Arcadia Buys The History Press
Arcadia Publishing has acquired the History Press Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the History Press Ltd., based in the U.K. The purchase unites the two largest publishers of books based on local or regional content, creating a publisher with 12,000 backlist titles. The editorial operations of Arcadia and History Press will remain separate.
Wattpad Acquires Red Room
The online writing and reading community Wattpad has acquired the Red Room, an online community originally described as a “Facebook for authors.” The Red Room site has been subsumed into Wattpad and went offline last week.
PRH Backing California Bookstore Day
The second California Bookstore Day, set for May 2, 2015, has received a $15,000 grant from Penguin Random House. This year 93 independent bookstores participated.
Bressler Joining Plume
Rachel Bressler has been hired as editorial director at Penguin Random House’s paperback imprint, Plume. Bressler is replacing Phil Budnick, recently named director of field and wholesaler sales at Penguin’s adult hardcover division. Most recently, Bressler was director of corporate communications and publisher relations at the Park Literary Group. Before Park Literary, she was associate publisher at HarperCollins’s Ecco imprint.
McGrath Moves Up at Riverhead
Sarah McGrath, currently executive editor at Riverhead, has been promoted to editor-in-chief of the Penguin imprint. She has been at Penguin since 2006.
