Pressmeddelande från Quercus

Quercus Publishing Plc to enter North America via Joint Venture with Sterling Publishing Co., Inc, a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble Inc.

Quercus Publishing Plc (“Quercus”), the award-winning independent publisher of best-selling fiction and non-fiction books, including The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, is to enter the fiction market in the US and Canada next year via a joint venture with Sterling Publishing Co., Inc (“Sterling”), a subsidiary of the world’s largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Inc (“B & N”).

Quercus has agreed an initial three year deal with Sterling to publish fiction via a new imprint named Silver Oak. The new business, which will be owned 50:50 by Quercus and Sterling, will publish books selected by Quercus from its list of fiction titles. Currently, Quercus publishes approximately 80 new fiction titles annually. The Silver Oak imprint will be marketed by Sterling throughout the entire North American market, including Barnes & Noble’s retail bookstores and online subsidiary, bn.com.

Commenting on the joint venture, Quercus’ founder-CEO, Mark Smith said “This partnership with one of North America’s leading publishing companies will give us access to the world’s largest fiction market through Sterling’s substantial marketing and promotional resources. Quercus has had a long and productive association with both Sterling and B & N and we look forward to collaborating on this fiction initiative. During the life of the joint venture, we expect Silver Oak to become a material contributor to Quercus’ financial success, bringing benefits both to our authors and to our shareholders. It is a very significant development.”

Marcus Leaver, President of Sterling said, “We are thrilled to introduce Quercus’ first class fiction list to readers in North America. Quercus is a rapidly growing player in the world of international fiction and we are very confident that Silver Oak’s forthcoming releases will receive the strongest reception in our markets.”

Silver Oak will launch in January 2011 with the publication of Three Seconds, by Swedish authors Roslund and Hellström, which is expected by both Quercus and Sterling to become a major bestseller. Written by a journalist and an ex-criminal, the book was recently named Swedish Crime Novel of the Year.

Niclas Salomonsson, the literary agent for the authors and founder of the Salomonsson Agency commented, “Quercus has proved over its short life that it is an innovative and forward thinking publisher and Silver Oak is a perfect example of these qualities. The authors, and indeed our whole agency, are very excited to be involved in the launch of this new and exciting imprint.”