The four small publishing companies that had been owned by the LPC Group before it went bankrupt have been acquired by two separate parties.

The biggest purchase was by Rhode Island press Moyer Bell, which bought Albion Books, Olmstead Press and Papier-Mache Press. Moyer Bell publisher Britt Bell said he bought the houses "for a song"—about one-quarter of what LPC paid for them. The presses had been mostly inactive since LPC went under this spring, but Bell promises he's going to "throw some money into them and bring them back to life."

Each house has about half a dozen titles planned for this year. The crown jewel among existing titles is nestled in Papier-Mache's backlist, with the anthology When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple; Bell will print 10,000 new copies of the book, a surprise hit when it was released in 1996. He'll also make Sandra Martz, Papier-Mache's founder and Purple's editor, a consulting editor at Moyer Bell.

Papier-Mache hopes it's out of the frying pan for good this time. The company was rescued from bankruptcy in 1999 by LPC, but fell back into financial problems three years later when LPC filed for Chapter 11.

The new titles will be distributed by Bell as part of the distribution company he formed after leaving PGW this summer called Acorn Alliance. The new outfit will handle sales and distribution for a number of publishers—including all the imprints of Moyer Bell as well as Franklin Square and others. CDS will handle fulfillment. CDS has also picked up many of the distribution contracts of LPC's graphic-novel clients.

Newcomer Buys Firebrand

The fourth LPC orphan publisher, Firebrand Books, has been acquired by Karen Oosterhous, a marketing and publicity professional and a fan of the Firebrand line. "I've always read Firebrand books and felt it was important that Firebrand continue to live," Oosterhous told PW.

Since the acquisition, Oosterhous has been in touch with many of the company's authors, freelancers and contractors to inform them of her plans for the company. "Firebrand had been neglected for the last couple of years, so I'm looking to jump-start it. I'm letting everyone know that the backlist is alive and that I plan on publishing more titles," Oosterhous said. CDS has taken over the sales and distribution for Firebrand, which has about a 100-title backlist. Oosterhous has two new titles scheduled to be released this spring, and she hopes to begin publishing six to eight books annually by 2004.

Oosterhous has no plans to diverge from Firebrand's feminist and lesbian publishing niche. "I want to continue to be a little bit picky and find titles that fit with our backlist," Oosterhous said. Among Firebrand's steady sellers are the Dykes to Watch Out For series by Alison Bechdel and The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.