Publishers Group Inc., parent company of Publishers Group West and Avalon Publishing Group, enjoyed an "exceptional" year in 1998, with net sales reaching $100 million, according to company chairman and CEO Charlie Winton.
More than 35 of its client publishers, Winton told PW, achieved sales growth of 25% or better in the year. New clients added in the course of the year include Taunton Press, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates and Steerforth Press. The deal for Avalon to acquire Carroll &Graf, one of PGW's distribution clients, should close next week, Winton added.
Winton said he was particularly pleased with the year's results because the previous year had seen the extraordinary sales of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (Grove/Atlantic), one of the year's top sellers; in 1998, PGI managed to match the 1997 results "from a more diversified base."
Bestsellers during the year included -- in addition to holdovers Cold Mountain and Girlfriends (Circulus) -- Eat the Rich and Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea (both Grove/Atlantic) and The Leonardo DiCaprio Album (Plexus).
With some of the big New York houses such as Random House getting out of the distribution business, Winton noted, there might be further opportunity for PGI to grow. "I could see us being a $200-million company in five years, if all g s well for us."
