess.
But the group isn’t limited to art or chess. CSI represents Hal Leonard and in January, it will introduce French children’s book publisher Auzou Éditions to the U.S. market, with fulfillment handled by Innovative Logistics. Like CSI the 50-year-old press largely operates under the radar. When it was founded, Auzou specialized in reference titles mainly for the door-to-door market. But all that changed five years ago, when Gauthier Auzou joined the company. In 2006, he launched a line of children’s books for ages 3 to 13, and last year the press was ranked as one of the eight fastest-growing publishing houses in France.
Although Auzou has tested the North American market by co-producing a few titles with Barnes & Noble, and selling some books direct to Costco and Chapters Indigo, 2012 will mark its North American debut. “Following this generally good experience and a kind of request from buyers, we thought it was time to take the step and to publish books under our name,” says Aurelia Hardy, head of the international rights department. Of the 100 children’s titles it publishes a year in France, it plans to translate and adapt 20 books to the American market for its first U.S. list in March. Hardy says that she plans to listen to CSI’s comments and advice very carefully in order to make sure Auzou’s books work here.
