Client Distribution Services has recently signed a couple of new titles that will give its fledgling publishing program a shot in the arm. One is the bestselling Ernst & Young Tax Guide, and the second is Inside the Da Vinci Code by Dan Burstein. The new agreements reflect CDS's approach to building its publishing business by signing authors rather than by acquiring companies, a tactic favored by a number of the distribution company's competitors.

CDS will publish 10 to 20 titles in 2004 under the CDS Books imprint, according to executive v-p and COO Steve Black. The company began ramping up its publishing operation in the middle of last year with the hiring of Hope Matthiessen as associate publisher. Since CDS had the marketing, sales and fulfillment infrastructure already in place, the addition of a publishing component was a logical next move, Black said. CDS will publish books "where we can add value" in such areas as marketing, promotion or finance, he said. Many of CDS's author contracts offer a royalty rate that is "substantially higher" than a standard contract, Black said, adding, "It's a win-win for us and for the author."

Among the titles set for release this year are Nobody's Perfect by two recent contestants on the reality TV show The Bachelor, Helene Eksterowicz and Gwen Gioia, which will be released January 15; and R.A. Salvatore's Highwayman, set for a March release with a 100,000-copy printing. For the young adult market, CDS has struck a deal with Sony Online Entertainment to develop a series of novels based on the popular online game Everquest. The company is also doing children's titles and released A Very Wompkee Christmas in November.

CDS will take over publication of the Ernst & Young Tax Guide, which in recent years has been published by John Wiley, beginning this November. "It's something we were always interested in and things just came together," Black said. And Inside the Da Vinci Code has Black very excited: the title was originally set for a June release, but with the encouragement of Barnes & Noble, CDS has pushed the pub date to March and will probably have a first printing "of a couple hundred thousand," Black said.