Independence day was celebrated in January at the Avalon Publishing Group. That's when AMS completed its purchase of book distribution company Publishers Group West, making Avalon, PGW's former publishing unit, an independent publishing house.
Neil Ortenberg, newly promoted senior v-p of the Avalon Publishing Group, will also direct the activities of Avalon Publishing Group New York, the five trade book imprints based in New York City. Ortenberg reports to Susan Reich, president of the Avalon Publishing Group, which also includes Avalon Travel Publishing, which is based in California.
Ortenberg describes Avalon NY, which was created under PGW over time through a series of acquisitions, as "a niche-driven, midsized trade house fueled by a combination of guerrilla warfare and entrepreneurialism." What that means, he said, is "passionate people committed to creating books and looking for opportunities to merge art and commerce."
Avalon NY consists of Thunder's Mouth Press (which includes Nation Books and Adrenaline Books), Carroll & Graf, Marlowe & Co., Blue Moon and Seal Press. Each imprint, said Ortenberg, has a specialty. Thunder's Mouth focuses on pop culture and current affairs; Carroll & Graf offers literary fiction, history and crime from its Otto Penzler mystery line; Marlowe & Co. specializes in spirituality and health; Blue Moon publishes classic and contemporary erotica; and Seal Press offers titles on a broad range of topics by and about women.
The combined revenues of the New York Group, Ortenberg said, is about $20 million and points to "an amazing year." The group reported about $15 million last year and Ortenberg said the company is enjoying a successful year despite a down economy and the city's recovery from September 11. Avalon had just relocated its offices to William Street, a few blocks from the World Trade Center, when the attacks took place.
Thunder's Mouth, which was founded by Ortenberg and acquired by Avalon in 1995, has generated about $6 million for the New York Group's revenues with a string of bestselling titles. Vincent Bugliosi's Betrayal of America (Thunder's Mouth, May), on the Bush/Gore election, has sold more than 100,000 copies and been on bestseller lists for weeks. Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie's Forbidden Truth (TM/Nation Books, July), a controversial look at oil links between the Taliban and the U.S. government, had 60,000 copies in print even before pub date. And Herbert Asbury's Gangs of New York, the tie-in for December's much-anticipated Martin Scorsese film, has sold more than 120,000 copies since it was published last November.
Ortenberg also cited Carroll & Graf's Endurance by Alfred Lansing (500,000 copies shipped), the forthcoming Enron scandal title Anatomy of Greed by Brian Cruver (40,000-copy first printing) and Marlowe & Co.'s Glucose Revolution series, with more than 500,000 copies in print since 1999. Even small imprints like Blue Moon ($1 million in revenue last year on about 40 titles) and Seal Press ($1 million in revenue on about 20 titles) make significant contributions to Avalon NY's bottom line.
How do they do it? The New York Group publishes about 375 books a year with staff of about 35. "Even the elevator guy acquires books," Ortenberg joked. The group publishes for "a cross-section of interests and niches. We're not dependent on bestsellers. We have a healthy backlist, we crank out a lot of books and we keep our overhead low," he explained.
Traditionally, publishing holds its own in tough economic times. Ortenberg agreed: "You don't make a lot of money in publishing, but it's somewhat protected in a dicey economy." And Ortenberg noted that "even travel is coming back. Our first and second quarters were good. It isn't all the way back, but it's much better."
And while the group's books continue to be distributed by PGW, which is now a separate firm, Ortenberg said the new arm's-length relationship has "definite advantages."
"We've got a great relationship with PGW," he said, "but while publishing and distribution overlap in many ways, they are quite different. The change in publisher ownership here will create an executive decision-making process that is more aligned with the day-to-day publishing perspective."
