DAW Books Sold to Astra Publishing House
DAW Books owners and co-publishers Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert have sold the company to Astra Publishing House. The entire DAW staff will continue working under the new owners.
Astra CFO and president Leying Jiang said,
We’re so thrilled to have DAW Books and its talented team joining Astra Publishing House. It feels like we are adding another bright star to our growing program. And so this acquisition marks a new milestone to Astra’s journey to a successful future.
Astra COO Bob Schrank added,
We’re so excited to have DAW join our group here at APH. We have long been impressed with their amazing authors and unparalleled place in the pantheon of science fiction and fantasy publishing…. We can’t wait to help them build on their legacy so they can continue to publish the very best books in their genre.
Wollheim and Gilbert said,
We are extremely pleased by Astra’s enthusiasm, and thrilled that we will be the sole SFF imprint of their company (a first for DAW!)…. We think this is the perfect fit for us, and it’s exciting and refreshing to be an integral part of a new and growing company. It speaks volumes about Astra’s respect for our company that they have included our entire staff. We’re very happy.
DAW was founded in 1971, and has remained a private company until now. DAW has published more than 2,000 books, with a backlist of major authors including C. J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, Patrick Rothfuss, and Tad Williams. DAW books have been distributed by Penguin, and will now join other Astra House titles with distribution by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.
Astra Publishing House was founded in 2016, publishing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry through its adult imprint, Astra House. In 2021 they launched six imprints under Astra Books for Young Readers, and earlier this year acquired comic and graphic art book publisher TOON Books.
The deal was negotiated by David Lamb and Susan Reich of Book Advisors for DAW, with Kuo-Yu Liang of Ku Worldwide; Alan J. Kaufman was DAW’s counsel.
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