WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 33Presses find their own paths to move ahead
BY JIM MILLIOT
F
or the second year in a row, Mango Publishing
topped PW’s fast-growing small publisher list.
Mango’s sales growth rate between 2017 and 2019
was less than half its rate in the previous three-year
span, but that is to be expected from a maturing
company: Mango celebrated its fifth anniversary last year.
Mango attributes its success in 2019 to its diverse list of
authors. The publisher discovered artist Kate Allan and her animal
drawings on Tumblr, and her You Can Do
All Things sold well in the trade market as
well as in the gift and special markets,
Mango says. Women’s studies scholar Becca
Anderson has been another important
Mango author. Her bestselling The Book of
Awesome Women led to a new series, which
includes The Book of Awesome Women Writers
and The Book of Awesome Black Americans.
Your Next Level Life by Karen Arrington,
founder of
the Miss
Black USA
pageant
and a goodwill ambassador to Sierra Leone,
was another strong seller in 2019. “Karen
Arrington is an exemplar of the kind of
author Mango is proud to publish,” says
Mango associate publisher Brenda Knight.
“She is not only inspiring young women of
color but working hard to make a differ-
ence in the world.”
Last year also saw Mango continuing to
expand its partnership with Franklin Covey,
publishing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People card deck. And Franklin Covey
executive v-p Scott Jeffrey Miller’s
Management Mess to Leadership Success hit
bestseller lists in the management science
category in 2019 as well.
International sales were another strong SOURCE: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
PUBLISHER SALES GROWTH EMPLOYEES TITLES
2017–2019 2017 2019 2017 2019Mango Publishing 162% 15 27 68 130
Miami
Media Lab Books 128% 21 19 25 12
New York City
Familius 117% 5 8 57 58
Sanger, Calif.
Blue Star Press 105% 6 5 13 20
Bend, Ore.
Brown Books Publishing Group 75% 15 15 31 33
Dallas
North Atlantic Books 27% 24 24 36 39
Berkeley, Calif.
Cameron + Company 25% 8 12 15 26
Petaluma, Calif.
Charlesbridge 25% 23 30 50 54
Watertown, Mass.
Morgan James 20% 49 50 188 190
New York City
Greystone Books 17% 15 23 24 31
VancouverFAST-GROWING INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS
2017–2019spot for Mango, quadrupling over the past two years, the company
says, and it now expects 30% of its English-language sales to be
from outside of the U.S.
Mango also benefitted last year from the October purchase of
Conari Press, and it expects to see Conari make a more meaningful
contribution in 2020 when it relaunches the imprint under the
direction of Knight (who is Conari’s former associate publisher).
Mango followed the Conari purchase by acquiring lifestyle and