News

New Boston Partners Purchases Samuel Weiser
Judith Rosen -- 12/11/00

Michael Kerber and Jan Johnson, former president/COO and editorial director of Tuttle Publishing, respectively, made their first acquisition under their recently established partnership,
Samuel Weiser new owners Michael
Kerber (left) and Jan Johnson (far right)
meet with former owners Donald Weiser
and Betty Lundsted.
New Boston Partners LLC. Late last month, NBP purchased Samuel Weiser Inc., the 44-year-old publisher in York Beach, Maine, that specializes in esoterica. NBP also acquired Samuel Weiser's wholesale division, which distributes close to 3,500 titles a year for 200 publishers.
At present Kerber, who will be president and CEO, and Johnson, who has become publisher, anticipate few immediate changes. "The plan," Kerber told PW, "is to keep the company in York Beach. There is an office in a beautiful former art studio and a warehouse a few miles away. Expanding the warehouse will be our first priority."

Johnson, who acquired such bestselling titles as Anne Wilson Shaef's Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much and Riane Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade when she was executive editor at Harper San Francisco, noted, "I have no plans to dramatically increase the publishing program," which is now between 25 and 30 new titles a year. However, she would like to add what she calls "spiritual self-help books" to enhance the mind and d s not rule out increased output in the near future.

"One of the things that attracted us to Samuel Weiser," added Kerber, "was the extensive backlist. They have 700 titles of which 400 are active. We want to expand the opportunities for e-books and print on demand."

All 24 Weiser employees, including former owners Donald Weiser and Betty Lundsted, have been asked to stay. Weiser will continue in a consulting capacity, while Lundsted will edit some of the books that she acquired. Lundsted's Nicolas-Hays publishing house is not affected by the sale and will continue to be distributed by Samuel Weiser.