As part of the expansion of its publishing program, Discovery Communications, parent company of the Discovery Channel and Discovery Publishing, has entered into a joint venture with Langenscheidt to co-brand the publisher's Insight Guides travel book line.
Under the agreement, beginning this month Langenscheidt will add the Discovery logo to all the Insight Guides as they are reprinted. In the fall, Discovery and Insight will launch a new series that Discovery Publishing's Ann-marie McGowan said will "take a different cut at the travel book category."
For both the Insight Guides and the new series, trade distribution will be handled by Insight's affiliated company, American Map Corp., while Discovery will sell to special markets. McGowan said Discovery plans "significant promotion across our network, Web site and our stores, as well as through other media" for the travel guides.
The deal with Langenscheidt is the second publishing partnership that Discovery reached in 1998. In September, it signed an agreement with Random House to co-publish a line of adult nonfiction titles (News, Sept. 7). McGowan told PW Discovery hopes to announce a children's publishing partner early this year. If everything falls into place, Discovery should have 25 to 30 new titles ready for fall publication.
