Seal Press, currently an imprint of Perseus Books' subsidiary Avalon Group, will become an imprint of Da Capo Press. The move was outlined in a letter sent to employees, on June 15, from Perseus Books senior v-p and publisher Susan Weinberg. The change marks the first major reorganization to hit the company since Hachette Book Group acquired Perseus earlier this year.
Renee Sedliar, the editorial director of Da Capo and its Lifelong Press imprint, will serve as editorial director of Seal. She will remain based in Berkeley, Calif., where both Da Capo and Seal have offices. The publisher position at Seal is being eliminated in the reorganization, and current Seal publisher Krista Lyons will leave the company on July 1.
Speaking to the changes, Sedliar said: “Seal Press has been an extraordinary presence for 40 years. We’re looking forward to furthering Seal’s mission of publishing life-changing books that range from gutsy to provocative to hilarious—books that start conversations and keep them going."
Seal executive editor Laura Mazer and senior editor Stephanie Knapp will report directly to Sedliar, while associate publicist Molly Conway will report to Da Capo publicity director Lissa Warren.
Warren said that there are no plans to reduce the number of Seal titles published per year as a result of the changes, and added that Seal's fall list will stay on its current track with the Avalon Group. Seal books slated for publication during the next year include Courtney Martin's The New Better Off, Jessica Teich's The Future Tense of Joy, and The Women Who Made New York by Julie Scelfo.
Seal's spring 2017 list will be the first published under the Da Capo banner.
