Steerforth Publishing has acquired the rights to 15 of Zoland Books' bestselling titles. Among the books included in the deal are National Book Award—winning writer Ha Jin's novel In the Pond and his short story collection Under the Red Flag. Early next year Steerforth, located in S. Royalton, Vt., will take control of the remaining Zoland backlist, which it will keep in print under a separate Zoland Books imprint.
Although Zoland, based in Cambridge, Mass., stopped adding new titles after its 2001—2002 season (News, Sept. 24, 2001), Consortium Book Sales & Distribution continued to distribute Zoland's backlist until late last month, and will accept returns through the end of November. As a result of Zoland's new agreement with Steerforth, booksellers will be able to order the first 15 designated Zoland titles from Steerforth's distributor, Publishers Group West, starting July 4.
Steerforth publisher Chip Fleischer regards the acquisition as a mutually beneficial arrangement. "We do about 20 books a year," said Fleischer, who estimates that with the Zoland titles, "we will have about 120 to 130 backlist books in print. We have moved away from acquiring new fiction, but we haven't slammed the door on it. This is not a commitment to do new publishing under the Zoland imprint. All we're doing is taking on existing titles."
Even so, Fleischer holds out the possibility that Zoland founder Roland Pease might direct the imprint with an eye to adding new titles in fiction and poetry. Pease has been noncommittal about playing a role in the reconfigured Zoland and is concentrating on his own writing.
For Pease, Steerforth's acquisition of Zoland is "a nice development. I'm very happy about it. It allows us to have our titles continue for a bit longer."
