Perseus Books Group was an American

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

company founded in year 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of

Addison-Wesley Addison–Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson plc, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison–Wesley also distributes its technical titles ...

(including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. In 2005, Perseus acquired Client Distribution Services, the former distribution arm of

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. It was named Publisher of the Year in 2007 by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' magazine for its role in taking on publishers formerly distributed by the Publishers Group West and acquiring Avalon Publishing Group. In January 2007, the Perseus Books Group purchased Avalon Publishing Group, the parent company of Carroll & Graf and Thunder's Mouth Press; the purchaser folded both imprints and stopped publishing books under those names in May 2007. In 2014, following the bankruptcy auction of Good Books assets,

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...

sold the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

line to Perseus. It was then incorporated and released through Perseus' Da Capo Lifelong imprint. After the death of Frank Pearl, Perseus was sold to Centre Lane Partners in 2015, a

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

. In April 2016, its name and publishing business was acquired by

Hachette Book Group Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagard� ...

and its distribution business by

Ingram Content Group Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries. Shawn Morin is CEO, and John R. Ingram is chairman of Ingram Industries. History Th ...

. In December 2018,

Hachette Books Hachette Books, formerly Hyperion Books, is a general-interest book imprint of the Perseus Books Group, which is a division of Hachette (publisher), Hachette Book Group and ultimately a part of Lagardère Group. Established in 1990, Hachette pu ...

became an imprint of the Perseus Books division. Concurrently,

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offi ...

and Da Capo's Lifelong became part of Hachette.

Imprints

The Perseus Books Group currently has the following imprints: *Avalon Travel **

Moon Publications Moon is a travel guidebook publisher founded in 1973 in Chico, California. The company started with travel guides to Asia and later also published guides to the Americas. Bill Dalton was the founder and writer of the regularly updated ''Indon ...

Rick Steves Richard John Steves Jr. (born May 10, 1955), known professionally as Rick Steves, is an American travel writer, activist, and television personality. His travel philosophy encourages people to explore less-frequented areas of destinations and ...

(formerly John Muir Publications) *

Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...

**Basic Civitas **Seal Press * DaCapo *Hachette Books *

Running Press Running Press is an American publishing company and member of the Perseus Books Group, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The publisher's offices are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with many of the corporate functions taking place in ...

PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is a book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. The current Publisher is Clive Priddl ...

** Nation Books

Former imprints

Before Avalon Publishing Group was integrated into the Perseus Books Group, it published on 14 imprint presses. In 2007, some of these imprints were integrated into the Perseus Books Group, while others folded or were sold to other companies. Perseus also sold one of their imprints in the restructuring process.

Avalon Publishing Group

*Axoplasm * Black Square Editions *Blue Moon Books *

Carroll & Graf Publishers Carroll & Graf Publishers was an American publishing company based in New York City, New York that published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction by both new and established authors, as well as reprinted previously hard-to-find works. It ...

— acquired in 1998, folded in 2007 *

Four Walls Eight Windows Four Walls Eight Windows was an American independent book publisher in New York City. Known as 4W8W or Four Walls, the company was notable for its dual commitment to progressive politics and adventurous, edgy literary fiction. History Four W ...

— absorbed into Thunder's Mouth Press in 2004 * Marlowe & Company — absorbed into the DaCapo imprint *No Exit Press *

Seal Press Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...

*Shoemaker & Hoard Publishers — sold to Counterpoint LLC *Thunder's Mouth Press — folded in 2007

Perseus Books Group

Counterpoint Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company that Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Shoemaker & Hoard, and Soft Skull Press. The company published books under b ...

— sold to Counterpoint LLC *Vanguard Press started in 2007, closed in 2012 * Weinstein Books - closed in 2017 * Westview - sold to

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

and absorbed into

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

Distribution

Perseus previously owned separate book distribution companies. *Publishers Group West (PGW), founded in 1976, based in Berkeley, California. *Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, founded in 1985, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. *Perseus Distribution, founded in 1999, based in New York City. *Legato Publishers Group, founded in 2013, based in Chicago.

References

External links

Perseus Books Group
{{Authority control Book distributors Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in New York (state) Ingram family