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Fenn carries a lengthy line of "general reference" books. President and founder Harold Fenn says the Betty Crocker line came as a welcome replacement for the Price Stern Sloan line of cookbooks (lost to BeJo Sales last year), and that the addition of the Frommers imprint ends Fenn's long search for a line of travel guides. "It's really the perfect fit," he said.
Meanwhile, at Prentice hall's sister company, Maxwell Macmillan, the situation as of early July remained in limbo. Under Paramount's plan to consolidate its three Canadian subsidiaries - Prentice Hall, Maxwell, and Ginn Publishing Canada - into one firm, Maxwell employees were bracing for massive job losses. A few staffers had departed to other firms - particularly in the college division - but there was still no official word about when the company would shut down entirely. It seems many Maxwell employees are hoping to be picked up by Prentice hall, while others with long service records are waiting for what they expect to be generous severance packages. "Most people are taking things day by day," says one former maxwell staffer.
After much shopping around and one false start, Viacom has named H.B. Fenn the new Canadian distributor for the Macmillan General Reference unit of Viacom's Simon & Schuster Publishing. The unit includes the group of seven imprints - including Betty Crocker cookbooks, Burpee gardening books, and Frommers travel guides - that were the subject of a controversy earlier this year (see June Q&Q, p. 35).
Viacom had planned to move the imprints from Canadian - owned Distican to Prentice Hall in May, but bowed to pressure from Canadian publishers and the media, who insisted the decision contravened Paramount's undertaking to Investment Canada to place its "consumer" lines with Canadian - owned distributors.
Ironically, it now appears the Viacom plan would have saved Canadian jobs. Ken Proctor, director of professional trade, and reference books at Prentice Hall (now with Macmillan Publishing in Indianapolis), told Q&Q in April that he had offered positions to eight employees in the trade department of recently acquired Maxwell Macmillan, but those offers have since been rescinded and the employees laid off.
A source says Prentice Hall had gone as far as to include the new lines in its fall trade catalogue, and was going to assign the Maxwell employees to its trade sales force - but had to scrap the plan at New York's request.
In a prepared statement, Simon & Schuster president and CEO Jonathan Newcomb said, "We spent a great deal of time and effort to find a Canadian distributor that shares our enthusiasm for the product line. We selected Fenn for its experience in selling similar products and for its strong reputation in the industry."
Fenn carries a lengthy line of "general reference" books. President and founder Harold Fenn says the Betty Crocker line came as a welcome replacement for the Price Stern Sloan line of cookbooks (lost to BeJo Sales last year), and that the addition of the Frommers imprint ends Fenn's long search for a line of travel guides. "It's really the perfect fit," he said.
Fenn took over the lines July 1, and immediately began accepting returns on books bought from Distican. To handle the increased business - estimated at about $3 million annually - the company may add a third sales rep in British Columbia; a second was hired recently in Alberta.
At Distican, president Susan Stoddart was taking the loss in stride, saying the lines accounted for less than 10% of the firm's revenues, and that they were "not an easy fit" with Distican's consumer list, which recently ballooned with the addition of the S&S trade imprints. "Frankly, we're a little overloaded at this point," she said.
The Prentice Hall trade lineup went through another change last month with the announcement that Kingston, Ontario - based Quarry Press would be moving to Stoddart Publishing, effective August 1. Quarry publisher Bob Hilderley says the decision to move stemmed from Jack Stoddart's offer of a "superior deal" and a perceived closer fit with the Stoddart publishing group, which includes House of Anansi and Boston Mills. "If you compare Anansi and Quarry authors, You'll see quite a lot of overlap. Their front list and our backlist are an excellent fit," Hilderley said.
Meanwhile, at Prentice hall's sister company, Maxwell Macmillan, the situation as of early July remained in limbo. Under Paramount's plan to consolidate its three Canadian subsidiaries - Prentice Hall, Maxwell, and Ginn Publishing Canada - into one firm, Maxwell employees were bracing for massive job losses. A few staffers had departed to other firms - particularly in the college division - but there was still no official word about when the company would shut down entirely. It seems many Maxwell employees are hoping to be picked up by Prentice hall, while others with long service records are waiting for what they expect to be generous severance packages. "Most people are taking things day by day," says one former maxwell staffer.
There was also no official word about if and when McGraw - Hill Ryerson will take over distribution of U.S. school lines Macmillan/McGraw - Hill and Glencoe from Maxwell Macmillan, although school marketing manager Valerie Bulanda speculates that existing contracts with maxwell are likely to expire by the end of the year. "I expect the inventory to come to us sometime, but I just don't know when."
Copyright Quill and Quire Aug 1994