The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase o ...

that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into publishing original content in 1936 under the Crown name, and was acquired by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...

in 1988. Under Random House's ownership, the Crown Publishing Group was operated as an independent division until 2018, when it was merged with the rest of Random House's adult programs. Crown authors include Jean Auel,

Max Brooks Maximillian Michael Brooks (born May 22, 1972) is an American actor and author. He is the son of comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He is a senior fellow at the Modern War ...

, George W. Bush, Eitan Bernath, Deepak Chopra,

Ann Coulter Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic ...

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

Giada De Laurentiis Giada Pamela De Laurentiis (; born August 22, 1970) is an Italian-American chef, writer, and television personality. She was the host of Food Network's '' Giada at Home''. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's ...

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 20 ...

(as fictional character

Ron Burgundy The ''Anchorman'' series is a media franchise initially consisting of three American comedy films – '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'', '' Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie'' (both 2004), and '' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'' ( ...

Gillian Flynn Gillian Schieber Flynn (; born February 24, 1971) is an American author, screenwriter, and producer. She is known for writing the thriller and mystery novels, ''Sharp Objects'' (2006), '' Dark Places'' (2009), and '' Gone Girl'' (2012), which are ...

Jim Gaffigan James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...

Ina Garten Ina Rosenberg Garten ( ; born February 2, 1948) is an American author, host of the Food Network program '' Barefoot Contessa'', and a former staff member of the Office of Management and Budget. Among her dishes are ''cœur à la crème'', celery ...

Mindy Kaling Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the ...

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow (, ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. Maddow hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special e ...

Jillian Michaels Jillian Michaels (born February 18, 1974) is an American personal trainer, businesswoman, author, and television personality from Los Angeles, California. Michaels is best known for her appearances on NBC, particularly ''The Biggest Loser''. She ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

Theresa Rebeck Theresa Rebeck (born February 19, 1958) is an American playwright, television writer, and novelist. Her work has appeared on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, in film, and on television. Among her awards are the Mystery Writers of America's ...

Mark Brennan Rosenberg Mark Brennan Rosenberg is an openly gay author and comedian based in New York City. He is the author of two books: ''Blackouts and Breakdowns'' - released on August 24, 2011, and ''Eating My Feelings: Tales of Overeating, Underperforming, and Co ...

, Judith Rossner,

Rebecca Skloot Rebecca L. Skloot (born September 19, 1972) is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine.Jessica Teisch, "Floyd Skloot & Rebecca Skloot", in ''Bookmarks'', May/June 2010. Her first book, ''The Immortal Life of Henrietta ...

Suzanne Somers Suzanne Marie Somers (née Mahoney; born October 16, 1946) is an American actress, author, singer, businesswoman, and health spokesperson. She appeared in the television role of Chrissy Snow on '' Three's Company'' and as Carol Foster Lambert on ...

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...

Jonah Goldberg Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated columnist, author, political analyst, and commentator. The founding editor of ''National Review Online'', from 1998 until 2019 he was an editor at '' National Rev ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and many others.

History

Outlet Book Company

The company was founded in 1933 as the Outlet Book Company by Nat Wartels and Bob Simon. Outlet Book Company began by featuring overstock and remaindered books, but soon moved into reprints of

backlist A backlist is a list of older books available from a publisher. This is opposed to newly-published titles, which is sometimes known as the frontlist. Business Building a strong backlist has traditionally been considered the best method to produ ...

, out-of-print, largely non-fiction titles, then into reprints of bestselling fiction and non-fiction, and eventually into original titles. It was under the Crown name that they began to publish original content in 1936. Crown acquired bankrupt publishers such as Covici-Friede, Henkle-Yewdale, and Robert M. McBride in the 1940s. Other publishers acquired by Crown include Arcadia House; Howell, Soskin; and Julian Press. Under the direction of Wartels, Alan Mirken, Joseph Reiner and others, Crown Books became one of the Outlet Book Company's lead imprints for original publishing which included such

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

fiction and non-fiction as

Judith Krantz Judith Krantz (née Tarcher; January 9, 1928 – June 22, 2019) was a magazine writer and fashion editor who turned to fiction as she approached the age of 50. Her first novel ''Scruples'' (1978) quickly became a ''New York Times'' best-seller an ...

's ''

Princess Daisy is a fictional character in the ''Mario'' series of video games. She debuted in 1989's ''Super Mario Land'' as the ruler of Sarasaland. Described as a tomboy, she used to be rumored to be Luigi's love interest, similarly to Princess Peach b ...

,'' Jean M. Auel's '' The Clan of the Cave Bear'' and

Alex Comfort Alexander Comfort (10 February 1920 – 26 March 2000) was a British scientist and physician known best for his nonfiction sex manual, '' The Joy of Sex'' (1972). He was an author of both fiction and nonfiction, as well as a gerontologist ...

's '' The Joy of Sex'' in its early high-profile years. Crown Publishing Group had its headquarters at 225 Park Avenue South in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, occupying of space.

received the space when it acquired the company. In 1990 Random House signaled intentions to sublease the space.

Random House

The Outlet Book Company's Crown Books remained an independent company until 1988 when it was purchased by

. In 2008, the Doubleday Business/Currency, Doubleday Religion, and WaterBrook Multnomah divisions were moved from Doubleday to Crown when Doubleday was merged with

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

. Doubleday Religion was replaced with the Catholic imprint Image in 2011. In 2018, Crown was combined with the main Random House Publishing Group.

Imprints

Following the 2018 reorganization, the imprints that constitute Crown Publishing continued to be tied together into three imprint groups within Random House. The "trade" group includes the imprints Crown, Crown Archetype,

Broadway Books Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., released its first list in Fall, 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquired Rand ...

, Hogarth,

Three Rivers Press Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprint ...

, and Tim Duggan Books. An illustrated and prescriptive nonfiction group comprises Clarkson Potter,

Harmony Books Harmony Books is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, itself part of publisher Penguin Random House. It was founded by Bruce Harris, a Crown executive, in 1972. The imprint has been used for such books as: * Jill Freedman, ''Circus Days'' ...

Rodale Books The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded in ...

, and

Ten Speed Press Ten Speed Press is a publishing house founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by Phil Wood. Ten Speed Press was bought by Random House in February 2009 and is now part of their Crown Publishing Group division. History Wood worked with Barnes & ...

(which includes sub-imprints Lorena Jones Books and

Watson-Guptill Watson-Guptill is an American publisher of instructional books in the arts. The company was founded in 1937 by Ernest Watson, Ralph Reinhold, and Arthur L. Guptill. They also published the magazine ''American Artist''. Their headquarters are at 17 ...

). A third group collects the business, conservative politics, and Christianity imprints Currency (formerly Doubleday/Crown Business), Crown Forum, Convergent, Image (formerly Doubleday Religion), Multnomah, and WaterBrook. Former imprints of the Crown Publishing Group included Amphoto Books, Bell Tower Press, Orion Books (unconnected to Orion Publishing), Shaye Areheart, and some related subsidiaries like Gramercy Publishing Company. These have either been discontinued or transferred to other Random House units.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United States Random House Publishing companies established in 1933 1933 establishments in New York City Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Penguin Random House Publishing companies based in New York City American companies established in 1933