Fast-Growing Indie Publishers
illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw.
Key backlist titles last year, Sabia, says, were Baby Loves
Science Board Box Set, Boo-Boos That Changed the World, Feathers:
Not Just for Flying, Last Day Blues, Rickshaw Girl, and We Are
Grateful: Otsaliheliga (a Sibert Honor book).
Charlesbridge was founded in 1989 and has regularly appeared
on the PW fast-growing small publishers list in recent years. “2019
marked our 30th anniversary, and it’s been so rewarding to see our
continued growth,” Sabia says. “It was the enthusiasm of indepen-
dent booksellers back in 1989 that gave us our start, and over the
years that support spread across many and varied marketplaces.”
Morgan James founder and president David Hancock
says contributions from a number of areas helped to drive sales
gains in 2019. Bestsellers came from the publisher’s business,
faith, and fiction
imprints, and
Hancock called
out Becoming Us
by Jeff and Beth McCord as exceeding his expectations. One
of the company’s business books, The Bezos Letter, was a steady
seller in the U.S. last year and garnered more than $200,000
in foreign rights sales. In general, Hancock says, Morgan
James had a strong performance from its growing backlist,
particularly in nonfiction.Morgan James supported its entire list last year with expanded
marketing efforts to both consumers and the trade. “For example,”
Hancock says, “we placed significantly more ads in PW and in
Foreword magazine during 2019 and had very positive reactions.”
Digital initiatives also added to the publisher’s growth. Sales
in the audio division rose 31% over 2018, due in part to additional
distribution channels opened up for Morgan James by its dis-
tributor, Ingram Publisher Services, Hancock says. A new strategy
of promoting e-books before pub date grew sales of that format
last year, and Morgan James’s partnership with Open Road Media
led to a 900% jump in backlist e-book sales.
Hancock is planning more digital initiatives for 2020, including
rolling out its free e-book bundle to all print titles, driven by
FlexPub. In addition, Morgan James has partnered with Bookshop
to drive more online sales through independent booksellers.
Strong backlist sales drove growth at Greystone Books,
which returns to PW’s fast-growing list after initially appearing
in 2017. In that year, the company was riding high following the
release in 2016 of two hits, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter
Wohlleben and The Obesity Code by Jason Fung. Those two titles
remain extremely popular, says
associate publisher Jen Gauthier.
To date, Trees has sold 600,000
hardcover copies, while Obesity
Code has sold more than 425,000 print
copies and 200,000 e-book copies.
Both authors remain important con-
tributors to Greystone. The company pub-
lished Wohlleben’s The Inner Life of Animals
in 2017 and The Secret Network of Nature
last year, along with an illustrated edition
of The Hidden Life of Trees; in 2018,
Greystone released Fung’s The Diabetes
Code, followed by The Obesity Code Cookbook
in 2019. “We have more books coming
from both authors,” Gauthier says.
Last year’s sales received a lift from the
fall launch of a children’s imprint focused
on books in Greystone’s core areas of
nature, science, environment, health, and
social issues. Greystone Kids started with
five books, including a middle grade non-
fiction adaptation of The Hidden Life of
Trees, titled Can You Hear the Trees Talking?,
and Birdsong, a picture book by Cree-Metis
author Julie Flett, which received mul-
tiple starred reviews and was an ALA
American Indian Youth Literature hon-
oree. “We will continue to build the chil-
dren’s list, publishing a mix of picture
books and middle grade nonfiction and
growing the list to 12–16 titles per year,”
Gauthier promises. ■by Ruth Spiro, illustrated by Greg Paprocki
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