Changes in Black Publishing, Per PW

Parts of this article originally appeared in the October 7, 2005 issue of PW Daily

Harlequin announced that it was purchasing BET Books from Black Entertainment Network, a subsidiary of Viacom. The sale, which will be finalized in December, will give Harlequin three major African-American imprints: Arabesque (which was founded by Kensington Books in 1994 and sold to BET in 2000), Sepia and New Spirit. As part of the deal, Harlequin will take over distribution of the imprints from Kensington.

Christine Saunders, Harlequin's public relations manager, says the purchase is "very much in keeping with the theme" of what the house is already publishing. The purchase will give Harlequin some 400 new titles, and bring BET's editorial staff into the fold. BET Books' publisher, Linda Gill, will move into Harlequin's New York office along with "two or three other editors," Saunders says.

Kensington has also established a new business with Urban Books, best known for its "street lit" fiction. In a joint venture, with Kensington handling distribution, the two companies have set up Urban Soul. The new imprint will expand Urban Books' offerings into women's fiction.
For its part, Urban Books, owned by Carl Weber, has just acquired a small independent house called United Brothers Books. With the purchase, Urban Books will establish another new imprint Urban Mass, which will launch in March 2006 with the release of LaTanya Williams' Mixed Messages and Roy Gle's Is It a Crime. Urban Mass will focus on offering one new title and one mass market reprint (from Urban Books' backlist) each month.