Sourcebooks Announces Partnership with PRH’s DK for Europe and the UK

In News by Porter Anderson

DK will handle European and British sales and marketing for Sourcebooks to expand the USA-based publisher’s international reach.

Sourcebooks titles spotted in bookstores. Image: Sourcebooks

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Raccah: ‘This Entrepreneurial Partnership’
As Publishing Perspectives readers will recall, last year during Frankfurter Buchmesse, Sourcebooks’ founding CEO Dominique Raccah introduced a new “Sourcebooks International” team. Earlier, in the spring of 2019, the company and Penguin Random House entered their partnership in which PRH took a 45-percent stake in the Illinois-based independent.

sourcebooks logoToday (September 30), Penguin Random House’s London-based DK—the name was formerly Dorling Kindersley—is announcing further international expansion for Sourcebooks.

Beginning January 1, DK is to become responsible for sales and marketing of Sourcebooks in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Media messaging today points out the fit for Sourcebooks’ output with DK’s: The American company’s “portfolio covers many categories where DK is already strong, together with some new genres to DK, such as fiction, YA, and romance.

“DK has created this new partnership to support Sourcebooks’ ambition to expand its reach into the UK and Europe and improve sales through all channels.” The effort is to be led by Jacqueline Sells, DK’s UK sales director, with her team.

Coesfeld: ‘A Great Fit for DK’

Dominique Raccah

In a prepared statement, Raccah is quoted, saying, “DK is a best-in-class publisher that will allow for new levels of visibility for our publishing program and our authors with sales and distribution improvements across the UK and continental Europe.

“I’ve been a fan of DK and their amazing team for many years. And I’m thrilled to be creating this entrepreneurial partnership with DK–just the type of collaboration we love pioneering.”

And for DK, the company’s CEO, Carsten Coesfeld, says, “We’re looking forward to working with Sourcebooks and its fantastic team, and I very much admire Dominique’s entrepreneurial approach and creativity.

Carsten Coesfeld

“This partnership is a great fit for DK. There are so many excellent synergies between both companies.

“I’m confident that we can achieve significant growth for its impressive list and ensure that their books reach the hands of many more readers in the UK and Europe.”

Sourcebooks, now in its 33rd year, reports it’s now producing more than 800 titles annually.

The 46-year-old DK’s information says the company’s work is translated into 63 languages.


More from Publishing Perspectives on Penguin Random House is here, and more from us on Sourcebooks is here.

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About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.