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IPG’s professional and academic distribution program has been recast to reflect the diversity and appeal of the titles it represents, and to better present its distinguished list of world-class publishers to a wider audience. River North Editions will be its new name and will debut this March.
IPG President Mark Suchomel says, “While the titles in the River North Editions catalog appeal to an intellectual reader, they are not always published for a strictly academic audience. The label ‘Professional and Academic’ no longer goes far enough to describe the breadth of the audience.”
The current list of books in the River North Editions program includes titles from some of the world’s most prestigious publishers, including Independent Institute, Melbourne University Press, Earnshaw Books, University of New South Wales, Fons Vitae, Society for Human Resource Management, Carcanet Press Ltd., Auckland University Press, Parthian Books and Freemantle Press.
“Labeling these titles as solely academic might lead our customer to think they are published primarily for course adoption. Although these titles do appeal as ancillary texts for 400-level and graduate-level courses, we believe these titles have broader appeal beyond academia. While many of the titles in this catalog are highly specialized, they are not unlike other titles found in quality trade and university bookstores, and we think they have great appeal to the intellectual reader,” says Paul Murphy, Vice President of Professional and Academic Markets at IPG. “The strength of these publishers has always been the original thinking, informed opinions and expert analysis found within the content of their titles.”
River North Editions takes its name from the Chicago neighborhood in which IPG is located. It will use the following tag line on its catalog: Provocative Titles for Intellectual Pursuits. The spring 2011 River North Editions catalog will consist of more than 100 new titles, including the highly anticipated Mahabharata in Polyester: The Making of the World’s Riches Brothers and Their Feud (University of New South Wales Press) by Hamish McDonald, Casino Jack: A Screenplay by Norman Snider (Exile Editions) by Norman Snider, Speaking Volumes: Conversations with Remarkable Writers (Scribe Publications Pty Ltd.) by Ramona Koval and one of the most popular and controversial Chinese history books ever written, China Under the Empress Dowager: The History of the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi (Earnshaw Books) by J.O.P. Bland and Edmund Backhouse.
IPG will continue to aggressively market books in the River North Editions catalog to professors and institutions as well as to appropriate trade outlets. Select titles from IPG’s trade lists as well as from its other distribution arms, Trafalgar Square Publishing and Art Stock Books, will also continue to be incorporated into IPG’s academic marketing efforts.
Established in 1971, IPG was the first organization specifically created for the purpose of marketing titles from independent presses to the book trade. With consistent growth each year, IPG’s success has come from supporting and encouraging the growth of its client publishers in the United States and worldwide. IPG has a wide reach in the market with its distribution of publishers with academic, Spanish-language, computer and general trade nonfiction and fiction titles. IPG was acquired by Chicago Review Press in 1987. Clients include publishers from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Spain and other countries. In the fall of 2006, the senior management of Chicago Review Press, Inc., the parent company of IPG, bought Trafalgar Square Publishing, Inc., the leading U.S. distributor of UK publishers. Trafalgar Square Publishing was founded in 1973 and distributes for clients such as Aurum Press, Canongate UK, HarperCollins UK, Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Orion Publishing, Random House UK and Simon & Schuster UK.
For more information or to speak with IPG President Mark Suchomel, please contact Jen Wisnowski, publicity manager, at 312-337-0747.