DZANC BOOKS ACQUIRES OV BOOKS

I received this very interesting announcement from Dan Wickett of Dzanc Books today:

In an effort to further our mission as a publisher of literary fiction, Dzanc Books has acquired OV Books as an imprint. Beginning in 2008, Dzanc Books will publish no less than one new OV book per year, allowing for OV Books’ Executive Director Gina Frangello, along with current Senior Editor Stacy Bierlein, to continue the wonderful tradition started in 2005 with titles such as Tod Goldberg’s Simplify and Corinna Wycoff’s O Street.

Earlier this year, Dzanc became aware that the editors of Other Voices/OV Books were in negotiations to stop production of their fine literary journal after the forthcoming Other Voices 47: All-Chicago-Writers. OV’s plan was to concentrate solely on OV Books, as Gina Frangello stated, “… focusing on the book publishing wing of our operation seemed the best use of our time, talents and mission at this juncture.” Joining Dzanc Books means OV Books has the logistical support to grow its operations as an independently operated imprint. Moreover, partnering with Dzanc allows Gina and Stacy to concentrate solely on searching for and editing manuscripts, leaving the time spent on production, printing and distribution to their new parent company.

OV Books has a new title deep into the process at this time (A Stranger Among Us: Tales of Cross-Cultural Collisions and Connections, an anthology of stories) and will complete their previous process, including being distributed by University of Illinois Press. As noted, Gina Frangello and Stacy Bierlein will stay on running the OV Books imprint for Dzanc Books, and all titles following A Stranger Among Us will be produced, printed, and distributed along with Dzanc Books titles.

Dzanc Books is extremely excited to have OV Books, Gina Frangello, and Stacy Bierlein as part of the team and looks forward to continuing their contribution to independent literature. For more information about OV Books, please visit Other Voices.

What will Dan do next?