Changes in the Works at Perseus Books Group

Perseus Books Group plans to restructure and streamline its divisions, according to Publishers Weekly and an internal letter from Perseus president David Steinberger obtained by PW. The changes follow the Perseus acquisition of Consortium and Avalon, and its victory in the Publishers Group West bankruptcy case.

According to Steinberger's memo, Perseus has formed six publishing divisions and will be shutting down the Carroll & Graf and Thunder's Mouth imprints. The new Perseus will include the Avalon Travel, Basic Books, Da Capo, PublicAffairs, Running Press, and Vanguard imprints. Steinberger acknowledged that as part of the restructuring of Perseus, a number of employees will be leaving the company, and he described the decision as a "painful reality."

The Steinberger memo also outlined plans for each of the remaining six divisions:

• Avalon Travel will remain in California under the direction of Bill Newlin, who will also oversee the Rick Steves, Moon Handbooks, and Seal Press imprints.
  
  
• Basic Books, Basic Civitas in New York, and Westview Press in Boulder will be led by John Sherer, who has been promoted to publisher.
  
  
• Da Capo Press will stay in Cambridge, Massachusetts, headed by publisher John Radziewicz, with editors in Cambridge, New York, Philadelphia, and Emeryville, California. Radziewicz will also oversee all of the Perseus Book Group's health and wellness publishing under the Da Capo Lifelong and Marlowe & Company brands.
  
  
• PublicAffairs, Running Press, and Vanguard Press will continue as is.

Counterpoint will be sold to a group of investors led by Charlie Winton, who plans to integrate it with Shoemaker & Hoard Publishers, and will keep the Counterpoint name. Perseus will maintain a minority interest and will provide distribution services.

In his letter, Steinberger said that Perseus management came to the "very difficult decision to discontinue active publishing under the imprint names Carroll & Graf Publishers and Thunder's Mouth Press." The imprints will publish their fall lists as planned before their backlist titles are assigned to other Perseus imprints.

None of these changes will affect the publication and sales of the Perseus or Avalon Fall lists, Steinberger said. For the fall list, Avalon titles will be sold by PGW. For the next list, Avalon Travel and Seal Press will be sold by PGW, and the remaining imprints will be sold by Perseus.