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Consortium Adds Four Distribution Clients

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution has added four new publishers for the spring 2015 season: Alternative Comics, Cicada Books, Deep Vellum Publishing, and Postcart Editions. Consortium begins representing Deep Vellum Publishing, a nonprofit publisher of literature in translation, on November 1, 2014. Distribution of the other three publishers begins on January 1, 2015.

Founded in 1993, Alternative Comics, which came under the management of Marc Arsenault in 2012, offers an expansive range of creator-owned comics and graphic novels.

Cicada Books is a London-based publishing company specializing in illustrated books with high production values and edgy design.

Postcart Editions, which was founded in Rome in 1994, specializes in photography books.

AmEx Open Study Looks at State of Women-Owned Businesses

American Express Open recently released its fourth annual report on the state of women-owned businesses in the U.S.  The results draw attention to the growing diversity of women-owned enterprises, both in terms of the sectors in which they operate and the ethnic diversity of women business owners. 

Among the study’s notable findings:

  • It is estimated that, as of 2014, there are nearly 9.1 million women-owned enterprises in the U.S., employing nearly 7.9 million workers and generating over $1.4 trillion in revenues.
     
  • The number of women-owned firms grew at 1.5 times the national average between 1997 and 2014. The revenue and employment growth of women-owned firms tops that of all other firms, except the largest publicly traded corporations.
     
  • Between 1997 and 2014, there has been a net increase of 591 women-owned firms on average each day. This includes 714 per day between 2002 and 2007 leading up to the recession, 506 per day over the past seven years, and fully 1,288 per day over the past year.
     
  • Privately held companies owned by women have added 274,000 jobs since 2007. Among men-owned and equally owned firms, employment has declined over the past seven years.

Read the complete results of “The 2014 State of Women-Owned Business Report,” commissioned by American Express Open.

Lonely Planet Names Senior Sales Manager

Peg O’Donnell is the new senior sales manager and children’s specialist for Lonely Planet Americas. She will report to Patricia Kelly, Lonely Planet America’s director of sales, and will be responsible for creating and implementing strategies to expand the sales of Lonely Planet books and non-book products in the U.S.

O’Donnell was previously national account manager at Publishers Group West, a division of Perseus, where she managed Baker & Taylor. In 2001, as a field rep for PGW, she was named Industry Rep of the Year by Publishers Weekly.