Perseus Books Group Acquires Consortium

Perseus Books Group announced yesterday that it had acquired Consortium Books Sales and Distribution, Inc., the company that provides distribution, sales, and marketing services to independent publishers such as Akashic Books, Copper Canyon Press, and Seven Stories Press. Since both Perseus and Consortium are privately held companies, the financial details of the deal were not released.

Perseus includes the imprints Basic Books, Da Capo Press, PublicAffairs, and Running Press. The acquisition of Consortium, based in St. Paul, follows its 2005 purchase of another distributor, Client Distribution Services. According to Perseus CEO David Steinberger, the publisher has no plans to lay off any of Consortium’s fifty current employees.