Duckworth Academic teams up with Bloomsbury

Today Peter Mayer, MD of Gerald Duckworth & Company Ltd, and Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, announced the sale of the Duckworth Academic list to Bloomsbury. Integral to the sale, the Duckworth Trade list will be sold by Bloomsbury in the UK and all overseas markets from March 1, 2011. Duckworth remains independent.

Duckworth Academic will operate henceforth as Bristol Classical Press, taking effect immediately. Duckworth’s Academic list has long been known for its strong publishing centered on books about the ancient world. This new arrangement will allow Bloomsbury Academic to build on its inherent strength alongside the company’s worldwide strategy in other academic disciplines.

Mayer comments, ‘After seven years of growth at Duckworth, our Trade list now matches in size the traditionally strong Academic list. Bloomsbury is the perfect home for the Duckworth Academic list. This sale gives Bloomsbury Academic the ability to build that side of Bloomsbury’s business but the important thing for us is that it gives Duckworth a much broader infrastructural sales context within which to continue to build the Trade list, working closely as well with our US sister company, The Overlook Press.

‘To that end, we have recently appointed Jon Jackson, previously of Osprey and before that Weidenfeld, as Editorial Director of the Duckworth Trade list and Ben Slight, coming from a position as a Waterstone’s regional manager, as Duckworth Sales Coordinator, both working with Publicity Manager Suzannah Rich.’

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing said ‘Bringing such a distinguished academic list into Bloomsbury Academic is an important stepping stone in the development of our publishing in this area. We are also delighted to be representing the Duckworth Trade list, one which I have long admired, in the UK and overseas markets.’

Mayer adds ‘The Duckworth name is one of the oldest and most famous in British publishing. It has grown from what had become a small base in 2003 by nearly five times since then. Working together with Overlook in the US, with a strong staff and the support and facilities of Bloomsbury in the UK and abroad, this growth looks set to continue.

‘We have sought to develop a structure for our two parts and we found it with Bloomsbury. The new structure looks to a future in which both parts of the present Duckworth can prosper in different ways. On the General side we aim to fulfil the promise of the historic Duckworth Trade list, a trade publisher since its founding by Gerald Duckworth in 1898. It continues as independent as ever.

‘Two Duckworth stalwarts, Deborah Blake and Ray Davies, will be joining Bloomsbury Academic and, based on long years of service, I can truly say that they have both been the soul of our publishing. Even in the time of Colin Haycraft, when Duckworth embarked on Academic publishing, Deborah, as Editorial Director of the Academic list, helped form it. She finally came to be virtually the Academic list’s embodiment. Also that in the first very difficult years after Overlook and Duckworth became associated, she and Ray, our Production Director, were the sturdiest of linchpins connecting the past with the present.

‘I believe Academic publishing, like many editorial areas, needs a larger environment today in which to prosper. I really have no doubts that both the creative and economic sides of the Duckworth Academic list will prosper within Bloomsbury Academic, with its ever-broader stance.

‘With the recent appointments, and with additional funds now available for the further expansion of Duckworth as a trade publisher, I think there is much optimism.’

Overlook Publisher Peter Mayer in The Bookseller Magazine

In a column appropriately named "Forever Young," John Blake writes about Peter Mayer in The Bookseller magazine: "Ask people to name a truly iconic publisher—and I think many would come up with the name of Peter Mayer.

His rise from runner at the New York Times, to two decades brilliantly creating the modern Penguin Group, to his fabulous career at Overlook Press in New York and Duckworth in London, is the stuff of ­legend. I was thrilled, honoured and (to be honest) slightly terrified, therefore, when he first bought US rights to our biography of Lady Gaga by Emily Herbert, then announced he was flying into London and would like to meet.

“He’s a genius, he speaks six languages, you won’t have a clue what he is talking about,” friends warned me. Thanks. Anyway, he shambled into Sheeky’s restaurant, looking a little like Keith Richards’ younger brother, then proceeded to charm and amaze me for a couple of hours.

Despite his own very considerable contribution to serious literature, Peter appeared fascinated by the success of our fast turnround books (he brought a copy of his edition of Lady Gaga with him, less than a month after buying rights, which is entirely unprecedented in the slow-motion world of US publishing). He talked about his success with a high-speed Susan Boyle book, of how he brought sudoku to the US, and of the new outlets and sales opportunities for selling books in the UK and the US.

While all of us who love books are saddened to see wonderful independent shops, and chains such as Borders, going under we have to deal with the new world order, or go out of business. And, though Peter has already chugged effortlessly past his 70th birthday, he is still exhilarated and excited by the challenges we now face.

Reflecting, afterwards, it came to me that book publishers, with a passion for what they do, seem to have discovered the secret of remaining forever young. In Fleet Street, where I worked in another lifetime, youth is every­thing. William Lewis, the editor of the Telegraph, is 39. Dominic Mohan, the latest editor of the Sun, is all of 40. Meanwhile, in the world of literature, Ernest Hecht at Souvenir Press continues to publish wonderful, original titles (and to tell very funny stories) even though he has swung effortlessly past his 80th birthday. Naim Atallah, at Quartet, is 78 but still has the enthusiasm of a teenager. Even Ed Victor, that doyen of agents has, unbelievably, reached 70.

Despite all the new challenges, the magic of constantly dealing with wonderful new stories and ideas seems to be the best tonic in the world. Aren’t we lucky?"

Overlook's PETER MAYER to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 2008 London Book Fair

The Bookseller reports "Peter Mayer is to be awarded with a lifetime achievement award at this year's London Book Fair, following in the steps of Lord Weidenfeld, Christopher MacLehose, John Lyons, and Lynette Owen. Mayer will pick up the fifth annual LBF/Trilogy Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing at the London Book Fair on Tuesday 15th April at a special reception in the Earls Court Conference Centre. The award, voted for by the London Book Fair's advisory board, was unanimously agreed after the merits of a shortlist of six international publishing figures were debated. This year's judges commented that Peter Mayer had made an outstanding lifelong contribution to the international publishing industry through his various roles including Penguin India. From 1978 to 1996 he was the chairman and c.e.o. of the Penguin Group, based in London and New York. Since 1996 he has held the position of president and publisher of The Overlook Press and since 2003 he has been the president and publisher of Duckworth Publishers in the UK. Simon Master, chair of the advisory board, said: "Peter Mayer has long been an inspirational figure in the publishing industry both in the UK and overseas. His dedication to British and international publishing has distinguished his career and makes him fully deserving of the London Book Fair/Trilogy Lifetime Achievement Award 2008."