As part of its strategy to expand in the academic, professional and reference markets, Rowman & Littlefield will consolidate a number of its imprints under its flagship Rowman & Littlefield imprint. The move follows a 2012 when sales rose 6%, to $50 million, at R&L while sales at its sister company NBN/NBNi declined slightly to $81 million.
R&L/NBN president Jed Lyons said R&L will continue to reprint titles under their existing imprint names, but will release new titles under the R&L banner. Imprints that will be folded into R&L for new titles include Scarecrow Press, Altamire Press and Jason Aronson. Lyons believes it would be too confusing to reprint existing titles under a new name. Lexington Books will remain a separate imprint and will continue to focus on academic monographs. Sundance-Newbridge will also remain separate and publish educational materials for grades K-8, while Taylor Trade will also remain separate. Bernan will remain a separate entity to both publish and distribute government and intergovernmental publications.
R&L will publish a total of 1,150 titles in 2013 and over the next five years Lyons expects to double the size of R&L, a process began last year when the company opened a London office under the direction of Oliver Gadsby, former CEO of Continuum. In December, Sarah Campbell joined the company as editorial director overseeing a philosophy lists. Editors are expected to be appointed soon in political science & international relations, and in cultural studies. “Opening a London office and launching a five year strategic plan to double the size of the company seemed like the right time to scale back on the number of imprints we publish under and to focus our efforts on branding the Rowman & Littlefield name first and foremost,” Lyons said about the various initiatives.
As for NBN, Lyons said he was satisfied with its performance given that the company had terminated contracts with more than half of its clients in 2011. Digital sales doubled to just over $3 million at NBN’s clients. Digital sales at R&L also doubled, to $2.7 million.
