Active Interest Media, the Des Moines, Iowa–based enthusiast media company, has acquired Newtown, Conn.–based The Taunton Press, the publisher of magazines, books, and a range of digital products in the woodworking, home building and renovation, building science, gardening, and sewing categories. The purchase, AIM said, doubles its reach across the gardening, woodworking, and homebuilding categories.
In a letter to the Taunton community, Andrea Roman, Taunton chair and daughter of founders Paul and Jan Roman, said that while Taunton has moved into a variety of new areas, “new resources and the next generation of talent are needed for Taunton to keep moving forward. That’s why we’ve chosen to sell The Taunton Press to Active Interest Media.” Roman added that with the expertise of the Taunton employees that are moving to AIM “combined with AIM’s leadership, scale, and resources promises a strong future for what Taunton has created.” Not all Taunton employees are moving to AIM.
The purchase includes Taunton’s roughly 600-title backlist, and Taunton said that it has published about 1,600 titles over the years that have sold more than 30 million copies. AIM has published books in the past, but currently doesn’t have an active publishing program, and a spokesperson said AIM is evaluating how Taunton’s book program can best fit with AIM’s properties.
Among Taunton employees joining AIM are Erica Moynihan, who has been named senior v-p of marketing, and Rob Yagid, who has been named senior v-p, content for the AIM Home Group. One of AIM’s magazines is Writer’s Digest, which it acquired in 2019 following the bankruptcy of former Writer’s Digest parent F+W Media.
