With the sale of Publishers Group West to Advanced Marketing Services completed January 31, executives at Avalon Publishing Group are preparing for life as an independent, $25-million publishing house.
The first order of business, according to Avalon chairman Charlie Winton and president Susan Reich, is to upgrade and integrate the company's infrastructure, particularly at its New York offices, which house Avalon's trade operations. Avalon consolidated all of its New York imprints into one office in lower Manhattan last May, but the integration was interrupted by the terrorist attack of September 11— Avalon's offices are about four blocks from the World Trade Center. Although no one was injured, it was not until mid-October that things in New York returned to a more "normal" state, Winton said.
Under Avalon's operating structure, all trade operations are run through the New York office whose imprints are Carroll & Graf, Thunder's Mouth Press, Marlowe & Company, Seal Press and Blue Moon Books. Seal, originally based in Seattle, was acquired late last year (News, Dec. 10, 2001) and is the first Avalon Trade imprint whose editors are not located in New York, choosing to remain in Washington State while all back-office functions were assumed by New York. "It's a bit of an experiment, but it's something we could do more of," Winton said in explaining the arrangement.
The trade division publishes about 200 titles annually, a figure that is expected to remain stable this year as "we pull the organization together," Reich said. The trade group had a solid 2001 and a great January, with sales up about 50%. Winton has been very encouraged by the success Avalon has had with the copublishing arrangements it made with Otto Penzler for mystery books and with the Nation for books about current affairs, and he is interested in pursuing similar agreements that could give Avalon an existing "brand."
Avalon Travel Publishing, based in Emeryville, Calif., held its own last year in a difficult market with sales falling about 6%. Described by Winton as a travel reference company, the division represented about 40% of Avalon's total sales last year. The unit produces about 75 new and revised titles annually in the Moon Handbooks, Rick Steves, Foghorn Outdoors and Road Trip USA series. Despite last year's dip in sales, "there was no retreat in our commitment to the travel market," said Bill Newlin, senior v-p and publisher. Sales were up about 10% in January, and Newlin said he is "more optimistic than I ever imagined" about prospects for the group this year. Newlin observed that while he had expected domestic travel to bounce back, he was surprised about how quickly interest in international travel returned, noting that the Rick Steves guidebooks to Europe continue to sell well.
Newlin has high hopes for Moon Metro, a new series that will combine fold-out neighborhood maps with text. The first book in the line, Moon Metro: San Francisco, is due out in April; books on New York, Washington, D.C., and Paris will also be released this spring, and four additional titles are set for publication in the fall. First printings for the spring titles are 25,000 copies each.
With 2002 being something of a transition year, Winton does not expect to make any major acquisitions and is depending on internal growth to push revenues to the $28 million $30 million level. Avalon will rely on the St. Martin's model of publishing, namely, releasing a lot of titles to build a backlist. "The creation of a strong backlist has always been my mantra," Winton said.
The separation of PGW from Avalon will be gradual. This June, Avalon, which has a total of about 84 employees, will move its corporate offices from Berkeley (where PGW is based) to Avalon Travel's offices in Emeryville. Winton will continue his dual roles— chairman of Avalon and president of PGW— for about another year before he devotes himself full time to the publishing company. "I've been wearing two hats for about five years. I'm very comfortable with the team we have at Avalon and the next year will give me a chance to grow into a new role," Winton said.
